Mayor Francis Suarez worked to draft new law with developer who later paid him $170K
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and his city staff joined forces with developer Rishi Kapoor to draft a new city law that the developer saw as vital for his $70 million Coconut Grove real estate project, according to emails from the mayor’s office obtained by the Miami Herald.
Kapoor later paid Suarez at least $170,000 for consulting for the developer in regular $10,000 increments dating back to at least 2021.
The mayor’s financial deal with the developer is currently under federal investigation following a Herald report detailing how an aide to the mayor helped Kapoor sidestep a permitting issue that threatened the viability of the project in 2022.
The newly obtained emails reveal how the relationship between Kapoor and the mayor’s office began years before the aide made a call to the city’s zoning director, who ultimately overrode a code requirement that the building be set back five feet from the property line, paving the way for permitting.
The communications from the mayor’s office, which date back to 2019, show previously unknown levels of collaboration between the mayor and Kapoor’s company, Location Ventures, which paid Suarez the $10,000 per month through a subsidiary associated with the Grove project. Although the ordinance did not pass, the joint effort to change the code provides another example of the mayor’s office working for Kapoor’s benefit.
Suarez, who is a candidate for the Republican nomination for president, previously told reporters that he had never had any meetings with Kapoor and city staff to discuss the Grove project. But city calendar invites indicate the two met at least half a dozen times between January 2020 and August 2021 — sometimes over Zoom but also in person at the Cocoplum Yacht Club, plus one meeting with “home” as the listed location.
It’s unclear from internal company records reviewed by the Herald when Kapoor hired Suarez, but the records show payments started no later than September 2021 — one month after the final calendar invite for a meeting with Kapoor that was sent to Suarez’s city email.
Link to the complete article: https://ca.movies.yahoo.com/miami-mayor-francis-suarez-worked-154451116.html
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It looks like Francis the Mayor has a lot more to be concerned about than not knowing who the Uighers are.
Another problem for the Mayor and his benefactor:
(June 28, 2023, 5:25 PM EDT) -- The City of Miami Beach, Florida, has ordered crews to stop work on an unpermitted $60 million project led by developer Rishi Kapoor, who is reportedly under federal investigation for paying Miami Mayor Francis Suarez $10,000 a month as a consultant.
... uh, it was just a part time job... yeah, that's it...
Yes, it was kinda like working the evening shift at McDs.
Geez... This poor guy just can't get a break.
He has created all his problems, SteevieGee.
No one to blame but himself.
Yeah, if you're gonna run for President these days, you'd better be squeaky clean. You will be investigated for sure.
True but some skate on anything that is exposed in their past/present, some like the Mayor might be headed for jail
... unless you're trump.
Another lying scumbag.
We have a lot of those in Florida.