Commissioner spent 57 days in Miami’s ‘ultimate business playground.’ Then he was arrested
Room 801 at the 40-story East Miami hotel is described as the “ultimate business playground” — complete with a wet bar, full master bathroom, king-sized bed and a conference room that “comfortably fits” more than a dozen people. The suite, according to the hotel’s website, can be accessed through a separate elevator that allows guests to “enjoy an extra layer of privacy and exclusivity.”
It’s in this room, investigators say, where Miami City Commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla spent weeks in the summer and fall of 2020, racking up nearly $30,000 in expenses— and relying at times on lobbyists to cover the costs.
The room and hotel play a key role in a public corruption case against the commissioner, who is accused of selling his vote in exchange for $245,000 in political contributions, among other charges. At the hotel, investigators say he improperly allowed lobbyists seeking his favor to pay for thousands of dollars in bills for himself and his brother’s County Commission campaign, and then failed to report the source of the money.
Díaz de la Portilla was arrested last week and charged with money laundering, unlawful compensation, bribery, misuse of public office and criminal conspiracy. He says the case against him is a “work of fiction.”
According to an arrest affidavit, room 801 doubled as a home base for campaign strategizing and fundraising during Díaz de la Portilla’s first year in office, serving as a backdrop to a political drama that features a politically-connected lobbyist working for a wealthy Miami couple and a campaign consultant with ties to Republican political operative Roger Stone.
The lobbyist, William Riley Jr., paid $7,938.87 for a swanky election-night party at the hotel and was reimbursed by David and Leila Centner, who had hired Riley to help them develop a sports complex in a city-owned park, investigators say. The consultant, Elnatan Rudolph, allegedly paid for $8,450.30 in charges on Room 801. Investigators say he also told them he was reimbursed, in this case by the campaign.
Neither payment was reported by the campaign of Renier Díaz de la Portilla — the commissioner’s brother — as required by law, according to the affidavit. Nor did the commissioner disclose them as gifts.
But even if he had, investigators wrote, it would have been a problem.
“Had these payments been reported as such, they would have violated Florida Law prohibiting elected officials from accepting gifts from lobbyists doing business with their respective municipalities,” the affidavit states.
Investigators based charges of unlawful compensation, failure to report a gift and official misconduct on Díaz de la Portilla’s alleged activity at the hotel. No one at the hotel has been accused of wrongdoing.
Home away from home?
Díaz de la Portilla’s extended stay in the hotel — first mentioned in a lawsuit filed this month by a lobbyist accusing the commissioner of a “shake down” — also raises a question as the suspended commissioner seeks reelection in November: Why would a politician elected to represent a working-class community spend so much time in the lap of luxury in a different part of the city?
Díaz de la Portilla did not respond to questions for this story.
A hotel manager told investigators that Díaz de la Portilla was a “regular guest” of the high-rise hotel during the latter part of 2020.
According to his arrest affidavit, he spent 57 nights in Room 801 that summer and fall, incurring $28,408.37 in room charges as Miami continued to adjust to the coronavirus pandemic without yet having the benefit of vaccines.
Though the hotel stays took place in 2020, the arrest of Díaz de la Portilla, who represents District 1, comes less than two months before the November election, in the middle of a campaign cycle that has been marked by uncertainty over residency requirements.
One of Díaz de la Portilla’s challengers, Miguel Gabela, an auto parts salesman who lost to the commissioner in a 2019 runoff, sued this year after a new voting map cut his home out of the district, which includes Allapattah, the Health District and parts of Little Havana. He contends that the city intentionally drew him out of the district to keep him from meeting a rule that candidates live for a year in the district they seek to represent, so that Díaz de la Portilla could run unopposed.
But the hotel where investigators say Díaz de la Portilla reportedly stayed for weeks during his first year in office is located in District 2, at the city’s new shopping hub, Brickell City Centre. A hotel bartender told the Herald A-list musicians and athletes are frequent guests.
It appears that Díaz de la Portilla even joined public virtual meetings from his hotel suite. A review of Miami City Commission meetings held over video conference calls in 2020 showed that, on Sept. 10 and 24, the artwork in Díaz de la Portilla’s background matches the artwork in the East Miami hotel’s residence suites, viewable through a virtual tour on the hotel’s website.
“How ironic is that?” Gabela said, when asked about Díaz de la Portilla’s alleged hotel stays.
On Tuesday, the city listed Gabela as an officially “qualified” candidate during a court hearing on his lawsuit. Gabela is expected to appear on the ballot as a District 1 candidate, but his pending court case will ultimately determine if votes in his favor will count.
Candidate Marvin Tapia, who entered the race about a month ago, also took issue with the commissioner’s hotel getaway.
“You are the representative of a specific district,” Tapia said. “I think the best thing you can do, that you should do, is live in that district, so you are aware of the issues, you’re not separated, you’re there with your residents, you’re fighting with them.”
The 2020 watch party
Investigators don’t specify whether Díaz de la Portilla slept at the hotel during the collective 57 nights they allege he occupied Room 801.
Rather, they say Díaz de la Portilla’s extended hotel stay coincided with election season in 2020, and included an election night watch party that was secretly funded by the Centners, the wealthy Miami couple that made headlines during the pandemic for having warned teachers at the school they operate — the Centner Academy — against getting the COVID-19 vaccine.
Investigators say Díaz de la Portilla championed the Centners’ proposed $10 million athletic facility in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign cash, hotel stays, food and drinks. The Centners, who have not been charged and say they did nothing wrong, also played a role in a pivotal night for the commissioner’s younger brother, Renier.
READ MORE: Leila and David Centner caught up in Miami commissioner’s corruption scandal
On Aug. 18, 2020 — primary election night — Díaz de la Portilla hosted a “watch party” with family and friends in support of his brother’s County Commission campaign. Unlike past stays at the East Miami hotel, investigators say, the election night party was hosted in Room 3603 — a penthouse suite.
Riley Jr. paid for the suite and five additional hotel rooms for family and friends, plus catering charges. Investigators say Riley was then reimbursed by the Centners’ company, DLC Capital.
Investigators say Rudolph used a credit card to pay for charges on room 801 on Nov. 4, 2020. The day prior, Renier Díaz de la Portilla, who spoke to investigators under a witness subpoena and has not been charged with a crime, lost his bid for County Commission.
‘Base of operations’
The East Miami hotel and Rudolph, who was not charged, also play roles in a lawsuit filed earlier this month that alleges Alex Díaz de la Portilla orchestrated a “shake down” of the operator of a city-owned marina.
Former state representative and lobbyist Manuel Prieguez sued Díaz de la Portilla on Sept. 5, accusing him of squeezing a former client, Rickenbacker Marina operator Aabad Melwani, in exchanges for his vote.
The arrest affidavit against Díaz de la Portilla makes no mention of that lawsuit, but the allegations in Prieguez’s complaint match up with the dates investigators say the commissioner was staying at the hotel.
Prieguez alleges that during a City Commission meeting in Oct. 2020, Díaz de la Portilla summoned Melwani to the East Miami hotel during a lunch break, instructing him to “go alone.” That day, the commission was discussing a solicitation to redevelop the marina.
Melwani arrived in the lobby and was greeted by three individuals, according to the lawsuit: former City Commissioner Humberto “Bert” Hernandez, lawyer Anibal Duarte-Viera and Rudolph, the lobbyist.
Prieguez describes the meeting as part of the pressure campaign against Melwani. Hernandez, who along with Duarte-Viera is a defendant in the case, says that’s not true. Duarte-Viera hasn’t publicly addressed the allegations.
Nor has Rudolph, who is not a named defendant, but was a campaign operative working with the Díaz de la Portilla brothers in the fall of 2020.
Rudolph’s firm JHSM was paid nearly $140,000 for phone banking, outreach and polling from a political committee tied to Renier Díaz de la Portilla’s campaigns. He told investigators that Room 801 was the “base of operations for fundraising and strategizing in furtherance of” the campaign, according to the affidavit.
Rudolph, who according to Politico is a “one-time apprentice” of GOP strategist Roger Stone, also told investigators that he spent “considerable time working with Alex” during this period. A hotel manager said Rudolph was “frequently in the company of” Díaz de la Portilla during his stays.
Rudolph declined to comment.
This story was originally published September 21, 2023 at 4:32 PM.
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