Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de a la Portilla leaves jail after his arrest on multiple charges.
Miami Commissioner Alejandro “Alex” Diaz de la Portilla was arrested Thursday on more than a dozen serious charges including money laundering and bribery, authorities said.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement arrested Diaz de la Portilla and attorney William W. Riley Jr, on one count of money laundering, three counts of unlawful compensation or reward for official behavior, one count of bribery, and one count of criminal conspiracy.
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WATCH HEREFollowing his release from jail Thursday night, Diaz de la Portilla denied the charges and said he was being targeted for being a Republican.
"This is a work of fiction by this prosecutor, this is a Democrat state attorney from Broward County who's targeting a Republican commissioner from Miami, the same thing that's happening to President Trump at the national level with four different false prosecutions is happening to me in Miami at the local level, we're seeing it on the national level and now we're seeing it on a local level. There's nothing true about this complaint," he said. "Not an ounce of truth in those allegations."
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Friday evening that he was suspending Diaz de la Portilla.
The Cuban-American politician has had a career of almost 30 years holding different public positions since he was first elected as a state representative in 1994. He later served as a state senator from 2000 to 2010.
Local
After losing races for the state House of Representatives in 2012 and the state Senate in 2017, he sought a seat on the Miami-Dade County Commission, but was defeated in a special election in 2018 by Eileen Higgins.
In 2020 he came to the Miami City Commission, occupying the seat vacated by WIlly Gort.
But his public life has been marked by controversy.
Accused of corruption (2023)
Diaz de la Portilla and Riley Jr. were released on bail after FDLE agents arrested them on one count of money laundering, three counts of illegal compensation, a one count of bribery and one count of criminal conspiracy.
Diaz de la Portilla, 58, is also charged with four counts of official misconduct, one count of campaign contribution in excess of legal limits, and two counts of failure to report a gift, according to a statement by FDLE.
Riley Jr., 48, is also charged with failure to disclose lobbyist expenses.
The commissioner was present at a short City Commission meeting Thursday at City Hall, before being arrested in the afternoon.
According to FDLE, agents found evidence indicating Diaz de la Portilla and Riley Jr. accepted more than $15,000 in payments for Diaz de la Portilla’s brother’s Miami-Dade County Court judicial campaign, but did not report them, as required by Florida Statutes.
"I have not done anything wrong. Clearly this action has been timed and executed for shock and awe purposes, to create the maximum damage to my political campaign and family. This is nothing more than prosecutorial abuse of our court system, abuse of process, and the unfortunate weaponization of law enforcement targeting conservative Republicans for political purposes and career advancement," the statement read. "When the smoke clears, I am confident that these spurious charges will evaporate into thin air. Any further comment will be through my attorney."
Riley Jr. controlled a bank account in the name of a Delaware-based corporation to launder approximately $245,000 in concealed political contributions made by a management services company in exchange for permission to build a sports complex in Miami, the FDLE said.
Further investigation determined Diaz de la Portilla also operated and controlled two political committees used not only to support his brother’s campaign, but also for personal expenditures, authorities said.
Altercation with the son of Carlos Gimenez (2022)
In February 2022, Díaz de la Portilla was involved in an incident with the son of Rep. Carlos Giménez at a Coral Gables restaurant.
Carlos Julio Gimenez Jr. allegedly slapped Diaz de la Portilla at Morton's Steakhouse in the area of Ponce de Leon Boulevard and Miracle Mile.
The 44-year-old Gimenez Jr. was booked into jail and was charged with simple battery. The battery charge was later dropped.
Crash in official vehicle (2022)
Díaz de la Portilla was at the center of a controversy after the official vehicle in which he was traveling in got into an accident in January.
Commissioner Joe Carollo confirmed that Diaz de la Portilla called him to the scene of the accident and Carollo requested the help of City Attorney Victoria Méndez.
According to Carollo, a police officer told him that Díaz de la Portilla was asking if his name had to appear on the accident report.
Former police chief lawsuit (2022)
Former Miami Police Chief Art Acevedo filed a lawsuit against the City of Miami, Administrator Art Noriega, and commissioners Joe Carollo, Alex Díaz de la Portilla and Manolo Reyes, after claiming that his dismissal from office was unjustified.
Acevedo alleged that they had violated his right to express himself, which is protected by the First Amendment, and retaliated against him when he denounced in a memorandum what he described as the toxic corruption that contaminates Miami City Hall.
In the lawsuit, he also stated that the commissioners used the police and their resources to promote their own agendas and did not allow him to implement the necessary reforms.
Illegal party during quarantine (2021)
A City of Miami code inspector sued Díaz de la Portilla, whom she previously accused of pushing her while she was conducting an inspection at a nightclub that did not have a permit to operate due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Do what you have to do," Díaz de la Portilla reportedly told Inspector Suzzane Nicholson, who reported that the commissioner pushed her.
Díaz de la Portilla denied that there had been any aggression and suggested that Commissioner Joe Carollo could have been behind the incident.
Sale of illegal alcohol (2021)
Carollo accused Díaz de la Portilla of supporting illegal alcohol establishments in his district after code inspectors found Díaz de la Portilla at a business they went to inspect.
After the incident, Diaz de la Portilla assured that it was a political vendetta, while acknowledging that he was in a new business that functioned as a nightclub a few minutes after curfew. He alleged that everything else surrounding the event was Carollo's fabrication.
The body cameras of Miami police officers captured Díaz de la Portilla speaking with code inspectors who were inspecting a business that is a warehouse by day and a nightclub by night, all happening after curfew in April.
CRA fires employee (2021)
The FDLE confirmed that they were investigating an employee chosen by Díaz de la Portilla for the Omni economic development agency (CRA), which manages about $68 million of public funds for the city center in which he chaired the board of directors.
Jenny Nilo, who had a salary of more than $50,000 annually, was fired by the director of the CRA.
"Mrs. Nilo is the victim of a political vendetta by this man who is protected by vested interests," said Díaz de la Portilla.
His ex-wife's dog (2011)
A judge in Leon County, in northwest Florida, issued an arrest warrant for Diaz de la Portilla in 2011 after the former state senator allegedly disobeyed an order to return a Weimaraner dog to his ex-wife.
Díaz de la Portilla and Claudia Davant were owners of two Weimaraner dogs and the judge overseeing the couple's divorce warned him that he would spend 30 days in jail if he refused to hand over one of the pets.
When the former leader of the state Senate did not comply with the order on time, another judge issued the arrest warrant, which Díaz de la Portilla described as illegal.
