Miami Mayor Francis Suarez spent at least 85 days traveling in 2022, often on private business in the Middle East with city-paid cops. Real estate developer Rishi Kapoor hired the mayor as a $10,000 a month consultant. The developer, now under FBI bribery investigation, had his yacht seized and home foreclosed. His implosion triggered a political scandal. Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo, known for wielding power, was ordered to pay $63.5 million. Despite controversies, he has remained in power. The series #ShakedownCity by Miami Herald delves into the scandals that have marred Miami's political landscape.
To conclude our #ShakedownCity series, we have a visual breakdown of the controversies that rocked Miami City Hall this year and the players who drove each story. This based on all of our reporting this year. ✍️ w/@semerriam, @Blaskey_S & @tessriski https://t.co/uHOUUwyn4J
NEW: Shakedown City: Investigations, lawsuits and the anatomy of Miami’s political scandals An interactive breakdown of political scandals based on the @MiamiHerald's reporting from this past year. ✍️:@Blaskey_S, @joeflech, @tessriski https://t.co/G6j4LFIBUl
Today we published the last two parts of our series #ShakedownCity, including this article that features voices from the community sharing their opinions on the state of a city marred by scandal this year. ✍️ w/@tessriski https://t.co/aZarLMjHGc
Shakedown City: Investigations, lawsuits and the anatomy of Miami’s political scandals https://t.co/6XDi5V4BtW
Opinion Florida needs less state control and more in its home towns As Miami-Dade commissioners last week asked the state for money, they also unanimously passed four measures ... #MiamiTodayNews #Editorial https://t.co/NBcDnv3e2q
Conflict is his cafecito. Bad blood nourishes him. It’s baffled Miamians for decades. How has Joe Carollo remained in power despite the messy state of Miami government? 🧵 https://t.co/gCb1yh3EjO
“I think Carollo has made Miami worse by holding it back,” said Winker, a lawyer known for representing citizens in grass roots vs Goliath cases. Miami’s political culture is different, Winker says. “It’s not government for the people. It’s government for the commissioners." https://t.co/DxYuQSmrEz
Commissioner Joe Carollo turned City of Miami into a criminal syndicate masquerading as a municipal government. City Attorney Vicky Mendez was implicated when Carollo weaponized code enforcement against businesses. A judge ordered him to pay $63.5 million. https://t.co/ODRXMxTEaN
The next part of #ShakedownCity: Joe Carollo has survived because he’s never been charged with using his office to get rich. He’s greedy for power, not money, his accusers say. @lrobertsonmiami https://t.co/5CteHkUxa2
Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo's daughter breaks her decades-long silence on her father: "He’s a controlling, chauvinistic man who has to dominate and make others suffer. What have I learned from my father? To seek the exact opposite of him in a partner." https://t.co/xp4DEmlIkm
Miami’s political godfather Joe Carollo, unfazed by $63M beating, can’t wait for next fight https://t.co/4nIAUfQBmR
Read #ShakedownCity Part 3 “The Condo King” — a profile of a little known, rising-star developer whose ambition and hubris were the first dominos in a chain that resulted in a federal bribery investigation into Miami’s Mayor. ✍️ @jayhweaver @tessriski https://t.co/BIabUiAetr
How the rise and fall of Rishi Kapoor ensnared Miami’s mayor | Miami Herald https://t.co/yDG6jt1W5y
South Florida real estate developer Rishi Kapoor cultivated an image of impressive wealth. In the end, Kapoor’s reckoning came over a dispute involving a relatively paltry $80,000 and an outsider. https://t.co/2ck2dpFoMN
From the orange McLaren he drove around South Beach to the $4M Princess yacht that was too big for the dock at his estate, developer Rishi Kapoor cultivated an image of impressive wealth. Behind that image of success, his emergent empire was in free fall. https://t.co/2ck2dpEQXf
The developer that secretly paid $10,000 a month so Miami Mayor Francis Suarez — now under an FBI bribery investigation over it — fast-tracked his luxury projects had his 68-foot yacht seized by U.S. marshals and his waterfront home is being foreclosed. https://t.co/xcgOZaXtpK
Rishi Kapoor: He dreamed of being Miami’s next condo king. His implosion triggered a political scandal https://t.co/fGT7ovYnAr via @jayhweaver @tessriski @Blaskey_S
Real estate developer Rishi Kapoor “wanted a face” to help sell his projects, colleagues said, as he talked of becoming the United States’ first trillion-dollar developer. He hired Miami Mayor Francis Suarez as a $10,000 a month consultant in July 2021.🧵 https://t.co/2ck2dpEQXf
He dreamed of being Miami’s next condo king. His implosion triggered a political scandal https://t.co/GPOiY5KlrN
NEW: He dreamed of being Miami’s next condo king. His implosion triggered a political scandal ✍️ @jayhweaver, @tessriski & @Blaskey_S https://t.co/atugzvLjOd
City of Miami residents deserve to have elected officials that work on behalf of their interests, not those of foreign governments. https://t.co/vtTs2Pg5Vs
“Absentee Mayor” is part two of #ShakedownCity, a @MiamiHerald project publishing this week. In 2022, Miami’s mayor spent at least 85 days traveling, often on private business in the Middle East with city-paid cops in tow. W/ @joeflech & @tessriski https://t.co/8VmEpq9eUP