Miami, FL
Miami attorneys bankrolled DEA bribery scheme, federal prosecutors say
MIAMI (AP) — Federal prosecutors are expanding their investigation into a bribery scheme involving two former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration supervisors, turning their attention to two Miami defense attorneys suspected of profiting from repeated leaks of confidential DEA information.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan filed court papers Monday accusing the lawyers of bankrolling the scheme and asking a judge to allow prosecutors to review nearly 1,000 emails, text messages and recordings of protected phone calls between the attorneys and Manny Recio, a former DEA agent who later worked for the attorneys as a private investigator.
Attorneys’ communications with their clients and members of their investigative team are confidential and typically off limits from law enforcement, unless they are being used to carry out criminal activity. But federal prosecutors took the unusual step this week of asking a judge to invoke the “crime fraud exception” to this privilege, calling the communications between Recio and attorneys David Macey and Luis Guerra “integral to the bribery scheme.”
READ MORE: Professional informant takes center stage in bribery trial of veteran DEA agents
The motion marked an about-face for prosecutors, who for years went out of their way to avoid naming the lawyers as unindicted co-conspirators and beneficiaries of the conspiracy. Neither Macey nor Guerra has been charged, but prosecutors referred to them as “crooked attorneys” who “paid handsomely for DEA secrets” during a two-week trial that ended in November with a jury finding Recio and former DEA agent John Costanzo Jr. guilty of bribery and honest-services wire fraud.
“We’re here scheming about how we’re going to make money, money, money,” Guerra said in one intercepted conversation with Costanzo.
Macey and Guerra have not responded to repeated requests for comment. Both attorneys are longstanding members of what is known in Miami as the “white powder bar,” a fiercely competitive circle of high-priced defense attorneys who scramble to sign up kingpin clients, negotiate surrender deals and convert them into government cooperators.
In such a lucrative field, advance notice of an indictment or ongoing investigations can be the key to successfully recruiting a new client. But paying public officials for inside information is illegal.
Prosecutors said in the trial that after Recio retired he repeatedly asked Costanzo to run names in a confidential DEA database that tracks federal investigations of interest to his new employers. The two also discussed the timing of the arrest of the top drug trafficker in the Dominican Republic and the the exact date in 2019 when the grand jury was to indict businessman Alex Saab, a top criminal target in Venezuela and suspected bag man for the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro.
“Throughout the bribery scheme, Costanzo repeatedly leaked information to Recio to benefit him and the attorneys he worked with,” prosecutors wrote in a 28-page memo that quotes from wiretapped communications between Recio and Costanzo presented during trial. “Costanzo was leaking information so that Macey and Guerra could bring in more clients, and part of the scheme required Recio to convey the inside information to Macey and Guerra.”
In exchange, the attorneys lavished the two veteran lawmen with nearly $100,000 in cash and gifts, federal prosecutors said.
Bribes included a $50,000 down payment for Costanzo to purchase a Miami-area townhouse that was wired via middlemen including Costanzo’s father, himself a retired and decorated DEA agent who prosecutors said lied to the FBI.
“It’s about greed and corruption,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Deininger said in her closing argument at trial. “What they were doing was wrong and they knew it.”
Macey last appeared in federal court in December for the sentencing of a client who pleaded guilty to distributing more than $16 million worth of adulterated prescription drugs. Guerra appears to have rebranded his practice to focus on personal injury cases, saying in a social media post, “With Guerra, it rains money!”
Mustian reported from New York.
Miami, FL
Miami-Dade condo owners plead for help after weeks-long elevator outrage impacting residents’ health
Condominium owners near Doral are appealing for help after their buildings have been without elevator service for weeks. They are speaking exclusively with CBS News Miami, sharing stories of hardship amid the area’s suffocating heat. Several owners, who are elderly and have disabilities, say they are struggling to climb the stairs.
This is not the first time the issue has plagued Parkwood Condominiums. Last July, CBS News Miami reported that one building in the complex had been without elevator service for more than a week.
Currently, service has been out at 9240 Fontainebleau Boulevard since May 14. The elevator at 9270 Fontainebleau Boulevard has been out of service since May 15, and the elevator at 9180 Fontainebleau Boulevard is also non-functional, though the duration there is unknown.
Ronald Bedenis, who has lived on the fifth floor of 9240 Fontainebleau Boulevard for 31 years, expressed worry for his wife and others.
“It’s terrible. People are having a really difficult time,” Bedenis said. “My wife cannot go out. I have an 80-year-old woman who cannot go down the stairs. Another neighbor is 104 years old, and she is in a wheelchair. How is she supposed to get down and buy food?”
His neighbor, 68-year-old Sandra Hanson, shared her struggle. “It is horrible. It is very bad because my husband is 80 years old and he cannot walk. He is very sick. He is stressed out,” Hanson said.
At 9270 Fontainebleau Boulevard, 77-year-old heart patient Luis Jorge said the outage is impacting his health.
“They put two catheters in my heart before, and I have another operation coming up,” Jorge said. “To go down is not a problem. But to go up is a problem. We called, and there is no one to talk to. I feel like I am in prison”.
His neighbor, Iris Hernandez, called the situation “frustrating”.
“It’s a big hardship, and I am in disbelief,” Hernandez said. “I feel like I am in a nightmare. I would like to see the elevator fixed”.
CBS News Miami contacted Atlas Property Management Services in Doral and received a statement from Joaquin Alvarez, the property manager.
Alvarez reported some progress at 9270 Fontainebleau Boulevard, where a damaged property edge was repaired, but they are waiting for a control card. At 9240 Fontainebleau Boulevard, Alvarez said the elevator had a damaged valve, and he expected a new one to be installed by the end of the week. He confirmed the Condominium Association had authorized repairs.
For 9180 Fontainebleau Boulevard, Alvarez said the problem involves a defective control board, which the elevator company is working with the manufacturer to resolve. He noted the issue has been ongoing “for a while” but did not provide a repair completion date for that building.
South Florida developers knocked out a combined $115 million in construction loans for Miami condo towers that are nearly sold out, as the demand for hospitality-branded residences heats up in the region.
North Development paid off a $70 million loan to Forman Capital and Core Capital for Domus Brickell Park, while Rosso Development and Midtown Development paid off a $45 million mortgage to Arkansas-based Bank OZK for The Standard Residences, Midtown Miami.
The projects have hit major milestones.
North’s 172-unit Domus Brickell Park recently opened and has posted 120 closings, while Rosso and Midtown’s 228-unit Standard Residences is nearing completion with only five units left to sell.
North Development, a partnership between Ricardo Dunin’s Oak Capital and Juan Carlos Tassara’s Edifica, paid off its loan in April for the building at 1611 Southwest Second Avenue.
The project offers a mix of studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units that are short-term rental friendly. Units were marketed from the $600,000s to $1.2 million.
Zyscovich Architects is the architect, and Urban Robot Associates is the interior design firm. Amenities include the Peacock Room, which Dunin previously described as an activated lobby with food and beverage concepts, a market, and co-working spaces for guests and the public that were inspired by the ACE hotel in New York.
The payoff comes as North pushes ahead with Domus Brickell Center, another short-term-rental-friendly condo tower nearby. The developer said that 35-story, 579-unit project at 1034 Southwest Second Avenue is more than 50 percent sold and ahead of schedule. Less than a year ago, the project secured $220 million in financing, consisting of $180 million in C-PACE funding from Coral Gables-based Bayview PACE and a $40 million mortgage from Core Capital.
A few miles north, Rosso Development and Midtown Development paid off a $45 million construction loan for The Standard Residences, Midtown Miami, the first standalone residential project from the lifestyle hospitality brand. Another Standard-branded residential tower is under development in Brickell by Newgard Development Group and Two Roads Development.
Designed by Arquitectonica, the 12-story Midtown project includes 228 residences and more than 34,000 square feet of amenities, featuring a rooftop pool, pickleball court, coworking spaces and several food-and-beverage offerings, including a Juvia Group restaurant on the rooftop.
Units range from 432 square feet to 965 square feet, and include studios to two-bedroom condos. Owners will be able to rent their units out for terms as short as one month. In October 2023, fewer than 35 units remained, priced between $500,000 to $1 million.
A JLL Capital Markets debt advisory team led by Brian Gaswirth and Jimmy Calvo arranged the financing in 2023. According to JLL, the loan was paid off ahead of schedule.
Bank OZK is one of South Florida’s most active condo construction lenders. The bank also provided PMG’s state record-setting $668 million construction loan for Waldorf Astoria Residences Miami, which is expected to become the tallest residential tower south of New York City.
Even as interest rates have gradually come down in recent years, the environment is still relatively high, and construction costs continue to climb.
Read more
Juvia to open rooftop restaurant at Standard Residences in Midtown
Development
South Florida
Standard Residences in Midtown Miami scores $45M construction loan
Residential
South Florida
Ricardo Dunin, Juan Carlos Tassara land $220M financing for Domus Brickell Center
Development
South Florida
Ricardo Dunin, Peruvian partner score $70M loan for Domus Brickell
Miami, FL
Family displaced after car crashes into southwest Miami-Dade home, leaving structure unlivable
A car crashed into a southwest Miami-Dade home Sunday evening, leaving the structure unlivable and displacing a family of five, authorities said.
The crash happened near the intersection of Monroe Street and Douglass Drive and involved two vehicles, according to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office. Doorbell camera video captured the moment of impact and the chaotic aftermath as neighbors rushed to help.
Five family members were inside the home at the time of the crash, including an 84-year-old woman. No one inside the house was injured, but the damage to the home was extensive.
“I was frantic. I was scared,” said Ken Charles, a relative who rushed to the scene to check on his grandmother. “I had to jump up and head straight over here and see what’s really going on.”
A woman who lives in the home, who asked not to be identified by her full name, said she initially thought something far worse had happened.
“I didn’t know if it was a gunshot, if it was a bomb, if it was a police chase,” she said. “So I looked outside and saw the car smoking.”
Emergency crews transported three people involved in the crash to a hospital with injuries ranging from stable to critical, officials said. Doorbell video shows neighbors and occupants of the vehicles attempting to help the injured moments after the collision.
Residents in the neighborhood said speeding and drivers running stop signs are ongoing concerns in the area, though they said crashes this severe are uncommon.
“There is no reason for him to be going so fast,” the resident said.
The American Red Cross responded late Sunday evening to assist the displaced family with temporary housing. Charles said the family does not have insurance and is now facing major financial challenges.
“We really do need the help,” he said. “It’s very difficult, and it’s not easy. We don’t know how we are going to get by.”
Authorities have not released an update on the conditions of those injured or said whether any charges will be filed. The investigation remains ongoing.
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