Ex-Commissioner Joe Carollo and downtown Miami agency settle whistleblower suit
The former executive director of Miami’s Bayfront Park Management Trust has agreed to settle a lawsuit he filed in early 2025 accusing ex-City Commissioner Joe Carollo of using public funds to benefit his political allies and generating kickbacks for himself and his wife.
On Tuesday, attorneys for Carollo and Bayfront Park Management Trust — the agency that maintains the city’s bayfront parks — filed a notice in federal court telling the judge that they have “resolved this matter, and are in the process of finalizing settlement documents.”
The settlement notice appears to mark the end of a lawsuit that was shocking not only because of its allegations, but also because of the person making the claims.
In January 2025, former Bayfront Park Management Trust Executive Director Jose Suarez, along with the agency’s former finance director, filed the whistleblower complaint against Carollo, who served as chairman of the agency for several years. Suarez was considered to be a Carollo loyalist, having worked as Carollo’s chief of staff in City Hall from 2019 to 2022. Carollo, as Bayfront Park chairman, later brought on Suarez as the agency’s executive director in March 2024.
Suarez abruptly resigned his position as executive director in December 2024. He filed suit the next month, with representation from two attorneys who were well-acquainted with Carollo: Jay Rhodes, who previously worked as Carollo’s senior policy adviser, and Jeff Gutchess, who has for years been involved in Carollo-related litigation.
“The parties in this case, and their counsel, and their insurers, all worked together on a sensible resolution in the interests of the plaintiff, Mr. Suarez, the Bayfront Trust, and the residents of the City of Miami,” Gutchess said in a statement Wednesday. “This is the way the legal process should work, and we hope to see more of this in the future.”
Neither Gutchess nor Carollo provided details about the settlement agreement. Carollo, however, said it is “not a huge amount” and that it was a business decision by the insurance company for the defendants to settle. Carollo has denied the lawsuit’s claims from the start.
The city hired outside counsel to represent Carollo in the case. His legal team included former Miami City Commissioner Marc Sarnoff.
“I was very much wanting this to go forward,” Carollo said Wednesday, adding that: “This lawsuit was the most frivolous lawsuit with no merit whatsoever.”
Carollo pointed to Gutchess’ position as the attorney for Little Havana businessmen Bill Fuller and Martin Pinilla, who successfully sued Carollo when a jury in 2023 found him liable for weaponizing city resources against them in retaliation for their support of Carollo’s political opponent in the 2017 election.
Fuller and Pinilla are also plaintiffs in an ongoing lawsuit against the city that has similar allegations to that case. Carollo alleged that Suarez’s lawsuit was an attempt to gain leverage in Fuller and Pinilla’s ongoing case against the city, referring to Suarez as an “individual with no loyalty to anything but his pocketbook.”
In the whistleblower complaint, Suarez and former Bayfront Park Management Trust finance director Jose Canto accused Carollo of retaliation.
The pair alleged that they were forced out of Bayfront Park after making “unsettling discoveries” as they set out to right the ship in an agency that, in addition to maintaining Bayfront Park and Maurice Ferré Park, generates revenue from hosting large-scale events, including Ultra Music Festival. Nevertheless, the lawsuit said Bayfront Park Management Trust lacked a proper accounting system and didn’t have requirements for expenses to be supported by a contract or invoice policy, nor a policy or procedure to ensure vendors were selected through a competitive bidding process.
They also accused Carollo of paying a TV station owned by “close personal friends” to broadcast Bayfront Park’s annual New Year’s Eve event, storing cash parking payments in an easily accessible “money room” that was prone to theft, and supporting the purchase of a “suspicious” mobile veterinary truck. Carollo called the allegations “outrageous.”
In March of this year, a judge dismissed the case without prejudice, allowing the plaintiffs to re-file. Suarez filed an amended complaint last month as the sole plaintiff.
Suarez’s lawsuit preceded Carollo’s removal as chairman of Bayfront Park Management Trust weeks later, in February 2025. District 1 Commissioner Miguel Angel Gabela — a Carollo rival — replaced him and has remained in the role of chairman since.
Carollo left elected office in December after reaching term limits following two consecutive terms on the City Commission. He placed fourth in last year’s competitive race for Miami mayor.
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