Former lobbyist Adam Corey — not the easiest man to track down since the FBI’s investigation in Tallahassee became public — got handed a subpoena on a Miami highway to testify in John “J.T.” Burnette’s upcoming trial.

Corey, the force behind a number of local restaurants and bars, managed to avoid interviews and witness testimony earlier this year in former Mayor Andrew Gillum’s state ethics trial, which got short-circuited in a settlement anyway. But he couldn’t avoid an aggressive white pickup truck in Miami, according to a motion to quash the subpoena filed by his attorney, Chris Kise.

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“On July 3, 2019, Mr. Corey was driving on the highway in Miami, Florida, when a white pickup truck ... cut him off and forced his vehicle to stop,” the filing says. “The driver of the truck jumped out, approached Mr. Corey’s vehicle and handed him only the single-page subpoena.”

The subpoena, requested by Burnette's lawyer, Tim Jansen, asks Corey to appear Nov. 4 at the U.S. District Courthouse in Tallahassee. Kise argued it should be quashed because Corey wasn't given an attendance fee for testifying or a mileage allowance, which he said are required under federal rules of criminal procedure.

“Service of Rule 17 subpoena is invalid if the witness fee is not tendered at the time the subpoena is served,” Kise wrote, adding legal footnotes.

The Corey connection:

Corey and Burnette have connections involving the now-defunct 101 restaurant and Mint Lounge. Burnette paid off 101's debts after a previous owner defaulted and leased the downtown space to Corey from October 2014 to March 2014, when Corey bought it.

They have something else in common — the FBI. Both buddied up with medical marijuana entrepreneurs and developers who began popping up in Tallahassee the summer of 2015 but were later revealed to be undercover agents investigating public corruption.

Corey helped arranged outings with Gillum and undercover FBI agents during a 2016 trip to New York City, where they saw "Hamilton" and took a boat ride to the Statue of Liberty together. The trip led to a $5,000 fine against Gillum earlier this year for taking a banned gift from a lobbyist or vendor.

The back story:Witnesses in doubt on the eve of Andrew Gillum's ethics hearing

Burnette, meanwhile, helped arrange payments in 2016 and 2017 from an FBI front company to a consulting firm secretly owned by then-City Commissioner Scott Maddox. He also allegedly bribed Maddox $110,000 to abstain from voting in 2014 on a rival downtown hotel project.

Maddox and former Downtown Improvement Authority Executive Director Paige Carter-Smith pleaded guilty in August to federal fraud and tax evasion charges. They are expected to testify against Burnette during his trial on racketeering and extortion charges.

Corey and the former mayor had a major falling out last year, as Gillum distanced himself from their longtime friendship during his Democratic campaign for governor. Gillum lost the general election, which was marked by 11th-hour revelations about the FBI investigation.

He dropped his lobbying clients in 2017, after subpoenas involving him and several other prominent business people dropped on City Hall. It his motion to quash the latest subpoena, he said he resides in Miami and hasn't lived in Tallahassee for more than two years.

"Attending a trial in the Northern District of Florida would cause me to incur substantial expense," Corey said in signed statement.

CORRECTION:An earlier version incorrectly stated the subpoena came from the government.

Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or follow @JeffBurlew on Twitter.