Major Miami-Dade lobbyist sentenced to 1-1/2 years for failing to pay taxes
For decades Eston “Dusty” Melton III was among the go-to lobbyists in Miami-Dade.
He had contacts throughout the county and made millions in fees.
But his world of influence, power and money faded away on Tuesday when Melton was sentenced to 1-1/2 years after having pleaded guilty in February to income-tax evasion over the span of a decade. The lobbyist and his defense lawyer were hoping for home confinement as punishment, while a prosecutor argued that 2-1/2 years would be just during a hearing in West Palm Beach federal court.
U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg compromised on his prison time, then ordered Melton to pay about $1.74 million in back taxes, interest and penalties to the Internal Revenue Service. He must surrender to federal prison on Nov. 17.
“Your honor, I stand before you a broken, humiliated man,” Melton, 71, told Rosenberg. “Everything I have worked for my entire life – to be professionally respected and successful, to be able to provide for my family, and to enjoy the twilight years of my life with dignity – is completely shattered.
“I can never recover or achieve any of that. And I have absolutely no one to blame but myself.”
According to court records filed with his plea agreement, Melton failed to pay about $1.3 million in taxes from 2005 to 2014, and those debts with penalties and interest grew to about $1.7 million by 2019, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Osborne.
The lobbyist, who had represented blue-chip clients in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties for more than 40 years, dodged the IRS’s efforts to collect his taxes, Osborne said. He noted that Melton delayed the sale of his Coconut Grove home for years, put a West Palm Beach residence in his wife’s name, and transferred his clients from his principal lobbying business to another controlled by the wife, Mabelys, to help shield himself from the IRS.
But during Tuesday’s hearing, a prominent Miami defense attorney, Robert Josefsberg, spoke about Melton’s pro bono lobbying work for nonprofit groups and his assistance to state and federal public corruption prosecutors over the span of his career.
Both Melton and his wife, who once worked as a chief of staff for two Miami-Dade commissioners, are registered as lobbyists with the Miami-Dade County. Together, records show, they have about 20 clients, including the University of Miami, Restore Miami Marine Stadium and Super Yellow Cab.
Back taxes
Melton told the Miami Herald that he paid back more than half of his original tax debts since selling his Coconut Grove home in April 2018. Melton said he believes he still owes about $600,000 in taxes from his income over a decade as the owner of the lobbying firm, Global Projects, Inc. But the exact outstanding debt must still be worked out with the IRS.
During a mid-January interview with the Miami Herald, Melton took full responsibility for his misconduct, recounting how he chose to pay family debts, including substantial college tuition payments for his four children, instead of his taxes to the IRS.
Melton, who is represented by defense attorney Michael Rosen, highlighted those same points at his sentencing on Tuesday.
“I took care of my family first and decided that I would deal with the IRS at a later date,” Melton told the judge, reading from a statement. “That day has come.”
He also said that his crime has taken a heavy toll on his lobbying business.
“Because I elevated my criminal case into the court of public opinion, some clients of our family consulting business have abandoned us,” he said. “New clients are unlikely. This is devastating to my family’s future. And it’s all my fault, for which I am devastated and as remorseful as any person could possibly be.”
Melton, who graduated from the University of Virginia before joining the Miami Herald as a government reporter in 1979, detoured into the lobbying profession in 1982 when he was hired by mega-county lobbyist Steve Ross, whose political connections were legend. When Ross died 13 years later, Melton acquired his late partner’s lucrative lobbying business. The clients continued to roll in, and so did the income.
Didn’t pay taxes for 10 years
But starting in 2005, Melton admitted that he stopped paying his taxes for a full decade — despite filing complete annual returns to the IRS.
He said that among about $2.5 million in personal expenses were: alimony payments to his ex-wife, child support for his three children from that marriage, college tuition for those children and an adopted son, and legal fees for defending the adopted son, Mario Melton, who was sentenced to 2-1/2 years in prison after being convicted in a 2016 Miami federal trial of importing the club drug “Molly” from China.
Files Chapter 11 to protect Grove home
As he paid off his family debts, Melton said he feared he was going to lose his home at 3430 Poinciana Ave. in Coconut Grove. IRS tax liens piled up. He had only paid off $62,100 of his tax bill, according to court records.
To avoid losing his home, Melton filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2017. Under Chapter 11, creditors, including the IRS, cannot take your primary residence to satisfy debts.
In 2018, he sold the home for $1.358 million, according to county records. Most of that money was spent on his family debts, but Melton also made a payment of $553,093 toward his tax obligation to the IRS, records show.
Melton said that since 2014, he has made annual tax payments based on 30% of his income through 2023 — but about half of his old tax debts remained unpaid.
But it is apparent that the fallout from not paying his income taxes for so many years — leading to criminal conviction and prison sentence — weighs heavily on his conscience.
“Although I am so very grateful for friends who have expressed support – as well as utter shock – it’s palpable that I am persona non grata among many, many more former friends who have made clear they wish to have nothing more to do with me.
“I am crushed by what I have done to my family and friends, absolutely tormented.”
This story was originally published June 18, 2025 at 7:00 AM.
