A former accountant of the Hammocks Home Owners Association has been arrested amid the years-long investigation into the alleged massive theft of funds from the HOA. NBC6’s Alina Machado reports
A former accountant of the Hammocks Home Owners Association has been arrested amid the years-long investigation into the alleged massive theft of funds from the HOA, prosecutors announced Friday.
Jesus Cue, 63, was arrested on charges including racketeering, money laundering, grand theft, unlawful compensation, organized scheme to defraud and fraudulent use of personal identification information, the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office said.
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Cue's arrest is at least the eighth involving Hammocks HOA board members and their relatives dating back to 2022.
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Prosecutors said board members and relatives used shell companies to funnel HOA funds to themselves and their friends under the guise that they were vendor payments.
The fake vendors were paid for performing little or no work, prosecutors said.
Cue and his company acted as a controller/accountant consultant for the HOA board from October 2018 to November 2022, receiving $644,000 in vendor payments during that time.
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But Cue testified in a bankruptcy court proceeding during this same period of time that the Hammocks HOA had no reserve funds and needed to take a $375,000 short-term loan in order to maintain normal operating functions, prosecutors said.
Investigators discovered that three of the shell companies had Cue’s company, Worldwide Business Solution Corp., as their registered agent and received almost $500,000 in vender payments from the HOA, prosecutors said.
Five suspects were arrested in November 2022 after they were accused of stealing millions from the HOA in a scheme dating back years.
The first arrest made was Marglli Gallego, the former president and treasurer of the HOA, who prosecutors said was the ringleader and is facing charges including racketeering and organized fraud in two separate cases.
Gallego's husband, Jose Gonzalez, and cousin, Kevin Leonardo Alzate, were also arrested, along with board member and former treasurer Myriam Rodgers and Yoleidis Lopez.
The board's president after Gallego, Monica Ghilardi, was also arrested and charged with racketeering and grand theft.
According to Ghilardi's husband, Gallego allegedly directed Cue to provide a hidden salary to Ghilardi by creating an alleged fictional vendor, prosecutors said.
"No homeowner should have to worry about how their HOA is handling the association’s funds," Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement Friday. "Our investigation of the thefts at the Hammocks HOA have shed a bright light on a crime that may be occurring throughout our state. Those who feel that an HOA’s funds are there for the taking have made a grievous error. Today’s arrest should make it blatantly clear."
Prosecutors last month announced the arrest of a seventh suspect, 58-year-old Ivan Dario Diez, in the sprawling HOA investigation.
It was also announced that two of the suspects took plea deals and agreed to cooperate with the investigation.
The Hammocks HOA oversees about 40 communities with more than 6,500 units and around 18,000 residents, and is one of the largest homeowners associations in the state and the largest in Miami-Dade.
The HOA theft scandal led to the creation of a new state law meant to protect homeowners.
