Miami, FL
Charges dropped against former Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, attorney
MIAMI – More than a year after announcing charges, Broward prosecutors have dropped the criminal case against former Miami City Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla and attorney William Riley.
Broward State Attorney Harold Pryor, who took over the case’s prosecution, made the announcement Wednesday.
Diaz de la Portilla, 60, who served on the Miami city commission representing District 1 from 2020 until he was suspended from office shortly after his arrest on corruption charges in September 2023, was accused of secretly taking in tens of thousands of dollars from owners of a private school.
The commissioner and Riley, 49, were accused of laundering approximately $245,000 in concealed political contributions to support the construction of Centner Academy’s athletic complex on public land in Miami’s Edgewater neighborhood.
In a statement, Pryor said that after “a substantial follow-up investigation and extensive depositions of witnesses, we have concluded that there is no reasonable likelihood of conviction.”
“When the arrests were made, I promised that our prosecutors would pursue justice in this matter and that is what we have done,” he said.
In a closeout memo, prosecutors wrote, “The evidence does not demonstrate corrupt intent, unlawful benefits, or falsification of records. Witness testimony is unreliable and lawful actions have been misconstrued as criminal.”
“Substantial follow-up investigations and depositions have occurred that revealed that the foundation of this entire investigation was misguided and buttressed by unverified information,” prosecutors wrote, calling the case “purely circumstantial.”
Diaz de la Portilla, who consistently and strenuously denied any wrongdoing, tried to regain his seat in the 2023 election, but lost to challenger Miguel Gabela under the cloud of criminal charges.
Those charges are now a thing of the past.
This is a developing story. Stay with Local 10 News and Local10.com for updates.
Read the closeout memo:
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The Cleveland Browns traded for an extended right tackle, former Houston Texan Tytus Howard, at the start of free agency as they began their rebuild of the offensive line that was awful in 2025. But Howard has played every position on the offensive line except for center, so if it’s all about getting your best five on the field, which it should be, there’s a chance Howard doesn’t play at right tackle in 2026.
While doing a mock draft on Peter Schrager’s podcast, former Tennessee Titans general manager Ran Carthon had the Browns drafting Miami (FL) right tackle sixth overall. He talked about the issue with Howard, but said Mauigoa could either take over the tackle spot or be a really good guard.
Carthon said he knows that Mauigoa would be one of their best five, whether it is at guard or tackle. Some will say that a guy who may be best at guard isn’t worth the sixth overall pick, and I have to disagree. You should draft the best football players, and Francis Mauigoa is my highest-rated offensive lineman and seventh overall. It might be at guard, but I have a good feeling that Mauigoa will find a home in the NFL as a high-quality offensive lineman.
Inventory of homes and condos across the coastal Miami mainland and Miami Beach and the barrier island markets fell in the first quarter, marking the first big inventory drops since 2023.
The Corcoran Group’s first quarter reports don’t cover all of Miami-Dade County, but they offer insight into how the coastal markets, which have a higher share of luxury properties, are performing.
In Miami Beach, Sunny Isles Beach, Bal Harbour, Bay Harbor Islands, Surfside, Miami Beach, Fisher Island and Key Biscayne, single-family home inventory dropped 15 percent annually to 398 listings, and condo inventory was down 13 percent to 3,919 listings.
On Miami’s coastal mainland markets, which include Aventura, Miami Shores, Upper East Side, Edgewater, downtown Miami, Brickell, Coral Gables and Coconut Grove, inventory slipped 4 percent to 4,584 condo listings and 555 single-family listings, down 6 percent year-over-year.
Here’s a closer look at the market:
Miami Beach and the barrier islands
Single-family sales rose 13 percent year-over-year to 85 closings, the first time they have increased since the second quarter of 2024. Condo closings rose 15 percent to 693 closings, the first increase since the last quarter of 2024.
Pricing dropped, with the median price of single-family homes down 4 percent to $3.5 million and the median condo price down 9 percent to $640,000. The average price per square foot was nearly flat at $1,119.
Still, buyers set records with their purchases. Billionaire Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg paid $170 million for the waterfront mansion at 7 Indian Creek Island Road, and Starbucks billionaire Howard Schultz paid $44 million, or $7,949 per square foot, for a penthouse at the Four Seasons Residences at The Surf Club.
Coastal mainland
Sales of single-family homes on the coastal mainland rose 16 percent to 220 closings. While markets like Coral Gables experienced declines in condo and single-family home sales, Coconut Grove home sales surged — up over 100 percent for single-family homes to 47 closings and up 55 percent to 87 condo closings. Condo sales rose 13 percent to 759 closings.
The median price of single-family homes across the coastal mainland rose 11 percent to just over $2 million. The median price of condos increased slightly, up 1 percent, to $602,000.
The priciest deals in the first quarter were the $32 million trade of 12 Tahiti Beach Island Road in Coral Gables, and the $19.8 million sale of a penthouse at Vita at Grove Isle.
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