A high-level advisor to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis reportedly used a private email to help facilitate a former client to land a contract to relocate migrants in September from Texas to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.

Larry Keefe, DeSantis' public safety czar, used a non-public email address that made it appear that emails were coming from "Clarice Starling," the name of the main character from "The Silence of the Lambs."

Keefe provided Vertol Systems Co. CEO James Montgomerie with a private "email channel to use," according to records first obtained by NBC6 in Miami. Vertol had reportedly earned at least $1.5 million to fly dozens of mostly Venezuelan migrants from San Antonio to Martha's Vineyard on Sept. 14 and for other planned migrant flights to Delaware and Illinois that have so far not materialized, according to the report.

Keefe used encrypted messaging apps and a private email address when communicating with Montgomerie. Keefe also helped ​​draft invoice language the company used when submitting its proposal to the Florida Department of Transportation.

Language in eight paragraphs sent from Keefe to Montgomerie in late August ended up nearly verbatim in the proposal Vertol sent to Florida transportation officials on Sept. 2, according to NBC6.

After the Florida Center for Government Accountability sued the state and Vertol to obtain documents related to the migrant relocation efforts, the secret messages were revealed.

In November, Montgomerie testified that his company had turned over "every single" record. But the company did not produce the emails sent to Montgomerie's AOL account from "Clarice Starling," NBC6 reported.

"This appears to be a purposeful attempt to evade Florida's public records laws. It's not surprising that the Governor's office wanted to keep these records secret because they suggest that a public official helped draft a bid by a private company for government services," Ben Wilcox, co-founder of Integrity Florida, a nonprofit government watchdog, told Politico. "That's bid-rigging and it's potentially illegal."

State records show Keefe and Montgomerie called or texted each other 33 times over the three days between when Montgomerie sent Keefe the contract proposal draft and the Florida Department Of Transportation and Vertol reached a tentative agreement.

In September 2021, DeSantis tapped Keefe, a former U.S. attorney in the Trump administration, to run his $12 million migration relocation program, which was approved by the Tallahassee legislature earlier this year, despite the fact Florida has no land border with a foreign country.

The latest revelations come as the state and Vertol are accused in lawsuits of violating the Texas migrants' civil rights and concealing public records, allegations they deny.

According to NBC6, Vertol was paid $615,000 in advance for transporting nearly 50 migrants from Texas to Martha's Vineyard and has received another $950,000 for the two missions to Delaware and Illinois that have yet to occur.

DeSantis has repeatedly said the flights were designed to draw attention to the Biden administration's southern border policies, but critics believe the program is driven by politics.

A presidential hopeful in 2024, DeSantis has used the stunt to boost his national exposure, angering those who view him as manipulating lives for political gain.

In October, the Treasury Department's watchdog department launched an inquiry into whether DeSantis was improperly using money associated with COVID-19 federal assistance to fund the relocation program. The department has yet to provide the results of its investigation.

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