InsideTrack

Criminal dimwit grabs Florida CFO's attention

In honor of national Fraud Prevention Month, Florida CFO Jeff Atwater has looked around for the top dimwitted fraud criminals.

Here's his fave:

Joshua Perry, 36, of Fort Myers left a restroom at Rosa Parks Transportation Center and called for an ambulance. Video surveillance shows Perry leaving the restroom with a limp, splashing water out of a fountain and lying down on the floor.

A notice of intent to sue was sent by certified mail last April to Lee County commissioners and the Florida Department of Financial Services. Perry was arrested last May and pleaded guilty to insurance fraud in September. He was sentenced to 120 days in jail.

The state would like to hear from anyone with insurance fraud tips at 1-800-378-0445.

Related plans SLS Hotels project in Brickell area

The Related Group of Florida is bringing SLS Hotels to the Brickell area. SLS will run the hotel component of a mixed-use project Related's Jorge Perez is planning at 1300 S. Miami Ave.

The project being promoted as SLS Hotel & Residences will have 132 hotel rooms and 450 condos.

Related is tight-lipped about the hotel deal. But Related Realty and a sales team from Fortune Development Sales Corp. have been making presentations to brokers and sending email blasts promoting SLS Hotel & Residences. SLS has a hotel in South Beach, where the "international jet set comes to play," according to the hotel's website. The other SLS hotel is in Beverly Hills.

The marketing material says the project will have 11 units per floor and will come with access to two beach clubs in South Beach.

Although Related has yet to come up with the full condo pricing, it's advertising units on the lower floors in the low $400s per square foot.

Fortune broker Andres Asion said pre-sales will start within two months. Related is still working at finalizing city permitting to start construction this fall.

The marketing material is encouraging brokers to start collecting deposits to reserve units. Deposits are $30,000 for a one-bedroom unit, $40,000 for a two-bedroom unit and $50,000 for a three-bedroom unit.

Buyers must pay 10 percent to reserve a unit, 10 percent when signing a contract, 10 percent at ground-breaking, 10 percent when the 25th floor is built, 10 percent when the roof is completed in 2015 and the remaining 50 percent at closing.

Judge, lawyer, find sweetness in sugar company bankruptcy case

A sugar company bankruptcy case lends itself to some sweet puns. Just ask U.S. Bankruptcy Judge A. Jay Cristol.

During the hourlong opening hearing in Banah International Group Inc.'s Chapter 11 case in Miami, Cristol made no less than five quips about sugar, drawing laughs from company executives and a dozen attorneys.

At the beginning of the hearing, Banah attorney Jeffrey P. Bast held up two cases of the company's sugar products to show examples of the Banah brand. He joked that courthouse security wouldn't let him bring a case of Banah syrup to Cristol's courtroom.

Cristol seized the comedic opening, holding up two small packets of sugar that were clearly not made by Banah.

"I'm not sure if I have to disclose this," Cristol joked, "but they were really good with my coffee."

Bast reassured the judge that the sugar packets had no affiliation with the Miami company, and the hearing commenced.

Cristol closed the hearing by expressing his hopes for a "sweet" resolution.

Miami-Dade JNC seeks resumes for outgoing Chief Judge Joel Brown's seat

Chief Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Joel Brown's impending resignation means one thing for judicial hopefuls — it's time to freshen the resume.

Interested candidates must submit an application and 10 copies by 5 p.m. April 5 to Marva Wiley, chairwoman of the Judicial Nominating Commission, at 9999 NE Second Ave., Suite 310, Miami Shores, FL 33138.

Applicants from last September's vacancies can ask the JNC to reconsider their application but must submit two additional copies by the April 5 deadline, Wiley said.

Brown, whose last day on the bench is March 31, is returning to private practice after more than 22 years as a judge. He and Chief Circuit Judge-elect Bertila Soto will have a Passing of the Gavel ceremony March 22.

Miami-Dade's first Colombian-American judge praised at investiture

One of the first things Diana Gonzalez did after winning election to Miami-Dade County Court was get married, becoming Diana Gonzalez-Whyte.

The former assistant public defender who spent three years in private practice unseated former Judge Ana Maria Pando last November and was ceremoniously sworn in Friday.

"She's passionate about the law, passionate about her job, passionate about her faith and passionate about the community," said Dade County Bar Association president Garrett Biondo, noting Gonzalez-Whyte is the first Colombian-American on the Miami-Dade bench.

Tara O'Brien, a former colleague from the public defender's office, said she watched Gonzalez-Whyte defend a murder suspect as a private practitioner without O'Brien as a second chair.

"I was on pins and needles — but not Diana," O'Brien said.

Gonzalez-Whyte secured an acquittal.

Another former assistant public defender, Suzanne Villano, recalled seeing Gonzalez-Whyte in the office as early as 5 a.m. preparing for trial and as late as 11 p.m. waiting for a verdict.

Once she invited Villano to accompany her to jail at 8:30 on a Saturday night "because that's the best time to see the clients," Villano said Gonzalez-Whyte told her.

"She was always the people's lawyer, and she's going to be the people's judge," Villano said.

After Gonzalez-Whyte took her ceremonial oath, she admitted being ecstatic, nervous and scared but said she was "living my dream."

"If I'm here, anyone can be here — if you work hard," she said.

Attorney hired to ease recruit's UM-Arkansas controversy

Andrea McDonald is in the middle of a family feud with her son, Alex Collins, over his college choice.

Since he’s a highly touted football recruit from South Plantation High School, their disagreement went public in a big way.

Collins wanted the University of Arkansas. Mom wanted the University of Miami.

Before the top prospect could enter his signature on a national letter of intent during a pubic ceremony at the high school, Mom grabbed the papers and left for parts unknown.

Since Collins is under 21 years old, a parent or guardian must give written consent. No consent, no commitment, according to NCAA rules.

Now, the Sun Sentinel reports Collins’ dad, Johnny Collins, is stepping in to sign on his son’s behalf and clear the way for a college career in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

McDonald hired an attorney, Jack Paris of the Cochran Firm in Miami, before any commitment was made.

“Alex’s family has been overwhelmed with media inquiries regarding their impending decision,” Paris said in a statement. “They want to make a clean choice that is free of any outside influences. This is a very tough decision, and they are weighing their options very carefully. In the meantime, they have requested the Cochran Firm’s assistance in clearing up any false or inaccurate statements in the press.”

Collins, who was ranked 57th by ESPN, verbally committed to Arkansas after de-committing from Miami in November.

Circuit Judge Miguel de la O became the first of this year’s new judges to be robed

Miami-Dade’s first judicial investiture of 2013 transformed quickly from near-eulogy to friendly roast.
Actually, David Marko, a former law partner of newly robed Circuit Judge Miguel de la O, called it a barbecue.

“Miguel buys his suits on eBay — used suits,” Marko confided Friday to a standing-room-only crowd in historic Courtroom 6-1. (No denial from the judge.)

De la O, who was raised by a single mother, moved in with Marko’s family when both were teens.
Marko wasn’t worried about being prosecuted for records they got without paying via multiple accounts at Columbia Music House but noted De la O carried a briefcase in high school.

“The statute of limitations never runs out on that,” said Marko, who moved up a notch after Marko & Magolnick dropped De la O from the firm name.

Prominent litigator Neal Sonnett, a former president of the Dade County Bar Association, mentored the young associate at Sonnett Sale & Kuehne starting in 1991.

“It quickly became clear that Miguel had a great legal mind,” Sonnett said, noting he wrote Governor Charlie Crist in 2007 recommending De la O, “an excellent lawyer and a great person,” for a judicial appointment.

De la O, who ran unopposed last year for the opening left by Circuit Judge Lawrence Schwartz’s retirement, thanked the public for paying taxes that kept him fed, clothed and educated in his youth.
“I’m not special, I’m lucky,” said De la O, who was lauded for many civic contributions. “I owe this city, this state and this country much, and I want to pay it forward.”

Robert Harris of Stack Fernandez Anderson & Harris in Miami recalled arriving at Steel Hector & Davis as a new associate with De la O in 1989.

“As big a day as this is for Miguel, it’s a bigger day for the community,” he said.

Miami-Dade circuit judges go out with a song

Finding live entertainment for your retirement luncheon isn't all that hard when your former bailiff is also a noted jazz saxophonist.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Ellen Leesfield, who left the bench Thursday with colleague Victoria Platzer, reminded her fellow retiree that — at least until the end of the day — she still had three months more seniority.

Then she introduced Jesse Jones Jr., her bailiff from 1992 until he retired in 2010, whose music is available on cdbaby.com and Amazon. He chose Stevie Wonder's hit Isn't She Lovely for the farewell serenade.

"I'm jealous," Leesfield said. "He's always more popular than me."

FIU students learn about case straight from judge

Florida International University law students taking aviation law did not have to ponder for long what the judge meant in the key 2006 case Hughes v. State. They could just ask the judge herself.

Third District Court of Appeal Judge Leslie Rothenberg was the guest speaker Monday night at adjunct professor Timothy M. Ravitch's class. The Hughes case addresses federal pre-emption following the 1978 deregulation of airlines.

In Hughes, two pilots went out drinking in Miami until 5 a.m. — then showed up to pilot a morning flight to Phoenix with 125 passengers aboard. Alerted by security personnel who had observed the co-pilot's behavior, Miami-Dade police stopped the plane as it was being pulled away from the terminal. The pilots argued the state couldn't criminally charge them because federal aviation law pre-empted state law.

In her first year as an appellate judge, Rothenberg wrote in the opinion that the federal rules dealing with airplane pilots did not expressly pre-empt the state from prosecuting pilots for operating a plane while intoxicated or operating the plane carelessly or recklessly. The pilots had appealed their conviction in the courtroom of former Miami-Dade Circuit Judge David H. Young.

Justices Sotomayor, Kennedy to speak at UM

The University of Miami School of Law has a star-studded lineup of speakers next month, including two U.S. Supreme Court justices.

The speakers will start filing into the U on Friday when feminist Catharine MacKinnon delivers the keynote speech at a conference on Human Trafficking: Demand, Legislation and Prosecutions at 9 a.m.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic and the third woman to serve on the court, will speak Feb. 1 at the university's BankUnited Center. The event will be a discussion between University of Miami president Donna Shalala and Sotomayor, who is promoting her biography, My Beloved World, and is co-sponsored by Books & Books.

Fellow Justice Anthony M. Kennedy will speak Feb. 11 as part of the Robert B. Cole Distinguished Jurist Lecture Series. Kennedy has often been the swing vote on many of the court's 5-4 decisions.

The following day, attorney Sarah Weddington, who successfully argued the landmark Roe v. Wade case, will speak at 5:30 p.m. at UM's Storer Auditorium. PBS will feature Weddington in a documentary on the women's movement to be broadcast in February.

Finally, Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's civil rights division, will be in the house Feb. 13. One of his priorities has been to expand the reach of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Advance tickets are required for most of the events.