It didn’t take long for Bill Riley Jr.‘s name to disappear from the list of licensed real estate salespeople at Rosa Commercial Real Estate, the brokerage firm owned by former Hialeah Councilman Oscar de la Rosa, stepson of Hialeah Mayor Esteban “Stevie” Bovo. The brokerage firm that got $640,000 fee for the sale of the 1505 Ponce de Leon building to Location Ventures and developer Rishi Kapoor, who we have learned was paying Miami Mayor Francis Suarez to speed the process along.

Riley was arrested afternoon with Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla on charges of public corruption that include money laundering and bribery. Authorities say he funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars into the commissioner’s political action committee in exchange for a vote to give away a public park to his clients, the anti-vax Centner family that owns The Centner Academy.

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All four candidates in the race to replace termed out Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber are expected to participate in a forum Monday sponsored by Miami Beach United, an influential activists organization.

Leading the pack are the two Michaels — former city commissioner Michael Góngora and former State Rep. Michael Grieco, also once a city commissioner, both of whom have been eyeing this seat for a while. Barring any October surprise, this should be the make-up of the run-off.

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The lobbyist arrested last week with Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla on public corruption charges — including money laundering, bribery and criminal conspiracy — has given campaign checks to other politicians and political action committees.

Our local campaign finance watchdog Dani Rivera took a peek at some reports this week and found that Pristine DE LLC — a corporation opened by Bill Riley Jr. to, authorities say, funnel money from his clients to Diaz de la Portilla in exchange for a public park — has given more than half a million to other candidates and PACs since June of 2020.

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So, it was apparently Coral Gables Commissioner Kirk Menendez who came up with the plan to give himself and his colleagues some pretty big raises in salaries, more wiggle room in their expense accounts and brand new car allowances where there were none.

Newly-elected Commissioners Melissa Castro and Ariel Fernandez apparently agreed, according to City Manager Peter Iglesias, who can count.

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The public corruption charges against Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla and attorney/lobbyist Bill Riley Jr. revolve around the two political campaigns waged by the lawmaker’s baby brother, Renier Diaz de la Portilla: The 2020 race for county commission and a 2022 judicial contest.

An arrest affidavit lays out the scheme as having begun around May 2020 when Baby DLP announced he would run for county commission in District 5 and continue through his campaign for judge last year against incumbent Fred Seraphin. The campaign contributions that investigators tagged as bribery were made to both of The Dean’s political action committees during those campaigns.

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That was fast.

It took just about 24 hours for Gov. Ron DeSantis to suspend Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla, after his arrest this week on charges of money laundering, bribery, criminal conspiracy and other public corruption and campaign finance violations.

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