Two Miami mayoral candidates to be deposed by former city attorney’s legal team
Two candidates for Miami mayor will be deposed by the legal team representing former Miami City Attorney Victoria Méndez in an ongoing lawsuit against the city, Méndez, City Manager Art Noriega and Commissioner Joe Carollo.
Former City Commissioner Ken Russell and former City Manager Emilio González, who both filed paperwork earlier this year to run for mayor of Miami, have been subpoenaed by Méndez’s legal team. Méndez is seeking dismissal from the suit.
Russell is slated to give his deposition on Tuesday, and González said his is scheduled for later this month.
The judge overseeing the case, which accuses Carollo of carrying out a “political vendetta” by weaponizing city resources against businesses operated by Little Havana businessmen Bill Fuller and Martin Pinilla, suggested the pair be deposed. Their under-oath testimony brings the city’s ongoing legal battles relating to Carollo and the Ball & Chain nightclub operators into focus amid a contested mayoral race.
Meanwhile, Carollo is also considering a run for mayor. The filing deadline is in September.
READ MORE: Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo cleared in public corruption investigation
“It’s one of my motivations for running for mayor,” González told the Miami Herald when asked about the lawsuit. “We have a city that is broken. We have a city [where] its own residents are filing lawsuits against elected officials. I can’t fathom that a city could continue to function in that manner and be successful and be able to take care of its citizens.”
“It’s bad. It’s ugly. It’s unfortunate. But the circus continues,” González added.
Reached for comment, Carollo fired back. “They’re deposing two losers,” Carollo said. “Two losers that will never be mayor of the city.”
The lawsuit alleges that Carollo “drew up” a list of Fuller and Pinilla’s properties. According to the complaint, in May of 2020 city staff circulated an email with the subject line “Copy of Fuller Properties” that included an attachment with a list of properties, as well as whether each property had any code violations.
During an April 21 hearing in federal court, Judge Federico A. Moreno pushed for more details as to the specifics of the allegations against Méndez.
Jeff Gutchess, who represents the plaintiffs, told Moreno that Méndez added one or two unrelated properties to the list “solely so it would look like they were not only Fuller properties,” and that she told this to Russell and González directly.
Moreno then suggested that the parties depose González and Russell on the matter.
Gutchess further argued during the hearing that Méndez “organized a multi-departmental task force aimed solely at targeting Mr. Fuller’s businesses and shutting them down.”
But attorney Mason Pertnoy, who represents City Manager Art Noriega in this matter, disagreed with the argument that the plaintiffs were targeted. Referring to previous raids on various businesses, Pertnoy said the “overarching goal” by the city was to “create more stringent policies, procedures and customs to enforce work that is not being done with permits, code compliance issues and the like” — not to single out Pinilla- and Fuller-linked properties.
Méndez’s legal team has argued that she is protected by qualified immunity and absolute immunity, saying that being in the “high-profile role” of Miami city attorney “placed her in Plaintiffs’ aim.”
“Targeting Mendez for doing her job is wrong,” her attorney, Luis Suarez, wrote in a motion to dismiss earlier this year. Suarez, as well as attorney Daniel Tropin, are outside counsel hired by the city to represent Méndez, according to the city’s legal department.
It is unclear whether the case, which was filed in November 2023, will ever go to trial, as the parties are currently in mediation. Meanwhile, the city recently settled another Ball & Chain-related lawsuit, agreeing to pay out $12.5 million.
A jury found Carollo liable in a separate 2023 trial, awarding Fuller and Pinilla a $63.5 million judgment.
However, the plaintiffs have been unable to collect on that judgment thus far after a judge ruled that Carollo’s Coconut Grove home cannot be seized to satisfy the judgment, nor can his wages be garnished.
In his most recent financial disclosure filed last summer, Carollo, who earns over $100,000 per year as a city commissioner, reported a negative $64 million net worth.
This story was originally published May 6, 2025 at 4:30 AM.
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