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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The land-use attorney and lobbyist arrested Thursday on money laundering, criminal conspiracy and political corruption charges also has business ties with Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago.

William “Bill” Riley Jr. was one of the four real estate agents registered along with Lago at the brokerage owned by former Hialeah Councilman Oscar de la Rosa, who is the stepson of Hialeah Mayor Esteban Bovo. Bovo is another real estate agent with the firm. So is Lago’s chief of staff, Chelsea Granell. The brokerage received a $640,000 commission from the sale of a Ponce de Leon Boulevard building to Location Ventures, the same development firm that is being investigated for its $10,000 monthly payments to Miami Mayor Francis Suarez for “consulting.”

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Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla was arrested Thursday on money laundering and political corruption charges — including unlawful compensation, bribery and criminal conspiracy — after a yearlong investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Broward State Attorney’s office.

These charges do not stem from the shakedown of the Rickenbacker Marina operator (more on that later) or the COVID gift cards that went missing for months or the ghost employees in Diaz de la Portilla’s office. No. These charges reportedly stem from a commission vote last year to basically give Biscayne Park away to a private school whose lobbyist paid for the commissioner’s accommodations and a vacation, among other things, and served as his baby brother’s judicial campaign fundraiser.

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