Miami-Dade Circuit Criminal Court Judge Laura Cruz blasted Hammocks defense attorneys over the slow progress of the nearly three-year-old case.
The Hammocks, South Florida’s largest homeowners association, hosted the biggest alleged HOA fraud scheme in the tri-county region’s recent history. In 2022, authorities charged former Hammocks board of directors President Marglli Gallego; her husband, Jose Antonio Gonzalez; and three other ex-board members with running a multimillion-dollar fraud for at least five years.
Ex-board members allegedly hired bogus contractors that did little to no work on the West Kendall HOA and then diverted the association’s payments, including to Gallego and Gonzalez’s pockets, according to the arrest affidavit. The 3,800-acre community has roughly 18,000 residents in 5,500 single-family homes, townhouses and condos.
Gallego, Gonzalez and one other former board member have pleaded not guilty. The two other ex-board members pleaded guilty and are cooperating with investigators.
Cruz has been pushing for progress in the case. Last month, she ordered attorneys to announce deposition dates at a court hearing on Tuesday.
But on Tuesday, the deposition of only one witness, Emiliano Tamayo, the lead investigator of the Hammocks, was announced. The case has more than 30 potential witnesses, according to prosecutors.
“Is it just one detective who has been set at this point?” Cruz asked. “Are you guys going to set any more [depositions]?”
At issue: The case is massive with tens of thousands of discovery files consisting of loan records, invoices and contracts for HOA vendors, bank statements, photographs and more. In just one month this year, prosecutors turned over 19,000 files of discovery, a portion of the total evidence.
Hammocks prosecutors finished submitting all of the case’s discovery late last month.
“I just don’t want it to prejudice the defendants when the state has had years to go over this [evidence], and you are giving us months. That’s all I am saying,” Sabino Jauregui, who represents Gallego, told Cruz in court.
Cruz countered that defense attorneys could have been reviewing evidence as prosecutors submitted it periodically over the course of the past two and a half years. When Jauregui said he has read through what has been submitted in the past, Cruz said that means he only has to review what has been filed most recently.
“At some point in time, it’s going to become problematic that [it’s] just, ‘There is a lot of paperwork. There is a lot of paperwork. There is a lot of paperwork,’” Cruz said. “Set some depositions because it’s going to be problematic.”
During Tuesday’s hearing, a prosecutor attempted to reduce the documentation defense attorneys have to immediately review by listing the names of five witnesses likely to be called for depositions. This way, the defense for now would only have to focus on the evidence pertaining to these witnesses.
“The problem is, judge, these witnesses that the state is talking about, I know them well. These are their cooperative witnesses. And we would like to go through all that discovery, get as much impeachment material and as much destructive evidence as we can when we take their deposition,” Jauregui responded.
In the past, Jauregui has pleaded for Gallego to be released on house arrest so she can help him review the discovery and prepare for her trial. A lot of the evidence is financial records he needs her help to understand, he has said.
Last month, Cruz shot down his plea. Gallego can be transported from the jail near Doral to the Miami courthouse to meet with Jauregui, Cruz told him.
“I have given you the opportunity to have your [client] over here,” she told Jauregui on Tuesday. “You have never taken me up on the opportunity of having her over here to discuss any of the stuff with you.”
Cruz set the next hearing for Wednesday when deposition dates for five witnesses are to be announced.
“It’s fine for you to say you need the time, but nobody has given me any of their own timeline,” she said. “So I have to create my own.”
Read more
Residential
South Florida
At the Hammocks, corrupt board members leaned on family to aid in massive fraud, prosecutors say
Residential
South Florida
Ex-Hammocks HOA controller charged in alleged massive fraud scheme
Residential
South Florida
Ex-Hammocks HOA president’s cousin charged in connection to alleged massive fraud
