Ex-Miami commissioner faces high-stakes appeal in marina shakedown lawsuit

In an ongoing Miami-Dade County civil racketeering case, Circuit Court Judge Mavel Ruiz determined there were “proffered sufficient facts” for a jury to conclude then-Miami City Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla and two cohorts had taken part in an attempted shakedown of lobbyist Manny Prieguez involving Diaz de la Portilla’s vote on a marina redevelopment project. 

But in the same January ruling, Ruiz handed Diaz de la Portilla a free pass by summarily dismissing him from Prieguez’s lawsuit on a technicality. The judge found that the Miami Republican’s position as an elected commissioner provided him legislative immunity from his allegedly illegal actions. The two alleged co-conspirators, former Miami commissioner Humberto “Bert” Hernandez and attorney and developer Anibal Duarte-Viera, remain as defendants in the lawsuit. 

Prieguez is now petitioning the Third District Court of Appeals to overturn Ruiz’s dismissal and find that legislative immunity should not shield elected officials from civil liability if they cross the line into criminal conduct. 

“Just because you’re a politician doesn’t mean that you get to do whatever the hell you want,” Prieguez told the Florida Trident. “As a matter of fact, it’s quite the opposite. You should be held to a higher standard.”

The implications of Prieguez’s appeal reach far beyond Miami city limits, said Caroline Klancke, executive director of the nonprofit Florida Ethics Institute. “[Ruiz’s ruling] is a novel interpretation that is potentially dangerous for democracy,” Klancke said. “It sends a message to the unethical that protection could be afforded to them even when engaging in the most problematic unethical behavior.”

Shortly after Prieguez filed his lawsuit two years ago, Diaz de la Portilla, also a former state representative and senator, was charged with multiple felonies and removed from his city post in a separate scandal involving his alleged selling a vote in exchange for contributions to political action committees he controlled. He lost his reelection bid, but state prosecutors, citing a lack of evidence, dropped the criminal case against Diaz de la Portilla in November. 

The Alleged Shakedown

Lobbyist Prieguez, a former state legislator who’d been friends with Diaz de la Portilla for years, in 2020 represented Biscayne Marine Partners in its proposal to redevelop a pair of city marinas at Virginia Key. A week before a city commission meeting vote on the project, Prieguez met with Diaz de la Portilla, Hernandez and Duarte-Viera at the Diaz de la Portilla family business in Miami’s Allapattah neighborhood. Priguez alleges he was told he could secure Diaz de la Portilla’s vote if he added Duarte-Viera, an attorney and real estate developer, as a partner in the marina redevelopment project. 

Diaz de la Portilla allegedly instructed Duarte-Viera and Hernandez, who served prison time in the late 1990s on federal bank fraud charges, “to intimidate and extort” Prieguez if Biscayne Marine Partners didn’t go along with the arrangement, the complaint states. 

“You can get the votes only by having me as a partner in this deal … end of story,” Duarte-Viera allegedly told Prieguez during a second meeting between the two. 

The lawsuit alleges that on the day of the vote, Diaz de la Portilla texted Biscayne Marine’s principal Aabad Melwani to meet him for lunch, but only Duarte-Viera, Hernandez and a third individual showed up in his stead. Melwani and Prieguez refused to add Duarte-Viera to Biscayne Marine Partners. 

Ultimately, the city commission, including Diaz de la Portilla, voted to reject bids submitted by Biscayne Marine Partners and a second bidder. Prieguez alleged in his lawsuit that he “suffered substantial emotional distress and loss of business” as a result of the alleged shakedown.

Duarte-Viera and Hernandez declined comment through their attorneys. Ben Kuehne and Tucker Ronzetti, Diaz de la Portilla’s lawyers, provided the Trident with a brief statement attacking Prieguez. 

“The Prieguez appeal is just another misleading attempt to make himself relevant, when the community opinion is that he is and has been a failed lobbyist,” they wrote. ”Just as Alex recently prevailed against the false and weaponized criminal charges…he has and will continue to win against this failed and disgraced lobbyist.” 

Ruiz evokes Rod Blagojevich

In weighing whether to dismiss Diaz de la Portilla from Prieguez’s lawsuit, Ruiz found that legislative immunity covered all meetings associated with a legislative function, including the alleged rendezvous at the Diaz de la Portilla family business. Ruiz also concluded that the attempted solicitation of a bribe — i.e. making Duarte-Viera a partner in exchange for Diaz de la Portilla’s vote — is protected from civil liability so long as it’s tied to a legislative act. 

Ruiz cited federal precedent, including a corruption case involving former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, where appeals courts found that legislative immunity can bar civil RICO claims even when bribes are admitted, so long as the legislative act is a critical element of the plaintiff’s claim. Blagojevich was pardoned by President Donald Trump in February. 

Florida Ethics Institute’s Klancke said Ruiz’s ruling denied Prieguez full judicial process by not allowing a jury to weigh the evidence. “It robbed those who were harmed of having their day in court,” Klancke said. “A trial is warranted because it also allows Mr. Diaz de la Portilla to have his effective day in court as well.”

Prieguez echoed those concerns, insisting that his case should move forward against all the players involved. Diaz de la Portilla’s lawyers have not yet filed a response to his appeal, and a hearing date has not been set.

“One of my counts is RICO, which is a group of people getting together and saying, you know, we’re going to do these things that are illegal,” Prieguez said. “And Alex Diaz de la Portilla is central to that.” 

He added, “The third DCA needs to make it clear: If you are acting criminally, it doesn’t give you a free pass just because you are an elected official.”

About the author: Francisco Alvarado is an investigative journalist based in Miami whose work has appeared in The Daily Beast, The Guardian, and The Washington Post.