Judge questions Joe Carollo about ‘unusual’ financial activity following $63M judgment

During a hearing in federal court to determine if Joe Carollo’s city paychecks can be garnished as part of a $63.5 million civil judgment against him, a judge questioned bank statements that show he depleted and then replenished nearly $30,000 in an account last year — activity that U.S. Magistrate Judge Lauren F. Louis called “very unusual.”

The bank records also show that Carollo received a $1,900 reimbursement from a city agency he oversees for a trip he took to Spain with his wife, which he said was for city business.

On Friday, Carollo took the stand to answer detailed questions about his finances in a hearing where his attorneys sought to establish that he is the sole breadwinner in his marriage and therefore exempt from wage garnishment. Carollo testified that following a judge’s December order, the city has been holding a quarter of his paycheck in escrow.

The 25% garnishment to Carollo’s approximately-$101,000 gross income as a city commissioner is “hurting tremendously,” he testified.

“It’s making us cut back hugely,” Carollo said, referring to himself and wife Marjorie.

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But Rossana Arteaga-Gomez, an attorney for Little Havana businessmen Bill Fuller and Martin Pinilla — who won a lawsuit against Carollo last year accusing him of using city resources to lead a harassment campaign against their businesses — made the case that Carollo isn’t struggling as much as he claims.

“They aren’t exactly scraping by,” Arteaga-Gomez said of the Carollos, alleging that financial records show them spending thousands of dollars on Instacart and salon visits.

Arteaga-Gomez said that the day after a jury handed down a $63.5 million verdict against Carollo, he pulled approximately $28,000 from his bank account — a withdrawal that apparently left a remaining balance of just a few dollars.

Arteaga-Gomez alleged that Carollo withdrew the money so that Fuller and Pinilla “can’t access it.”

But Carollo testified that he made the withdrawal so he could pay property taxes for his Coconut Grove home. He said he was concerned that if he was unable able to pay his property taxes, the bank would seize the property. But shortly after pulling out the funds, Carollo testified, his lawyers instructed him to put the money back into the account.

“And that’s what I did,” Carollo said.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Lauren F. Louis appeared skeptical. She went on to question Carollo about other transactions in 2023, including asking about the source of a $1,900 deposit that appeared in a bank statement from December. The commissioner said it was a reimbursement from the Bayfront Park Management Trust, a taxpayer-funded city agency that Carollo chairs, for a trip he took to Spain.

“I had to go on Trust business,” Carollo testified, adding that it’s the only payment the city agency has ever made to him.

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Carollo told the Miami Herald after Friday’s hearing that the reimbursement was for his airfare for a trip he and Marjorie took last summer to see an exhibition by artist Jorge Jiménez Deredia, whose sculptures have been featured in Maurice Ferré Park. The Herald previously reported that Deredia and his team had begun thinking about doing an exhibition in Miami when they were introduced to Carollo, who suggested bringing the works to Ferré Park.

Carollo said the reimbursement was for his airfare only, and that the city did not cover his wife’s travel expenses. He added that he was invited by the port director to the city of Marbella to see the exhibition, and that he and Marjorie arrived a few days before the exhibition and stayed for a few days after.

During Friday’s hearing, Carollo testified that, to his knowledge, his wife did not earn income in 2023. He said that, in addition to helping prepare him for trial last year, “she was a housewife” who cleaned, did laundry, ironed and cut Carollo’s hair. Carollo said Marjorie is experiencing health issues, and that she is “100%” dependent on his salary.

Without his salary, “She would be in a very, very difficult situation,” Carollo testified.

Testimony will continue Wednesday when Marjorie Carollo is expected to take the stand.

Joe Carollo formally appealed the judgment in this case earlier this year. The appeal is pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.