Another Miami town formal is in the crosshairs of an inquiry into alleged wrongdoing.
The Florida Bar is probing Miami Metropolis Attorney Victoria “Vicki” Mendez’s ties to corporations concerned in an alleged residence-flipping scheme that specific houses formerly owned by incapacitated persons or all those who could no for a longer time just take care of them selves, the Miami Herald documented. Corporations owned by Mendez’s mom and her husband acquired the properties at very well down below-marketplace value, and then bought the attributes for a revenue, occasionally on the very same working day.
The bar investigation has been open up considering that at least final April, according to a Florida Bar e mail received by the Miami Herald. Nevertheless, in an email to The Authentic Deal, Mendez disputed that an formal probe has been opened.
“The Herald has incorrectly and libelously reported the facts,” Mendez explained. “The Florida Bar inquired about the lawsuit submitted versus me. Any evaluate by the Bar is pending the end result of the circumstance.”
In February, Jose Alvarez sued the city of Miami, Mendez, her partner Carlos Morales and his enterprise, Express Houses. Alvarez alleges he’s the target of a “conspiratorial scheme to enrich the town lawyer and her husband,” his lawsuit submitted in Miami-Dade Circuit Court states.
When his relatives residence was hit with $271,000 in constructing code violations, Alvarez alleges he sought assistance from Mendez, who referred him to Morales, the lawsuit states. Morales allegedly persuaded Alvarez to offer the residence to Convey Homes for $205,000 in 2017.
Morales then fixed up the property, succeeded in owning the code violations waived and marketed the residence for $370,000 in 2018, the lawsuit states. In her electronic mail, Mendez alleged Alvarez’s lawsuit was “conjured up to harass my household and get me fired.”
The Florida Bar is wanting into properties bought by Specific Homes as properly as Gallego Residences from the Guardianship Program of Dade County, the Miami Herald claimed. The latter enterprise is owned by Mendez’s mom, Margarita Mendez. The non-revenue Guardianship Application is billed with advertising the belongings of incapacitated folks with no any family members in order to pay back for their treatment.
Last yr, Miami’s public radio station WLRN printed an investigative report that chronicled how Express Properties and Gallego Households purchased the houses at substantial special discounts and then flipped the properties for significant gains.
Miami City Corridor has turned into a magnet for community corruption probes. In September, then-Miami city commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla was arrested and charged with bribery, money laundering, formal misconduct and other felonies. State prosecutors allege Diaz de la Portilla spearheaded a no-bid offer letting Miami Seashore electricity few David and Leila Centner to construct a leisure middle in a town park.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is the topic of a handful of ethics and legal investigations searching into his private aspect work opportunities that have designed him a millionaire, as very well as that he allegedly unsuccessful to report that he’s been given free of charge tickets to key sporting occasions.
— Francisco Alvarado
