Miami Beach Commission hopeful Oduardo ``Oddy'' Segui may have more pressing matters than running for public office: The 40-year-old entrepreneur is currently under investigation by Miami and Miami Beach police.

Since December 2008, Segui has been reported to police at least four times by employees of different Miami-Dade banks where he allegedly cashed bad checks and made off with thousands of dollars.

Segui, who is running to unseat Commissioner Jerry Libbin in the Group 1 race Tuesday, denies the accusations and says he has yet to be contacted by police regarding allegations of fraud and grand theft.

``No police have contacted me,'' Segui said. ``If anybody called me today, saying you have this situation and you need to pay whatever amount, I'd pay them.''

According to police reports filed with Miami Beach and Miami police, Segui opened accounts at a TD Bank on South Beach, Am Trust Bank and Sun American Bank on Mid-Beach, and Coconut Grove Bank in Miami between the months of December 2008 and May 2009.

In three of the cases, Segui is accused of depositing bad checks and withdrawing, respectively, $7,200, $4,500, and $8,500, before the bank learned that his account had insufficient funds. A fourth report does not list the amount Segui allegedly took from TD Bank. Spokesmen from both police departments said Monday that the cases, first reported by the Miami New Times, remain open and under investigation.

According to two of the reports filed with Miami Beach police, bank employees tried to call Segui. Segui, however, said he has not received phone calls from any banks and hadn't seen any police reports until a reporter e-mailed him the documents in mid-October.

``I'm not hiding,'' Segui said. ``I'm here and nobody called me.''

Segui, who according to Florida records owns a Miami Beach company called Oddy's Entertainment, said he is currently living off earnings from recent sales of a transportation company in California and a hotel in the Bahamas. His finances have been questioned in the past. In 2006, the Internal Revenue Service placed a $6.5 million lien on Segui's Lamirada residence in Southern California, claiming he owed the money in unpaid taxes dating back to 2001, according to a document filed in Los Angeles County. Several IRS spokesmen declined comment, citing privacy issues.

Segui said the lien was a misunderstanding created when E-Trade misrepresented the amount he had earned through an account with the online trading company. He said the IRS withdrew the lien.

``Even the IRS told me that it didn't happen to only me,'' Segui said. ``It happened to a lot of people.''

Representatives for the online brokerage site could not be reached for comment. Records also show that in 2002, Segui filed for bankruptcy but did not complete the process.

Segui has raised $7,350, including a $5,000 personal loan. Libbin has raised $105,000.

Libbin has also been involved in a bankruptcy case.

In 1994, Libbin was president of Jewish Media Group while the company was taken to bankruptcy court in Miami.

Libbin said he became president of the company after investing a large sum in what he eventually learned was a Ponzi scheme. He said that, as a financial advisor, he was hired as the company's president and tasked with turning the business around.

Libbin said he was unsuccessful and the corporation wound up in bankruptcy. As for Segui, Libbin declined comment, saying he hadn't seen the police reports. But he did say voters should be aware of the candidates' histories.

``I'm running on my record and would certainly hope voters would be careful to note the person they vote for and learn as much as they can about them,'' Libbin said. ``Commissioners are stewards of taxpayer's dollars.''

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