Shakedown City: Investigations, lawsuits and the anatomy of Miami’s political scandals
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The recent scandals rocking Miami government have engulfed two scions of local political dynasties and a third politician who has been a proud chaos agent for 40-plus years.
After a series of Miami Herald exposés — probing his secrecy involving travel itineraries, law clients, side jobs, expensive gifts and advocacy on behalf of the Saudi regime — Mayor Francis Suarez, son of a former mayor, is facing calls to resign. The Justice Department had already opened an investigation after the Herald revealed he’d been paid $170,000 by a developer angling for zoning relief.
Meanwhile, Commissioner Joe Carollo, famously combative since his first election in 1979, is smarting over a lawsuit accusing him of pursuing a vicious political vendetta against a nightclub owner. Carollo lost a $63 million verdict, but it’s also costing the city millions in legal fees.
And Commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla, middle of three politician brothers, awaits a criminal trial on allegations that, in a city crying out for open space, he schemed to cede public parkland to a private school, in return for bribes.
Below is the anatomy of a scandal — actually several scandals. Keep scrolling to reveal diagrams of each major investigation, charge or lawsuit these three Miami politicians face, along with the greatest hits of the Herald’s year-long investigation into Miami City Hall.
Mayor Francis Suarez
FBI investigation
Suarez is under federal and state investigation following Herald reporting revealed Suarez was paid $10,000 a month by Rishi Kapoor as the developer sought help from the mayor’s office to overcome zoning restrictions causing expensive delays to his multimillion-dollar Coconut Grove redevelopment project.
Staff with Location Ventures, Kapoor’s company, worked with the mayor’s office behind the scenes starting in 2019 to help draft a code amendment regarding co-living developments that would benefit Kapoor’s Coconut Grove project. A company attorney said Suarez was not yet on the payroll.
His efforts to amend the code stalled. Still, Kapoor was determined to push his project forward and applied for a city building permit in December 2021. By then, company records show Kapoor was making monthly payments to Suarez.
Kapoor told investors in July 2022 that Suarez would “assist in pushing this along” after the city rejected the plans, which put the new construction too close to the property line.
Days later, Kapoor told investors he and Suarez met with the city manager to prepare for a discussion with the building department regarding the “permitting progress.” Suarez denied the meeting occurred.
Zoning director Daniel Goldberg was unswayed after his September 2022 meeting with Kapoor’s team – all but guaranteeing the need for a costly redesign.
Unwilling to change his design, on Oct. 7, 2022, Kapoor appealed to the mayor’s director of constituent affairs, Lazaro Quintero.
That same day, Quintero called Goldberg, who then waived the zoning requirement, paving the way for a permit. Kapoor emailed Quintero to thank the mayor for his help.
On Jan. 25, Suarez – representing the city as mayor – joined Kapoor at the project’s ceremonial groundbreaking. He never mentioned he was on the developer’s payroll.
Suarez denied knowledge of his staff’s involvement in the permitting process. He maintains he was paid to introduce the developer to potential investors. Both Goldberg and Art Noriega, the city manager, said they were unaware Kapoor was paying Suarez at the time the developer was seeking their help with permits.
Goldberg said his change of heart was not influenced by the mayor’s office, but rather by a letter Quintero pointed him to regarding a neighboring structure that had previously received similar zoning relief. Noriega told the Herald he did not recall meeting with Kapoor in the summer of 2022 and Suarez’s mayoral calendar did not mention a meeting then.
Mired in controversy, financial problems and federal investigations, Location Ventures’s board of directors ousted Kapoor and hired a former judge to sell off assets and pay creditors. Lawsuits against Kapoor and his company are pending.
Latest Investigation
Past Reporting
06/30/2023 | Mayor Francis Suarez worked to draft new law with developer who later paid him $170K
Ethics investigation
Photos of Suarez glad-handing with developers and celebrities at VIP sporting events and exclusive parties are plastered across social media. A Herald investigative reporter cataloged his attendance at events where tickets go for thousands of dollars and asked the mayor: Who paid?
Suarez didn’t volunteer an answer. He often didn’t file gift disclosures either, as would be required under Florida ethics law if his activities were funded by anyone other than the city, his private employer, himself or a member of his immediate family.
Following a complaint from a local activist that was based on Herald reporting, the Florida ethics commission opened an investigation into whether Suarez violated laws requiring disclosures and prohibiting Miami’s elected officials from accepting expensive gifts over $100 from anyone with business before the city.
Suarez and his wife attended the three-day Miami Grand Prix in 2023. But the mayor only disclosed one day pass – a gift from the local F1 promoter, Miami Dolphins subsidiary South Florida Motorsports LLC.
The Herald revealed the couple's Sunday tickets came from billionaire Ken Griffin, who was lobbying the city. Suarez said he covered the cost after reporters pointed out such a gift would be illegal.
Emails indicate Suarez watched part of the 2022 Miami Grand Prix with Saudi royalty in a lounge for Saudi Arabia’s state-run oil company, a race sponsor. But it is not clear who gave Suarez and his son their VIP passes.
In 2022, Suarez also attended Saudi Arabia’s Grand Prix at the invitation of a Formula One representative, emails show. Again, there was no gift disclosure.
The ethics complaint also honed in on Suarez’s attendance at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, where he watched a semifinal match with soccer star David Beckham, a brand ambassador for the Gulf nation.
Suarez won’t say who paid. But he couldn’t legally take a free ticket from Beckham, a lobbyist who just won a no-bid deal to build a Major League Soccer stadium on city land for his team, Inter Miami.
Ethics experts separately raise concerns about potential conflicts that could arise from the part-time mayor’s work as a highly compensated attorney for Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP.
Quinn Emanuel’s client list includes FIFA, MLS, Griffin and government entities in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Each recently established or increased Miami operations.
The mayor’s office has pushed numerous initiatives that involve those clients, despite a letter from the county’s ethics chief cautioning Suarez not to use his public office to benefit the firm’s clients.
Suarez denied any unethical behavior and said he files gift disclosures when legally required to do so. He has long refused to volunteer a list of his private legal clients, citing confidentiality concerns, but insists he has no conflicts of interest. A spokesperson for Quinn Emanuel said the firm follows strict internal rules developed to avoid conflicts of interest.
The scope of the ethics investigation is unclear. Ethics investigations remain confidential until the commission takes official action. At the time of publication, no hearing had been scheduled.
Latest Investigation
Past Reporting
10/13/2023 | Plot twist: Miami Dolphins subsidiary helped pay for Mayor Suarez’s $30k F1 weekend
09/15/2023 | Francis Suarez, Ken Griffin say Miami mayor repaid $14K for Miami Grand Prix events
Senate investigation
As he expanded his network of private business contacts while traveling as an attorney for an international law firm, Suarez has developed an increasingly cozy relationship with Saudi Arabia. There, he participated in state-run conferences central to the regime’s program to rehabilitate its human rights record and expand its influence around the world.
Suarez also used his public office to bring one of the Saudi conferences to South Florida, directly benefiting a major client of the international law firm where he works. The event, which Suarez officially endorsed using the city of Miami seal, is now caught up in an ongoing congressional investigation into Saudi Arabia’s alleged influence peddling efforts in the United States.
In March, the mayor’s office co-hosted an event with the Future Investment Initiative (FII), a conference series and think tank central to Saudi Arabia’s efforts to promote itself as “a force for good.”
FII is a nonprofit subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the Gulf nation’s sovereign wealth fund helmed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Emails show that the mayor's city staff and a campaign consultant paid by Suarez's political committee, Brian Goldmeier, were central to putting on the Florida summit.
Goldmeier said his work on the Saudi summit – where speakers included some of Suarez’s top political donors – was independent of his fundraising efforts for Suarez’s political campaigns.
Suarez has credited two people with his first Saudi connections: Jared Kushner, an advisor to former President Donald Trump, and John Quinn, founder of the international law firm where Suarez works.
Kushner’s private equity firm recently received a $2 billion investment from PIF. Kushner, a featured speaker at the Miami summit, did not respond to questions about his ties to Suarez.
Quinn’s law firm represents PIF and its U.S. subsidiary LIV Golf, which has attempted to take over the PGA Tour prompting widespread protest and sparking the ongoing congressional probe.
Congressional investigators pointed to the Florida summit – called FII Priority – as evidence that PIF is rapidly expanding its involvement in American institutions beyond golf.
In September, the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations issued a sweeping subpoena for information regarding PIF activities in the United States – including those of the Future Investment Initiative. Suarez was not named nor has he been contacted by Senate investigators.
Legal experts say Suarez and his associates might have crossed a line when they helped plan and promote a summit primarily benefiting Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund without registering as foreign agents. Both Suarez and Goldmeier, his consultant, denied doing anything that would require foreign agent registration.
A spokesperson from Quinn Emanuel said Suarez’s use of his mayoral office to partner on a conference promoting Saudi Arabia’s wealth fund, their client, is not a conflict of interest under Florida law because the firm was not involved in the effort and the fund is not Suarez’s direct client through the firm.
Latest Investigation
12/18/2023 | The kingdom and I: How Miami’s mayor helped Saudi Arabia rehab its bloody reputation
Past Reporting
07/06/2023 | Mayor Francis Suarez doubled his net worth to $3.4 mil last year — and now has a boat
07/02/2023 | Mayor for Hire: Francis Suarez’s wealth boomed while he promoted Miami as tech capital
(Former) Commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla
Arrested and charged with bribery
In September, prosecutors charged then-Miami City Commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla with money laundering, bribery, and conspiracy, among other charges.
The 26-page arrest warrant spelled out how Díaz de la Portilla allegedly sold his vote to a couple hoping to build a sports complex at Biscayne Park, “one of the largest remaining undeveloped tracts of land in Miami’s urban core” valued at $100 million and located within the boundaries of the quasi-public Omni Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), prosecutors wrote.
David and Leila Centner approached the Omni CRA, chaired by Díaz de la Portilla, about securing city land for a youth sports complex for their school, Centner Academy.
To secure the deal, a Centner company, Perpetual Love L Trust LLC, allegedly wired at least $150,000 to Pristine De LLC, a company owned by the couple’s lobbyist, William “Bill” Riley Jr.
Riley then allegedly transferred $245,000 from Pristine De LLC into two political committees that were “secretly controlled” by Díaz de la Portilla to back his brother Renier’s political campaign.
The Centners also helped pay for the commissioner’s temporary base of operations in Brickell’s East Hotel, where he stayed for a total of 57 nights in 2020.
In April 2022, Díaz de la Portilla sponsored a no-bid resolution to let the Centners use the land at no up-front cost, telling colleagues “I want it done today.” The resolution passed.
Díaz de la Portilla and Riley have both pleaded not guilty to charges including bribery, criminal conspiracy and money laundering. They denied the accusations in the arrest warrant. Díaz de la Portilla called the case a “work of fiction.” The Centners were not charged. Nor was Renier Díaz de la Portilla.
There is a preliminary trial date set for Feb. 26, 2024, but attorneys say it is likely to be pushed back.
In November, Díaz de la Portilla lost his reelection bid to challenger Miguel Gabela, who ran on an anti-corruption platform. Gabela had previously lost to Díaz de la Portilla in the 2019 runoff.
Latest Investigation
12/21/2023 | In shakedown city, a ‘culture of corruption’ prompts calls for competence and reform
Past Reporting
09/15/2023 | Leila and David Centner caught up in Miami commissioner’s corruption scandal
09/14/2023 | Miami Commissioner Díaz de la Portilla arrested on bribery, money laundering charges
Sued over alleged shakedown
Days before his arrest on criminal corruption charges in September, Díaz de la Portilla was sued in Miami-Dade Circuit Court over an alleged “shakedown” scheme to extract a favor from the longtime operator of the Rickenbacker marina.
The lawsuit, filed by lobbyist Manuel Prieguez – a longtime friend of Díaz de la Portilla who helped with his 2019 campaign – accuses Díaz de la Portilla of orchestrating a shakedown scheme over the future of the the marina, some of the city’s most valuable waterfront property.
Longtime marina operator Aabad Melwani hired Prieguez in 2020 to lobby Díaz de la Portilla to support his lease renewal and redevelopment proposal for the property’s aging infrastructure.
Prieguez alleged two of the commissioner’s associates, Humberto “Bert” Hernandez and Anibal Duarte-Viera, told him securing Díaz de la Portilla’s swing vote depended on cutting Duarte-Viera into the deal.
Díaz de la Portilla later summoned Melwani to a similar meeting with Hernandez, Duarte-Viera and lobbyist Elnatan Rudolph, Prieguez claimed.
After Melwani and Prieguez rebuffed the alleged shakedown attempts, the commission decided against awarding the lease or redevelopment rights to Melwani or his competitors. Díaz de la Portilla was the deciding vote.
The civil suit is pending, with a hearing scheduled for February 2024.
Díaz de la Portilla called the allegations false, and said the lawsuit is politically motivated and frivolous. At the time he filed, Prieguez was openly supporting Gabela, the rival candidate for Commission District 1 who ultimately defeated Díaz de la Portilla in the November runoff.
Rudolph and Hernandez also denied the allegations in the suit. Duarte-Viera declined comment. Hernandez and Duarte-Viera were named defendants. Rudolph was not.
Past Reporting
09/14/2023 | Alex Díaz de la Portilla’s political career is marked by both power and conflict
09/05/2023 | Miami commissioner sued for alleged “shakedown” of Rickenbacker Marina’s operator
Commissioner Joe Carollo
Sued for misuse of public office
In June, a jury ordered Commissioner Joe Carollo to pay $63.5 million to two Little Havana businessmen for weaponizing city resources – from police to code enforcement – to carry out a personal vendetta.
It was the first verdict in a series of similar lawsuits aimed at Carollo, a famously combative and controversial former Miami mayor with decades of colorful history at City Hall.
Carollo is accused of targeting local businessmen William “Bill” Fuller and Martin Pinilla, allegedly furious about their support for a rival candidate.
Carollo allegedly took aim at the duo’s Little Havana businesses, including the famed Ball & Chain nightclub, where he was spotted lurking outside at all hours of the night.
Fuller accused Carollo of orchestrating a systematic campaign involving code enforcement and dozens of city employees, including City Manager Art Noriega and Police Chief Manny Morales.
As part of the scheme, the commissioner allegedly ordered his then-chief of staff, Richie Blom, to find a violation that would cost one of Fuller’s properties its liquor license, Blom testified at the trial.
City Attorney Victoria Méndez defended Carollo’s actions and agreed to have the city fund his legal defense with taxpayer dollars. It has cost millions.
A jury sided with Fuller and Pinilla, who are now trying to garnish the commissioner’s pay.
Carollo has vehemently denied all wrongdoing. He is appealing the massive judgment against him.
The city is now a named defendant in another, similar suit filed in federal court by an entity linked to Fuller and Pinilla — putting public money in the crosshairs of businessmen seeking retribution who have already convinced one jury they were wronged. As of publication, no trial date has been set.
Latest Investigation
Past Reporting
05/10/2023 | Disdain, anger from Little Havana businessmen suing Carollo: ‘The plan was to break us’
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Credits
Susan Merriam | Graphics Reporter
Sarah Blaskey | Investigative Reporter
Joey Flechas | City of Miami Reporter
Tess Riski | Municipal Government Reporter
Jay Weaver | Federal Courts Reporter
Linda Robertson | Feature Writer
Charles Rabin | Courts and Police Reporter
Rachel Handley | Illustrator
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Dana Banker | Senior Managing Editor
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