Born to a Jewish[1] family in Havana, Cuba, he moved to the United States when he was 6 years old.

In 1992 he won his first election to the Florida Senate defeating Democrat Kendall Coffey.

Gutman accused his opponent in the 1998 senatorial election of using voodoo against him after Santería paraphernalia was tossed at him and scattered on his vehicle by his opponent's supporters;[citation needed] Gutman won the election.

He was indicted on 32 counts for benefiting from a fake health care company that he had set up to defraud Medicare of $15,000,000.

Gutman then resigned his post as Chairman of the Florida Senate Health Care Committee over alleged improprieties in brokering a Medicaid health plan during his term as vice chairman of the committee.