Broward Sheriff Took $65,000 From Firm He Pitched to Opioid Council

Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony was paid $65,000 last year by the company behind an online opioid-training course, then appeared before the state advisory council that reviews how Florida spends its opioid settlement money to urge members to fund that course, according to his financial disclosure report and reporting published Sunday by Florida Bulldog.

The payment came from Opioid Training Institute LLC, a for-profit arm of Fort Lauderdale-based Zschool, which markets executive education programs with universities. Tony's sheriff's salary that year was $293,784, the disclosure shows. On March 31 he presented to the Statewide Council on Opioid Abatement, a panel housed inside the Department of Children and Families that reviews settlement spending and recommends priorities to the governor and Legislature, and asked it to back a $3 million statewide pilot of a four-hour crisis course sold jointly by Zschool and the University of Miami's business school.

Neither his presentation nor the council's minutes mention the $65,000, according to video of the meeting and a spokesman for the council's delegated chair.

The ask, on the record

Tony appeared in a business suit rather than his uniform, and Seminole County Sheriff Dennis Lemma introduced him as "Broward County Sheriff Dr. Gregory Tony." His slides were titled "The Opioid Crisis: Positioning Florida as a National Leader in Training and Preparedness."

"We'd like to see some form of pilot aspect so we can give this state proof of concept," Tony told the council, adding that "more are coming if they haven't already come to you. We want to be the group that says here's the validation." He said nearly 26,000 first responders in Florida had been unable to take the course "because the funding hasn't been available."

Rony Shir, an associate dean at the University of Miami's business school, told members the pilot would cut the price to $200 per participant from $450. Council agendas published since March 31 contain no record of action on the request. The council next meets Nov. 4.

Who runs the company that paid him

State corporate records list OTI's sole manager and registered agent as J. Henry Scott, the name he took roughly 15 years ago after leaving behind the name Scott Pasch. In 2010 the Federal Trade Commission permanently banned him from telemarketing and charitable soliciting and ordered his New Jersey company, Civic Development Group, to pay $18.8 million — then the largest consumer protection judgment the agency had obtained — over calls that led donors to believe they were giving directly to police, firefighter, veterans and cancer charities. Scott's share of the judgment was $5.8 million, and the defendants did not admit liability. The scheme was later the subject of an HBO documentary series.

Scott confirmed to Florida Bulldog that OTI is "part of Zschool, a division" and that the sheriff no longer works for the company. "He does not, but he was doing consulting and reaching out, helping us to formulate the programming," Scott said. He said he did not know whether the Broward Sheriff's Office offers the course to its deputies.

The pitch to agencies leans on settlement money directly: a company brochure tells public safety departments to "contact us to learn how your training can be 100% fully funded by your state's Opioid Settlement Funds." Registrations under the Opioid Training Institute, Opioid Training Solutions and Zschool names appear in Florida, Arizona, Texas, North Carolina and Maryland.

The ethics question, unanswered

Florida's Constitution bars public officers from lobbying "for compensation on issues of policy, appropriations, or procurement" before a state body during their term in office. A separate statute, misuse of public position, prohibits corrupt use of office to secure a special privilege or benefit. Florida Bulldog reported that Tony's appearance appears to violate both provisions; no ethics regulator has made such a finding, and the sheriff did not answer questions sent through his public information office. The outlet said it is filing a public records request with the sheriff's office.

Tony is simultaneously in an open fight with Broward County government. Commissioners voted unanimously in late September to take back control of county fire-rescue services when the sheriff's contract expires in 2028, and are moving to strip the agency of the regional 911 dispatch system and airport and seaport security.

The money the council oversees

Florida's share of the national opioid settlements is about $3.52 billion, payable over roughly 18 years, part of a national total near $50 billion paid by manufacturers, distributors and pharmacy chains. The council's 2025 annual report lists $145.8 million in settlement spending for fiscal 2024-25, covering recovery housing, peer support, opioid data management, more than 767,000 naloxone kits and the expansion of the state's Coordinated Opioid Recovery network.

Training contracts are a small line in that ledger, but they are the kind of purchase the council was created to scrutinize. Its statutory duties include developing metrics to judge whether settlement-funded programs work — which is precisely the validation role Tony asked it to hand to a vendor whose pilot he had a financial relationship with.

Whether the pitch had any effect is not established in the public record: the agendas show no vote, and the council has not published an assessment of the proposal. What the record does show is a sitting sheriff paid by a training company, making an undisclosed case for public money to buy its product, in a state where substance use disorder treatment and prevention programs compete for the same settlement dollars. Florida is not the only jurisdiction where that competition has drawn scrutiny — auditors and advocates in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia have raised parallel questions about how abatement funds are awarded, an issue our earlier coverage documented.