TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA – Former Florida Election Commission Attorney Eric Matthew Lipman, 59, of Tallahassee, pled guilty Monday to conspiring to distribute, receive, and possess material constituting child pornography, and distributing material constituting child pornography.
Between February 8, 2021, and February 11, 2021, Lipman, along with others, was a participant in Mega.NZ chat groups that distributed, received, possessed, and discussed child pornography images and videos. Mega.NZ was an Internet cloud storage and file hosting service based in New Zealand. Lipman conspired with the members of the chat groups to distribute, receive, and possess material constituting child pornography, and posted child pornography material within Mega.NZ chat groups for the benefit of other like-minded participants. The pornographic material that Lipman distributed, and that was found on Lipman’s electronic devices, involved prepubescent minors as well as minors under the age of 12.
Lipman faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, with a minimum mandatory sentence of 5 years in prison, followed by a term of 5 years to life of supervised release on all counts following his prison sentence.
This case resulted from an investigation by the Homeland Security Investigations and the Leon County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Justin M. Keen is prosecuting the case.
