Category: Miami-Dade Cities
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Donors violate Miami Beach’s campaign finance laws, but face no discipline
By Francisco Alvarado
FloridaBulldog.org
Former Miami Beach Commissioner Michael Grieco derailed his political ascent by getting involved with a committee secretly raising money for his failed mayoral bid. Yet, lobbyists and vendors that built up the PAC’s $200,000 war chest have not faced any consequences despite a city ban designed to stop them from contributing to local candidates and political action committees if they do business with Miami Beach government. -
Miami-Dade nursing home chain sues its lawyers over $17 million healthcare fraud settlement
By Francisco Alvarado
FloridaBulldog.org
Two years ago, Plaza Health Network agreed to pay the U.S. Department of Justice $17 million to settle a civil investigation that revealed the Aventura-based nursing home chain operated an illegal kickback scheme involving Medicare and Medicaid patient referrals. Now, Plaza Health is looking to recoup the money by suing its former general counsel and the prominent law firm he was a partner in for malpractice. -
Without admitting wrongdoing, Miami Beach settles Taser death of teen street artist
By Francisco Alvarado
FloridaBulldog.org
Miami Beach officials have settled a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of Israel Hernandez-Llach, the 18-year-old street artist who died on Aug. 6, 2013 after he was shot in the chest with a Taser fired by a city cop who was chasing him for scrawling graffiti on a wall. -
Red light ticket? Enforcement depends on where you got it and how you try to resolve it
By Susannah Nesmith
FloridaBulldog.org
Miami-Dade Traffic Magistrate Christopher Benjamin played a series of dramatic videos of crashes caught on tape by red-light cameras. The people in the audience gasped each time someone t-boned a car, flipped over a railing, struck a motorcyclist or nearly plowed through a line of kids crossing the street. “Ladies and gentlemen, please rise,” Benjamin told the audience after playing the videos. And then he surprised everyone. “Be safe out there. Case dismissed. Thank you.” -
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‘Invisible’ crime: Immigrant scams are big business in South Florida, but few crooks caught
By Joseph A. Mann Jr.
FloridaBulldog.org
Infamous as the setting for many cases of high-profile financial fraud and chicanery, South Florida is also home to a relatively unknown scam that targets the region’s large immigrant population, bilking many of them for thousands of dollars for “expert” immigration services that are never delivered, a Florida Bulldog investigation has found. -
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Hialeah’s mayor, a former crony, an off-the-books city gig and an ethics investigation
By Francisco Alvarado
FloridaBulldog.org
Being a political operative for Hialeah Mayor Carlos Hernandez comes with city perks. Glenn Rice — a former city cop who worked on the mayor’s 2011 and 2013 campaigns — collected roughly $12,000 during a three-year period acting as an off-the-books employee monitoring the company Hialeah hired to collect trash from private homes, as well as investigating potential hires and vendors, a Miami-Dade ethics commission probe found.
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