The Hialeah hoodlums who snub their nose at state Sunshine Laws and collect absentee ballots like some folk collect stamps got away with it again Tuesday.
A jury returned after less than a day of deliberations on the federal tax evasion trial for former Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina and his wife, Raiza, and said the couple were not guilty of any of the charges.
Really? Really?
How is it possible that the 12 jurors believed the Robainas forgot to claim up to $2 million on their taxes? How can that be when witness after witness got up on the stand and testified that the Robainas were charging 36 percent interest on a loan to Luis Felipe “Felipito” Perez and that Robaina was getting envelopes of cash delivered at his friend’s home and that they dealt with the former mayor, not his wife, as he claimed?
Current Mayor Carlos Hernandez even went on the stand and admitted that he, too, charged Perez 36 percent on two loans totaling $180,000.
Ladra can only come up with one reason: The jury couldn’t sympathize with the victim, a sleazy convicted Ponzi schemer who is serving 10 years for his fraudulent con.
TV reporters who got a chance to speak to some jurors off camera were told that they didn’t believe the witnesses, particularly Perez, and that prosecutors simply didn’t make their case.
So why didn’t they call the others that had gotten loans from both mayors. Why didn’t Luis Miramontes testify about his $65,000 loan from Robaina and how he was paying 20 percent interest? Is it because it was noit 36 percent?
Why didn’t Recaredo Gutierrez, who noted a $50,000 debt to Hernandez on his bankruptcy, called to testify? If only to establish that this was a booming business for the Hialeah hoodlums?
Because I think what happened was that the jury went away thinking Perez was the only one claiming he was charged illegal exorbitant fees. He’s not.
This should have been a slam dunk case against Robaina, who everyone knows not only charged illegal usury fees as the top loanshark at the 1st Hialeah Bank of Julito, but also failed to disclose it on his income tax forms. His attorney and his wife, the only one who took the stand, told the jury that it was simply an error, that they simply forgot to claim an $800,000 lobbying fee from a business partner for a project in Hialeah Gardens and another $300,000 from Roberto Viñas. By the way, Viñas testified that he didn’t remember what he paid Robaina $300K for.
You know, it slipped his mind.
And the jury bought all this?
Former Mayor Raul Martinez, who saw some of the trial, had been confident that the Robainas would see the inside of a cell. Even though he did say on TV Monday that “you never know what a jury is going to do.”
On Tuesday, he speculated that maybe the government bombarded them with too much information.
“There were a lot of photographs. A lot of checks,” Martinez told Ladra.
Outside the federal courthouse, Robaina crowed as his wife smiled from ear to ear.
“We told everyone from the beginning that we are going to vindicate our names. That the truth is the truth,” Roba-y-na’ had the gall to say, suggesting that he would uncover more details about the unjust trial against him in the near future.
“As the days move forward, we’ll get to that,” he said.
Ladra is still sorta reeling from this surprise decision. We thought he was going to be sharing a cell with former Sweetwater Mayor Manny “Maraña” Maroño. Instead, they’re probably roasting a pig in the back yard.
But stay tuned. I’m collecting reactions and asking for a sit-down with the U.S. Attorney’s Office to see if they can tell me where they think they went wrong.
But do you think that what he may announce in the coming days is another run for office, now that his name has been “vindicated?”
Who knows? Maybe he will file for Miami-Dade property appraiser. After all, he’s got real estate experience.
Not guilty: Julio Robaina can now run for office again added by Ladra on
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@Lickerpoet I love you just about everything you say. Keep the poetry flowing please.
[…] also say that the not guilty verdict against former Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina gives him hope and perhaps fueled the fire that burned in him to run. And Ladra […]
This was a targeted investigation from inception. Assuming there was under reporting of income or under payment of taxes, the taxpayers would have saved and recaptured money by pursuing a civil audit, rather than wasting money in a long term investigation and prosecution. This investigation was initiated and, in large part, conducted by Miami-Dade Police Officers assigned to a so called “Task Force” all of whom report to the higher ups in the Department who threw fundraisers for Gimenez. The prosecution relied on con-artist, thieves, and liars. Most of the so-called witnesses crafted their testimony to please the Government, save themselves, and possibly avoid prosecution for their own misdeeds. Many may not appreciate the historical irony or coincidence of this prosecution and that of another Hialeah Mayor, Raul Martinez. Once it was obvious that Raul Martinez was moving to higher office, and seeking the Congressional Seat now held by Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, he was indicted by Ileana’s husband, Dexter Lehtinen. Julio became the subject of a targeted investigation after disclosing his plans to run for County Mayor. The indictment prevented him from challenging Gimenez a year later. Eire, indeed! Is the message that if you are from Hialeah, do not seek higher office, or else. The difference between the prosecution of Raul Martinez and that of Julio Robaina is the number of wimps, fair weathered friends, and so-called business associates who embellished, exaggerated, and crafted their testimony during Julio’s trial to curry favor with investigators and prosecutors. Look no further than Carlos Hernandez, after telling the world one thing he takes the stand and changes his testimony. There is an close and interesting association between Robertico Blanco and Mayor Hernandez. Mr. Blanco, of course, is like a brother of Felipito Perez, the con-artist who was seeking to reduce his prison sentence. UMMMMM? Interesting pyramid, what a wicked web!
@Hitting Head Against Wall, I, too, am “Looking forward to the billboard signs from that business up in Hialeah.” I’m not sure how that “peculiar poet” will respond to this verdict. I don’t think he would jump to the conclusions of jury tampering and payoffs. Perhaps he might be a bit more philosophical. Maybe something along these lines.
We have a difficult system of justice, by design. We have a presumed assumption of innocence, and a high hurdle to leap, proof beyond a reasonable doubt. We also have a history of jurisprudence along these lines expressed by English jurist William Blackstone. “Better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.”
The jury had no prior knowledge of Julio Robaina.They did not know that he had a life long history of accounting mistakes, shortcuts, or questionable methodology. They did not know the history of his construction practice, or of his tenure as mayor. The juror had to focus only on the information they garnered in that court room.
Those of us following this blog have made it our business, our pleasure, to follow the shenanigans of local politicians. We know that Robaina continued to pay real estate taxes based on vacant land upon which he had already built a shopping center. This was just another oversight. We know who Robaina’s mistress was, and the exorbitant budget allotted to her Special Events department.
The jury did not know of this history. Was Julio Robaina convicted ? NO. Was he quilty of these crimes and many others? Hmmm, what would that peculiar poet say?
Hialeah Mayors 2
FEDS 0
Crime ain’t a sin if u
Have teflon for skin
I don’t know about you guys but I’ll take this as a sign that Michael Pizzi walks at his trial too.
Looks like the Julio Robaina machine is out in force once again. Funny, just a few days ago not many of these newly found fans was around the courtroom to support him. When a sitting mayor is lending monies at an unregulated rate of 36% to a convicted felon,and anyone willing to borrow from him you have a major problem. Call it what you want but Hialeah has been a corrupt city since the days of Milander and Bennett. It seems though that Robaina and Hernandez has taken corruption to a new level. The fact that some here accept that type of corruption as a way of doing business, tells you quite a bit about Hialeah.
Everybody who works for hialeah knows who the other women is no secret there use to sit right outside his office has a daughter in high places.
Oliva and Gonzalez no college degrees. Case closed.
Some of these opinions are just classic……some of you would have only been satisfied with a guilty verdict. You didn’t sit in the trial, you only read what the Herald published, or watching some TV coverage, perhaps you got info from this blog…..whatever the source it was all tainted against Julio and his wife. I mean some of you would have just loved watching them both go to jail.
But what you fail to see was that the federal government was desperate. They didn’t have a case, in fact they tried to smear Julio by claiming a mistress….they never produced the mistress (because she didn’t exist), they claimed all this cash….yet they never produced an account or purchase that was done with cash (because they didn’t have it).
the case was all built on a crook.
Now should elected officials be in the lending money business…..NO, but it he didn’t violate any law and he is a FREE MAN.
And for all you that love to smack down hialeah and its politician, they are no worst than any other community in Miami Dade or pick a city in the US.
Amen Teresita, would never vote for a Hialeah Politician.
How very sad, the good people of Hialeah do not deserve this group of crooks, yet it seems there is less and less honest & responsible people in the confines of Hialeah. The so called younger generation ( early 40s and 50s ) are at best clowns and at worst crooks. The future is very bleak for those that would like to see an honest person in charge ( yet they did it to themselves) it is really in their hands now. You either claim that you want an honest mayor and council and hold their feet to the fire, or survive within the mud the best you can. Don’t cry when your room and board is solely dependent on this corrupt group, when the Housing guru tells you who to vote for or lose your roof, don’t turn in your absentee ballots to be filled by this group of crooks, if you don’t and continue to perpetuate this behavior, then you asked for it, and so you shall live in their filth.
Robaina for Property Appraiser!
The jury got it right. If the IRS thought they were under reporting their income, a simple audit would have delivered both the missing taxes, plus significant penalties that would have more than made up for any missing revenue that should have been reported. Instead over zealous federal prosecutors thought they could bully this couple into submission, stupping so low as to even try to destroy their marriage (if the defendants did not have enough to worry about) by creating a bogus scenario of infedility on the part of the husband. The old divide and conquer technique. The US attorney owes this community an apology for wasting valuable resources that could have been better used in protecting Medicare from real thieves than trying to incarcerate our fellow neighbors just because they made a mistake filling out their tax forms. We cant allow the sanctity of our Judicial system to be used as a means of bullying its citizens with the threats of long prison sentences just because they made an honest mistake.
The only real mistake here was bringing this case in the first place.
I agree with Justice Prevailed and disagree with Ladra. This case is not about whether you think JR should be a public servant in the future, or if you think he is “sleazy” or not. The issue was very narrow and did not even involve loan sharking. Did he beyond a reasonable doubt intentionally lie on his taxes? That was the standard and I think the jury got it right. JR will now have to pay back taxes and likely civil penalties and interest. That’s exactly what should have happened from the beginning, not a criminal trial. As for usury, it is a state, not federal, crime. It had no bearing on whether JR is guilty of tax fraud.
Ladra, you should be asking yourself why the rush to condemn JR? Why and who wanted him out of the political picture? Think beyond the obvious.
The US Attorney brought a case it should not have brought. You cannot send a man to prison based solely on the testimony of a Ponzi schemer and a few instances of tax non-reporting that may or may not have been intentional.
At the end of the day, these dimwit jurors admired the Robainas for trying to screw the highly-dreaded IRS. The Feds had two of their finest prosecutors present an excellent case … in retrospect, they never had a chance.
Recently, a county employee in charge of street lighting went to prison for a lengthy sentence for awarding contracts to his contractor friends in exchange for house appliances. How is it possible that a mayor caught in the act of loan sharking is permitted to walk away from this trial without any repercussion? Is the U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecution team that dense or is Robaina’s attorney that bright? Chances are that the blame falls on the jury of our “peers”- you know, the ones that rarely ever vote and or are willing to give away their absentee ballots, the ones whose apathy and ignorance is so great that they fall asleep during the course of the trial and care little about turning loose a thug who has corrupted the system for quite sometime.
Remember, if you forget 800k on your irs 1040, it’s your accountant’s fault! WTF!!!
A number of things come to mind: jury tampering, payoffs, political nuclear options. Looking forward to the billboard signs from that business up in Hialeah.