For Miami Grand Prix president Tyler Epp, 2024 was the year which saw the event blossom into what race organisers had always hoped it would be.

A harsh spotlight had shone on the previous races at the Miami International Autodrome following its high-profile inclusion on the 2022 Formula 1 calendar but, as Lando Norris claimed his maiden victory in the sport, Epp could also afford to celebrate.

The first of three races staged across the United States in the modern era of truly global F1 coverage, Epp felt Miami truly arrived the third time around.

“We talked about how the first year was simply an exercise in trying to get it done and actually pulling it off, and getting the doors open, and getting people here and the teams here,” he explains to Autosport.

“Year two, you fix a lot of problems and you’re very focused on those things that did not go like you wanted. Then year three would be the year where you actually hit a bit of stride and you settle into some things that you’ve built, that work well, and things that maybe work a little better than you thought.

“It’s far from saying that everything is perfect, and we figured it all out. It’s not saying that in the least but it did feel a bit like year three was a time for us to stabilise a little bit and some of the creative concepts that Tom Garfinkel really came up with to launch this race started to come to life a little bit for the fanbase, I think the racetrack came to life a bit for the competitors.”

It is hard to establish an F1 legacy with a race still very much in its infancy, but Miami does have unique selling points to fans – from its high-end hospitality offerings to integrating the Hard Rock Beach Club and the buzz around the fake marina – so could these become staples of the calendar?

“We’ve got to earn that, and we know that – we’re not exactly Eau Rouge! But it gives us hope that someday some of our funky corners and parts of the racetrack will take shape from a racing perspective,” added Epp.

“Then we think there are a bit of, hopefully, iconic areas of our racetrack that we can continue to build, develop and evolve throughout the years for the fanbase, with the things that we do in the marina for example.”

While attracting a global audience remains crucial to the business of hosting a Formula 1 grand prix, Epp has also made sure the local community has not been lost within the glamour of the Miami Grand Prix, with a sprint race and F1 Academy also on the weekend schedule.

“We talk about it a lot more than people think – we’re really proud to race in Miami Gardens,” he said.

“We’re proud to put on these mega events in Miami Gardens. It has transformed the industry. It’s transformed this community and to put a billion dollars back into this greater Miami and Fort Lauderdale community over the first three years of this event is something we’re really proud of.

“But the things that we really see is the impact on young people and we were turning people from this community into race fans but even more so than that is our MIA Academy program, which identifies college-age people who have an interest in the motorsports space.

“We bring them in, and they become a part of our team. We’re now on our fourth year of it, and we’ve now sent almost 100 young people into the marketplace, and every year we’ve hired a group of those kids to come and work with us on a full-time basis. We are identifying talent in our actual community and bringing it to life, I think that is unique to us.”

Former Oregon Ducks and current Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix is coming off a very successful 2024-2025 season. Nix threw for 3,777 yards, 29 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions en route to helping the Broncos snapping their playoff drought. 

Despite being one off the best up and coming quarterbacks in the NFL, Nix’s contract this upcoming season will be less than college quarterback Carson Beck’s NIL valuation with the Miami Hurricanes.

Nix signed a four year $18 million contract after being drafted No. 12 overall by the Broncos in the 2024 NFL Draft. The cap hit on Nix’s deal in 2024 was $3.3 million and will be $4.2 million in 2025. 

Beck on the other hand is set to make $4.4 million in 2025 with Miami per On3.

Carson Beck is set to start his sixth collegiate season when the Miami Hurricanes kick off their 2025 season. Beck was the No. 1 ranked quarterback back out of high school in the class of 2020 per 247Sports and signed with the Georgia Bulldogs. Beck was at Georgia from 2020-2024 before announcing he would be transferring and signing with the Miami Hurricanes for the 2025 season. 

Beck was the Bulldogs starting quarterback in 2023 and 2024 and threw for 52 touchdowns and 18 interceptions. His 2024 season came to an end in the SEC Championship game against Texas, where he injured his UCL on his throwing arm. This is a similar injury that San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy suffered in the 2022-2023 NFC Championship game vs. the Philadelphia Eagles.

Despite this injury, Miami decided that they were willing to role the dice with Beck and he is set to make over $4 million in NIL from the University of Miami collective alone. Assuming he is able to heal from his elbow injury and win the starting job in the fall, Beck will be the one following in the footsteps of Cam Ward. Ward spent his final collegiate season at Miami, throwing for 39 touchdowns and only seven interceptions. Ward lead the Hurricanes to a 10-3 record and is now projected as one of the top two quarterbacks to be selected in the 2025 NFL Draft. 

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The Denver Broncos selected Bo Nix as the No. 12 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Nix and the Broncos had very low expectations s coming into the season, and had their over/under win total at 5.5 wins. Sean Payton and his team blew that away and went 10-7, clinching a wild card berth. 

The Broncos had not made a playoff appearance since 2015-2016, when Payton Manning was the quarterback. The Broncos season came to a close in a 31-7 loss at the Buffalo Bills over the weekend.

MORE: Oregon Ducks 5-Star Receiver Dakorien Moore Compared to Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith 

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MORE: Four-Star Linebacker Recruit McKay Madsen Commits To BYU Over Oregon Ducks, UCLA

MORE: L.A. Chargers’ Justin Herbert Takes Blame In NFL Wild Card Loss To Houston Texans

MIAMI – A group of men identified by a ringleader as “goons” were plotting through a messaging app to kidnap a Miami jeweler and rob him of $2 million in cryptocurrency. But they didn’t know an informant was also in their group chat.

That’s all according to court documents obtained by Local 10 News on Wednesday, following the arrests of Zacary Briggs, 22; Aaron Hammond, 21; Tre’von Neal, 20; and Evan Puckett, 18, on multiple federal felonies.

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Authorities said they nabbed the group in Broward County on Monday as they met up ahead of the planned kidnapping.

The alleged plot

A federal criminal complaint authored by an FBI agent states that a “confidential source” informed authorities on Jan. 6 that a person named “Jack” was assembling “a group of people to kidnap a jeweler who worked out of the Seybold Building,” a well-known hub of jewelers at 36 NE First St. in downtown Miami.

The source told investigators that “Jack” had been in contact with the victim online and “was seeking to exchange a large amount of cryptocurrency for cash,” authorities said.

The next day, “Jack” told the informant that he would put him in a group chat with the “goons,” members of the kidnapping group, the complaint states. “Jack,” authorities say, also sent the source a screenshot of the victim’s digital wallet, showing he had about $2 million worth of crypto.

In the following days, “Jack” began a group chat via the Telegram app called “Play.” In it were “Jack,” along with participants identified as “Dot,” “Swipey” and “Tim.”

The informant was known as “D” or “Big D.” While the complaint doesn’t state who “Jack,” “Tim” and “Dot” were, agents said they were later able to identify “Swipey” as Puckett.

“Jack” would later tell the group chat, “(S)o I told them not to hurt or do shi (sic) to him. We just need to get him,” the complaint states,

“Jack” and his partner “Tim” ultimately agreed to provide the other members of the group $3,500 before the kidnapping.

Read the complaint:

Authorities said the group discussed plans to hold the jeweler until a crypto ransom was paid and it was decided that “Tim” would provide a vehicle for the kidnapping. The complaint states that “Dot” “later stated that they would be carrying firearms, including Mac-10s and .223 assault-style rifles for the kidnapping.”

The informant told agents that members of the group had asked him to provide a car prior to Monday, the planned date of the kidnapping, ”so they could drive around the area where the kidnapping would occur and scope it out beforehand.”

Authorities said “Tim” arranged to send the informant, “D” to meet with Puckett “near or around Palm Beach County” to pick up the car.

But instead of “D,” the complaint states that investigators sent an undercover agent posing as the informant to meet Puckett. He brought a black, 2023 Chevy Tahoe which was, unbeknownst to the crooks, outfitted with wires, authorities said.

After Puckett met with the agent and got the SUV, he told the group chat, “Big D was cool,” the complaint states. He was later heard, after moving the SUV to a Broward home, saying, “Oh, he’s not getting this back,” referring to the Tahoe.

Authorities said on Monday, they tracked Neal’s cellphone from central Florida as he and the other suspect headed from Ocala to Davie to meet with Puckett to commit the kidnapping.

The complaint states that on a recorded call, Puckett was heard telling “Jack” and the informant that he had a “convoy of (N-words) doing this s— for nothing.” He would later send the group photos of “a handgun and an AR-Style pistol” that he had procured, agents said.

In another recorded call, three members of the kidnapping group were heard talking about the plot, the complaint states.

Authorities said a male voice is heard saying that “one knock” and “one good bop should do it” but that they did not want to give the victim “brain damage.”

“Another male voice can then be heard saying ‘I don’t want this (n-word) to stab me or f—ing shoot me,’ to which a third male voice then replies ‘Tre’von, I would kill that n—- dawg,’” investigators wrote in the complaint.

Authorities said they intercepted the men as they parked ahead of the kidnapping. They said they immediately captured Briggs, Hammond and Puckett and said they arrested Neal a short time later after he ran toward a nearby business.

Agents interview suspects

Authorities said they interviewed the suspects after taking them into custody.

Neal, they said, told investigators that “he was supposed to act as ‘security’ for the (group) and would protect the crew if (the victim) tried to defend himself with a weapon.”

Neal, who had a knife on him, said he “did not intend” to use it in the kidnapping and said “he had changed his mind about participating in the robbery and wanted to leave,” the complaint states.

Puckett, investigators said, admitted that the group intended to rob the victim for crypto and “admitted that he brought the guns the group members would possess during the robbery; however, he claimed that he intended to use them only in the event that he needed to defend himself.”

Investigators said Briggs first claimed that Neal had “hired him to drive him around and that he was going to get paid $500 a day” but that “he was asleep during the trip” and said that Puckett was “known to scam people for cryptocurrency.”

Briggs, the complaint states, “eventually admitted he was aware that the (group) was driving down” to South Florida “to participate in the kidnapping and robbery,” but “he only agreed to act as the ‘driver’ and he did not plan on getting involved in the violence against (the victim).”

It states he “also told law enforcement that if anyone threatened his safety during the robbery, he would have run them over with the truck” and said that the plan was for Puckett to meet with the jeweler “and pretend that he was going to give him a couple of watches in exchange for cryptocurrency.”

Hammond also admitted to the plot, agents said, and said the group’s “plan was to lure the jeweler to the car, rob him and then let him go.”

Investigators said he told them that “he was supposed to be the ‘jump out guy,’ which meant he would “bonk” the victim on the head and put him in the SUV.

They said Hammond told them when he arrived in Broward, he “saw the rifle in the vehicle and became worried because he was on ‘probation.’”

Charges and court dates

The men were initially booked into Broward Sheriff’s Office jail facilities following their arrests.

They are facing federal charges of kidnapping conspiracy, attempted conspiracy, Hobbs Act robbery and attempted Hobbs Act extortion.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the kidnapping conspiracy charge carries a potential life sentence.

Online records show that Briggs and Hammond were scheduled to appear in federal court on Friday for detention hearings.

Detention hearings for Neal and Puckett were scheduled for the following Tuesday.