Miami commissioner had ‘carte blanche’ over brother’s campaign tied to corruption case
In an interview with prosecutors last year, the brother of an arrested Miami commissioner distanced himself from political activities allegedly carried out on behalf of his campaign at a swanky Brickell hotel, which included booking a room for a combined 57-night hotel stay that racked up more than $28,000 in room charges and an $8,000 election-night watch party in a penthouse suite.
In the sworn interview recently obtained by the Miami Herald through a records request, Renier Díaz de la Portilla said that his older brother, then-City Commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla, had “carte blanche” to make decisions for Renier’s campaigns for Miami-Dade County Commission in 2020 and for a judicial seat in 2022. The interview transcript provides for the first time the perspective of Renier, whose political campaigns served as the backdrop for an alleged money laundering scheme by his brother, a sitting city commissioner.
Renier, who lost both elections, said he had little knowledge of six figures’ worth of contributions the political committee supporting him received from a company formed by a lobbyist representing David and Leila Centner, a wealthy Miami couple seeking City Hall approval for a $10 million sports dome project they hoped to build on city land. Prosecutors have alleged the contributions were made to secure support for the project from Alex Díaz de la Portilla, who later used his influence as chairman of the city agency involved in the negotiations to push for City Commission approval.
That alleged chain of events is central to the state’s case against Alex Díaz de la Portilla and the lobbyist, Bill Riley Jr., who were arrested in September on charges of bribery and money laundering. Riley and Alex Díaz de la Portilla have pleaded not guilty. The Centners were not charged and have denied any wrongdoing.
Prosecutors allege that a Centner entity paid $245,000 to a Delaware corporation called Pristine De LLC that Riley, their lobbyist, created to “conceal” the origin of the funds before routing the money to two political committees controlled by Alex Díaz de la Portilla, including one supporting the campaigns of his brother, Renier.
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Renier Díaz de la Portilla was not charged in the case and has not been accused of any wrongdoing. As part of the mandatory appearance subpoena that compelled his testimony, he was granted immunity. He did not respond to the Herald’s request for comment.
In sworn testimony with prosecutors on June 1, about three months before his brother’s arrest, Renier Díaz de la Portilla distanced himself from the alleged campaign activity at the luxury East Miami hotel, where prosecutors say Alex Díaz de la Portilla stayed for at least 57 nights in 2020, with lobbyists sometimes footing the bill. One of those lobbyists told prosecutors that the room where Alex Díaz de la Portilla purportedly stayed — Room 801 — acted as the “base of operations for fundraising and strategizing in furtherance of” Renier’s campaign for County Commission that year.
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Although Renier agreed with prosecutors that Alex was his “overall arching campaign advisor or manager,” he denied that the East Miami served as a headquarters for his County Commission campaign, saying the hotel lobby was simply a convenient place for him to meet donors to collect checks for his campaign because the hotel was “very centrally located in the heart of the district.”
Other than that, Renier said, he spent very little time in rooms at the East Miami, describing the hotel as “simply a place to stop, a pit stop, a good convenient place to pick up checks.”
Prosecutors allege that a Centner corporation reimbursed Riley nearly $8,000 for catering and room charges for an election-night watch party hosted for Renier in August 2020 when he was running for County Commission. But Renier described little knowledge of the logistics surrounding the event, saying he didn’t remember who invited him and that he made just a quick stopover there before going to his planned victory party at a Little Havana restaurant.
“I went up to the room and I thanked some people there, and we were doing a watch party — they were doing a watch party, but I had to leave because I had to go to my actual event,” Renier told prosecutors.
Asked about his relationship with Riley, the lobbyist, Renier said that Riley had a “significant” role in his political activities, even acting as “the chairman of my campaign committee” for Renier’s judicial race in 2022. Renier described Riley as part of that “informal” committee, someone with labor union connections who would make introductions for Renier and send out emails on his behalf.
It was unclear from the interview if Riley was affiliated with the political committee supporting Renier, called Local Leadership for Miami-Dade County. Prosecutors say Centner money eventually landed in that political committee by way of Pristine De LLC, the Delaware corporation that Riley allegedly created. (An attorney for Riley declined to comment “on the substance of witness statements.”)
Prosecutors allege that Riley formed the Delaware corporation days before the Local Leadership political committee was formed. During Renier’s sworn interview, Miami-Dade Ethics Investigator Karl Ross described Pristine De LLC as the “largest source of funding” to Local Leadership. However, Renier said he did not recognize the entity when asked by prosecutors. He told them he did not know if Pristine was associated with Riley.
“Maybe a client of his? Maybe he represents them; I don’t know,” Renier said. He added that he knew Riley was raising money for his campaign but that “it’s impossible to keep track of” all the clients and their names.
Asked if he knew that Riley was raising money from the Centners for his campaign, Renier said he knew that Riley worked for the couple but didn’t provide specifics.
“I think you should ask him that,” Renier said.
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