State Rep. Michael Grieco to face ‘formal complaint’ from Florida Bar over fundraising scandal

State Rep. Michael Grieco has already been charged with a crime and is battling civil sanctions over a fundraising scandal during his failed run for Miami Beach mayor.

Now Grieco, a criminal defense attorney, could face professional repercussions from the Florida Bar as well.

In a notice issued to Grieco earlier this month, the Bar said it had found “probable cause to prepare a formal complaint” against the Democrat, who pleaded no contest in 2017 to a misdemeanor charge that a political committee that he was secretly running accepted $25,000 worth of foreign money funneled through a straw donor.

The notice said the complaint will be based on violations of three rules. The rules cited in the notice prohibit lawyers from committing crimes that reflect “adversely on the lawyer’s honesty, trustworthiness, or fitness as a lawyer” and from engaging in misconduct “involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation.”

Leslie Smith, senior communications director for the Bar, said there was “no specific timeline” for the formal complaint to be filed. The Bar is the professional association for Florida lawyers. It regulates the practice of law and can discipline, suspend and expel attorneys who commit crimes or violate Bar rules.

Grieco and his attorney Ben Kuehne did not respond to requests for comment Friday.

Even as Grieco continues to deal with blowback from the 2017 controversy — which also led to county ethics charges that he lied to the public about his association with the political action committee People for Better Leaders — high-profile Democrats are standing by him.

Grieco is holding a Jan. 8 fundraiser hosted by state Sen. Jason Pizzo, state Sen. José Javier Rodríguez, and state Reps. Nick Duran and Javier Fernandez, among other local leaders. Pizzo, when asked why he was comfortable supporting Grieco, wrote in a text message that Grieco “was duly elected, has filed bills to improve the quality of life for everyone, and works very hard.” Fernandez said Grieco has proven himself as a capable lawmaker.

“Whatever issues Michael had, the voters of his district were able to look past them, and so am I,” Duran told the Miami Herald. “He has been an excellent legislator who has proven to be a strong voice on issues that impact our county and community.”

The fundraiser also signals a surprising reconciliation between Grieco and a one-time opponent, Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber, who told voters during the 2017 mayoral campaign that Grieco was “violating the law and lying to you about the facts.” Gelber, a former federal corruption prosecutor, later said in a campaign video that Grieco’s “behavior has no place in our city.”

In an interview Friday, Gelber declined to discuss the 2017 campaign, saying “I’m not in the business of judging.” He said he’s not raising money for Grieco but is simply endorsing the reelection campaign of Miami Beach’s Democratic state representative.

“That’s all history for me and when he called me I agreed immediately [to support him],” said Gelber, himself a former Democratic state representative. “I want him to be successful.”

Grieco’s brush with the Bar is not his first. In 2008, Grieco received a public reprimand for his conduct as an assistant state attorney. The Bar found that Grieco had interfered in the assault case of a friend. He was not involved with the case but led detectives to believe he was and later asked that his friend receive special treatment, according to the Bar.

‘Look right into my soul’

Grieco’s most recent troubles began when he launched a campaign for Miami Beach Mayor in 2017.

The Beach has strict campaign-finance rules that prohibit candidates and officials from soliciting city vendors, lobbyists and certain developers for contributions to political action committees. But Grieco, then a popular beach commissioner, took a back road, asking a personal friend to set up a committee called People for Better Leaders. He subsequently began secretly raising money for the committee. The Herald revealed his activities in a series of articles over the summer of 2017. Grieco steadfastly denied any wrongdoing, saying he had nothing to do with the committee. “You can look right into my soul,” he told reporters.

Nonetheless, Grieco was the man behind the curtain, calling potential donors for cash and even meeting them in parking garages to accept checks. The donors included the kinds of special interests that he often railed against on the campaign trail. Facing a growing investigation from the state attorney’s office, Grieco dropped out of the race for mayor in July 2017 and announced he would instead seek to keep his seat on the commission.

It wasn’t enough.

In the fall, state prosecutors charged Grieco with a misdemeanor criminal violation of Florida’s campaign-finance laws. They said the commissioner had accepted a $25,000 contribution from a South Florida Realtor when he knew the funds actually came from a wealthy Norwegian investor. Foreign nationals are not allowed to contribute to U.S. elections and donors are prohibited from making contributions in someone else’s name.

Emails obtained by the Herald show Grieco even offered instructions on how to route the money through the banking system.

“It is sad to see a young public servant tumble but there are no special exceptions to Florida’s elections laws,” Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle, Grieco’s former boss, said in a statement after the charges were announced. “Masking the source of a campaign donation is not only illegal but denigrates the importance of transparency. Our citizens deserve better from all of those who seek public office.”

But prosecutors allowed Grieco to plead no contest, meaning he did not admit guilt. He resigned from the commission and was sentenced to a year of probation during which he could not run for public office. Thanks to his plea deal, Grieco was allowed to terminate his probation within six months. He soon announced he would run as a Democrat for the Florida House’s District 113 seat, his first attempt at state office.

After he declared his candidacy, the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics & Public Trust charged Grieco with two counts of “knowingly furnish[ing] false information on any public matter.” The commission also said Grieco broke a Miami Beach ethics ordinance against soliciting city vendors for campaign funds.

In the end, the allegations didn’t seem to matter much. Grieco handily won both the 2018 primary and general election in the safely Democratic district.

In addition to the Bar complaint, the county ethics case is still ongoing. A public hearing is expected to take place after the next legislative session. Grieco is fighting the case. His attorney had sought to exclude as evidence Herald articles in which he made false statements, but commissioners rejected the motion at a December meeting.

Since being elected to Tallahassee, Grieco has continued his criminal defense work. He recently appeared in federal court representing Jesús Menocal Jr., a former Hialeah cop accused of using his badge to pressure women and girls into sex. With Grieco at his side, Menocal pleaded not guilty.

Miami Herald staff writer Joey Flechas contributed to this report.