Miami’s Alex Diaz de la Portilla arrested on corruption, pay-for-play park deal

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Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla was arrested Thursday on money laundering and political corruption charges — including unlawful compensation, bribery and criminal conspiracy — after a yearlong investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Broward State Attorney’s office.

These charges do not stem from the shakedown of the Rickenbacker Marina operator (more on that later) or the COVID gift cards that went missing for months or the ghost employees in Diaz de la Portilla’s office. No. These charges reportedly stem from a commission vote last year to basically give Biscayne Park away to a private school whose lobbyist paid for the commissioner’s accommodations and a vacation, among other things, and served as his baby brother’s judicial campaign fundraiser.

According to a press release from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Diaz de la Portilla is also charged with four counts of official misconduct, one count of campaign contribution in excess of legal limits, and two counts of failure to report a gift. Also arrested on the money laundering and bribery charges was Bill Reily, a lobbyist who served as tree shaker for Renier Diaz de la Portilla’s failed judicial campaign. Reily was also charged with failure to disclose his lobbyist expenses.

Agents found evidence indicating Diaz de la Portilla and Riley accepted more than $15,000 in donations for Renier Diaz de la Portilla but did not report them, as required by state law. Riley also “controlled a bank account in the name of a Delaware-based corporation to launder approximately $245,000 in concealed political contributions made by a management services company in exchange for permission to build a sports complex in the city of Miami,” the press release states.

Read related: Ethics board says Miami’s ADLP had three ‘ghost’ employees on taxpayers’ dime

Actually, Pristine De LLC, a Delaware company that Political Cortadito linked to Riley via an address, gave at least $275,000 in 10 different contributions to two political action committees — five each to Proven Leadership for Miami-Dade for ADLP and Local Leadership for Miami-Dade for Renier (although The Dean ran them both) for a total of $190,000 and $185,000, respectively.

“Further investigation determined Diaz de la Portilla also operated and controlled two political committees used not only to support his brother’s campaign, but also for personal expenditures,” the press release states. And anyone that knows him knows that this is how he pays for his food, liquor and hotel stays. Florida Division of Elections records show that Proven Leadership has raised about $3.3 million since May of 2018 (and still has $1.3 mil in the bank) and that Local Leadership raised a little more than $800,000 since June 2020.

Diaz de la Portilla and Riley were arrested in Miami Thursday afternoon, booked into the Turner Guilford Knight (TGK) Detention Center and wore orange prison scrubs for their mugshots. They were released Thursday night on a $72,000 bond and a $46,000 bond, respectively.

“This is a work of fiction,” Diaz de la Portilla told television reporters as he left the jail. He compared himself to the former president, also dogged by legal issues, and used the same excuses. “What they’re doing to President Trump at the national level, with four different false prosecutions is happening to me at the local level.

“Everything they say is a lie. Everything. Not one ounce of truth. I deny it all,” the commissioner said. “I’ve had a career of integrity and honesty.

“They didn’t call my attorney to let him know. It was a surprise.”

Several sources told Ladra the men were supposed to turn themselves in Thursday. The arrests are recorded as having happened on Wednesday.

“Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla has done nothing wrong,” said his attorney Benedict Kuehne, adding that the charges are politically motivated and timed to interfere with the November elections.

“This arrest without notice or an opportunity to show that the charge are false and unsupported is an outrage and a political assault on the city of Miami voters timed to alter the outcome of the District 1 election,” Kuehne said. “This action has been timed and executed for shock and awe purposes, to create the maximum damage to Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla’s campaign and his family.

“This is nothing more than prosecutorial abuse of process and the unfortunate weaponization of law enforcement targeting an effective and conservative Republican lawmaker by a Democrat State Attorney for political purposes and career advancement. These fake charges y the outsider Broward State Attorney’s Office is an obvious ploy to remove an effective and honored public servant from office.

“Commissioner Diaz de la Portilla will win this battle and continue his fight on behalf of the citizens of Miami,” Keuhne said.

Both men were scheduled to be arraigned on Friday morning in front of Miami-Dade Court Judge Christine Bandin, who was appointed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who also assigned the case to the Broward State Attorney’s Office to prosecute and who could suspend Diaz de la Portilla like he did Miami-Dade Commissioner Joe Martinez on separate bribery charges last year. Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle recused herself — this time because of a relationship with Riley.

“Once the joint investigation undertaken by the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Public Corruption Task Force and the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics initially focusing on alleged violations of Miami-Dade ethics ordinances by City of Miami Commissioner Alejandro ‘Alex’ Díaz de la Portilla indicated that attorney William W. Riley Jr. could also be a subject of the investigation, an executive assignment was requested from the Governor’s Office,” said Lissette Valdes-Valle, a spokeswoman for KFR.

“State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle and the Riley family had a long-standing personal and professional relationship as neighbors, friends, and mutual supporters of numerous efforts to better the Miami-Dade County community, such as the recent Second Chance Sealing and Expungement event.  The Broward State Attorney Office accepted the Governor’s assignment and continued developing the initial investigation which resulted in today’s filing of criminal charges.”

Last Spring, Alex Diaz de la Portilla sponsored an item approved unanimously by the commission to enter into a license agreement with Centner Academy that allows the school to build a state-of-the-art recreational (read: sports) facility on the 3.7-acre Biscayne Park, 150 NE 19th St., and provide programming. They are to spend no less than $10 million on the facility and then share 50% of revenue from programming and concession sales with the city, using the other 50% for maintenance and security for the first 10 years.

In exchange, they get to use 33% of the public park exclusively all the time and another 33% exclusively for some hours during weekdays. 

The private school, where tuition can peak at almost $30,000, is across the street from the park and will use the facility for its own physical education classes and sports activities. In fact, one third of the once public park is expected to be off limits to the public all the time. One third of the park is supposed to be open to the public all the time. But only two thirds of the park will ever be available to the general population, and only after school hours.

Read related: Private Centner Academy gets to run Miami public park for $10 million

Diaz de la Portilla also got commissioners to upzone some properties the Centners own around their preschool campus at 4136 North Miami Avenue, from residential to commercial. And Ladra believes this is one of the reasons why ADLP was so hot on snatching the Omni Community Redevelopment Agency from former Commissioner Ken Russell. It’s not in his district. But it’s in his business plan. Because the CRA was going to do something with the Miami-Dade School Board at the park — and that would not have put any money in is pocket.

According to sources close to the investigation, Reily, the lobbyist for the Centner Academy, paid for ADLP’s suite at the East Hotel in Brickell City Center, where the commissioner was living outside the district for a while. Riley also paid for thousands of dollars worth of food ordered from room 801 and rented a penthouse and several guest rooms for the watch party the night of last November’s election. Riley paid for other things, too, probably including an all-expense trip to Boston for ADLP and his then girlfriend, now wife, Vanessa Garcia Azzam.

And The Dean is not a cheap date. It seems they stayed at the luxury Liberty Hotel, where rooms start at $275 a night.

A source at City Hall said there were two Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents in the building Thursday and that Diaz de la Portilla had left out the back door after the shortest and most polite commission meeting in city history was adjourned. The Dean was reportedly escorted away by his sergeant at arms. There was no Flannigan’s lunch in his office this week.

And it might make you wonder who pays for those lunches, right?

FDLE agents ended up calling Miami Police Chief Manny Morales to remind him that the sergeant at arms is an officer of the law and needed to take the commissioner to the FDLE office in Doral. Pronto.

The Centner Academy made national headlines in 2020 and was investigated by the Florida Department of Education after the school’s millionaire director, Leila Centner, told teachers that if they got the COVID-19 vaccine, they would lose their jobs. Students who got vaccinated would have to stay home and “quarantine” for 30 days. The school cited false and disproved claims of “shedding” or transmission from the vaccine and became a national laughing stock. 

Diaz de la Portilla, a former state senator and house rep who is up for re-election this year, has been the focus of quite a few investigations over his political career.

Read related: Jenny Nillo campaigned for Renier Diaz de la Portilla while on the public job

Earlier this month, former State Rep. Manny Prieguez, a lobbyist who helped fund DLP’s campaign for city commissioner, sued the commissioner in civil court over the alleged shakedown of his client Rickenbacker Marina operator Aabad Melwani. A shakedown that is part of the local political lore, so known by so many people que me da pena ajena.

Ed Griffith, a spokesman for the state attorney’s office, told Ladra that they did not press charges because neither Melwani nor Prieguez wanted to cooperate. “You need to have a victim,” Griffith said.

What about the residents and taxpayers of Miami? Aren’t they the real victims?

Also, Prieguez told Ladra that he went to the authorities to report ADLP’s criminal behavior.

“I was a victim of a crime,” Prieguez told Ladra. “After I was shaken down by [ADLP associates] Anibal Duarte and Bert Hernandez, a few days later after that I went to law enforcement. I reported the crime.”

He said nobody ever reached out to him.

The 14 separate criminal charges filed Thursday started as an investigation on possible ethics violations.

“It is always sad and regrettable when an elected official is criminally charged with abusing the public’s trust, but the community should find some solace in the fact that today’s arrest will shine a bright light on the alleged criminal conduct,” Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust Executive Director Jose Arrojo said.

“The investigation leading to today’s arrest of City of Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla and local attorney William W. Riley, Jr. began as an inquiry into possible violations of local ethics ordinances. Once it became evident that a violation of criminal law was indicated, the matter was brought to prosecutors and law enforcement,” Arrojo said.

Once it became evident? Abren los ojos mas.

There should be more charges coming. And there could be other conspirators charged.

  Alex Diaz de la Portilla, political corruption