Lawsuit reveals developer paid Miami’s mayor $10K a month | Miami Herald

When Miami Mayor Francis Suarez shoveled dirt in January at a Coconut Grove groundbreaking ceremony for new luxury condos, he wasn’t just a mayor promoting growth in his city — he was a paid consultant for the developer building the project.

Suarez quietly worked for a Coconut Grove developer for at least eight months from August 2022 through March 2023, earning a minimum of $80,000 for a previously undisclosed consulting side job, according to a former real estate executive who is suing his ex-employer. The job, which Suarez had not disclosed until questioned about it by the Miami Herald on Wednesday, came to light in a lawsuit filed against Location Ventures, LLC by the company’s former chief financial officer, Greg Brooks.

It is not clear how long the two-term mayor has worked as a highly paid consultant for an affiliate of Location Ventures. He refused to discuss the length or terms of his contract with the company, or divulge anything about the nature of his consulting work. His annual disclosure forms through 2021, the last year available, have not revealed any income from the company.

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The revelation provides a rare view into the nonpublic work of the mayor, a private equity executive and attorney who is considering a run for president. He has declined to disclose his private clients to the public while serving in a mayoral post that pays a salary of $97,000 a year along with an expense stipend of about $33,000.

Suarez’s outside work also raises ethics questions given that the mayor is advising a company that is developing real estate in his own backyard — a project that requires permits and inspections from city departments. Rishi Kapoor, the CEO of Location Ventures, hired Suarez, and his development company is building URBIN Coconut Grove, a mixed-use condo project at 3162 Commodore Plaza in the heart of the Grove’s business district.

In a written statement Wednesday, Suarez’s office acknowledged the consulting job but shared no specifics. Suarez spokeswoman Soledad Cedro said “no issues connected to Location Ventures have come before the Mayor in his official capacity.

“The Mayor has a written signed agreement with URBIN, a subsidiary of Location Ventures, for work unrelated to any City of Miami business,” Cedro wrote. “Details of said agreement will be properly disclosed as required by law.”

Suarez’s office did not respond to questions about the nature of the mayor’s work for Kapoor, how long the arrangement has run or whether there were any ethical concerns.

In a lawsuit filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court on May 10, Brooks, the former CFO, accused his former employer of several “financial improprieties,” including an allegation that Location Ventures made $10,000 in monthly payments to Suarez for “unknown services” without any written agreement or invoices. In a response filed Friday, Kapoor’s company, Location Ventures, denied wrongdoing and asserted that Miami City Attorney Victoria Méndez “reviewed and approved” the agreement before it was signed.

“The agreement specifically makes mention that Mayor Suarez may recuse himself or resign from his advisory role should there be any conflicts of interest,” reads the response.

In a statement provided to the Herald late Wednesday night, Méndez said her office’s opinion is “that the Mayor may have outside income/employment.”

“If any person that employs the Mayor has an item on the Commission agenda that would require action by the Mayor, the Mayor is required to recuse himself,” Méndez wrote. “We have found no instance where the company in question or its subsidiary has appeared before the Commission or has required action by the Mayor.”

Méndez did not answer the question of when Suarez asked her for an opinion, and she said the city did not have a copy of Suarez’s contract with the Location Ventures’ affiliate.

“We do not have that,” she said. “It is not a public record.”

The mayor’s connection was not common knowledge when the project launched. At the January groundbreaking ceremony, former Commissioner Ken Russell was invited to put on a hard hat and shovel dirt for pictures, where he stood next to Suarez. Russell said he didn’t know the mayor was working for Kapoor.

The pictures were published on PROFILEmiami, a website with lifestyle and real estate articles.

“I attended this groundbreaking as a former commissioner, and it was very traditional to see the mayor there as he is thanking a business for their investment in the city,” Russell told the Herald. “But I wasn’t aware of any business relationship he had with them.”

The same website also published photos from October 2021, when Suarez and Kapoor were present at an event marking the launch of condo sales for a separate URBIN mixed-used project in South Beach. One picture shows Suarez standing at a lectern in front of the URBIN logo, speaking into the microphone. Another shows Suarez and Kapoor — who six months earlier had donated $25,000 to the mayor’s Miami For Everyone political committee as he ran for reelection — posing together.

Brooks’ attorney, Brian Pollock, told the Herald that Brooks was aware of eight $10,000 wire transfers made to Suarez from August 2022 to March 2023, when Brooks was fired from Location Ventures. Pollock said he did not know if Suarez’s contract with Location Ventures started before Brooks was hired in August. Location Ventures’ attorney, Brian Goodkind, also said he did not know how long the company employed Suarez as a consultant.

Ethics questions

State law requires elected officials to disclose financial interests and sources of income for the previous calendar year by July 1, so information about Suarez’s 2022 finances, income and assets should be made public within six weeks.

A prominent ethics professor in South Florida questioned the “optics” of Suarez working as a well-paid consultant for a high-profile Miami developer, noting that the city attorney should have warned the mayor about the apparent conflict and “to think twice about doing it.”

Then there’s the disclosure issue. Typically, the mayor discloses only the minimum information about his private work that is required by law.

“In my view, it would have to be disclosed immediately on the record in front of the City Commission so they know he is working for a developer that does business with the city,” said Nova Southeastern University law professor Robert Jarvis, who teaches ethics and constitutional law.

The mayor of Miami is a largely ceremonial post with no vote on the City Commission and only a few real powers, including the right to veto legislation and appoint the city’s top administrator. It’s also considered a part-time job for which he receives a total compensation of about $130,000. The $10,000 monthly payment he received from Location Ventures nearly matches his monthly earnings from the city.

Few details

The mayor has on multiple occasions declined to voluntarily share specifics about his outside work. Companies that employ him have touted his hire, including litigation firm Quinn Emanuel, Suarez’s current law firm, and DaGrosa Capital Partners, a private equity company based in Coral Gables. He’s previously worked for law firms Greenspoon Marder and Carlton Fields.

Hints of day-to-day responsibilities at some of these jobs have been made public in recent years after questions from the Herald.

In 2019, the Herald obtained documents that showed Suarez was hired by the Fisher Island Residents Association to lobby Miami-Dade County on issues related to development on the luxe island and the community’s private ferry service. At the time, Suarez worked for the law firm Carlton Fields, and he said he was not a lobbyist, maintaining that he was a real estate and corporate attorney.

Two years later, when he was of counsel at Greenspoon Marder, he loudly promoted Bitcoin while his law firm listed him as part of its cryptocurrency practice. He was also pushing for crypto-friendly legislation in Tallahassee. When the Herald asked questions, Suarez and one of the firm’s top attorneys said the mayor’s inclusion was a mistake. Within hours, Suarez’s name was removed from Greenspoon’s cryptocurrency webpage.

Suarez has also been unwilling at times to answer direct questions about gifts he’s received.

After he was spotted sitting courtside during two Miami Heat games in 2022, Suarez refused to answer questions about how he obtained the seats. He later listed the tickets, worth $20,000 each, as gifts on disclosures forms that are due each quarter. The tickets were gifts from Key Biscayne businessman Sean Wolfington.

Suarez has a penchant for the limelight and active social media presence, and his well-documented appearances have recently raised questions about whether he is properly disclosing when he receives tickets to pricey, swanky events. A Herald investigation found that if Suarez had paid for the cover for each event he and his wife Gloria attended the weekend that Formula One held its Grand Prix in Miami Gardens, it would have cost him over $30,000. Suarez would not say who paid for his tickets.

Lawsuit

In Brooks’ lawsuit, the former Location Ventures CFO accused his ex-employer of failing to pay him bonuses totaling $80,000 on mortgages he obtained for two of the company’s projects, including the Commodore Plaza development in Coconut Grove. Brooks’ suit noted that he was fired after bringing this matter and other concerns to the attention of Kapoor, including issues with the alleged mishandling of the development company’s finances.

Pollock, Brooks’ attorney, said he was careful in writing the portion of his client’s complaint that mentions the mayor because Suarez is a public figure. Pollock said his client raised the issue of Location Ventures’ payments to Suarez because as CFO, Brooks had to review all of the company’s transactions, including the $10,000 monthly wire transfers to the mayor.

“My client didn’t know the purpose of the payments, so he asked what they were about,” Pollock told the Herald, adding that Brooks was never shown any invoice or other paperwork verifying the actual services that Suarez performed each month.

Pollock said Suarez was paid by a Location Ventures’ subsidiary, but his client wasn’t sure whether the wire transfers went into Suarez’s personal or corporate bank account. He also insisted Brooks is not saying the mayor did anything untoward.

“We didn’t say it was for no services or anything nefarious,” Pollock said. “I kept it clean.”

Location Ventures’ attorney, Goodkind, told the Herald that Brooks’ allegations are “absolutely wrong.”

Despite the two sides’ differences, Goodkind said they are preparing to settle Brooks’ suit for damages, possibly as early as Thursday. Brooks’ lawyer said he expects a settlement soon, and that his client is “satisfied” with the proposed outcome.

This story was originally published May 18, 2023 5:30 AM.