Two former employees of a Miami nonprofit that oversees two downtown parks have filed a federal whistleblower lawsuit against Commissioner Joe Carollo, accusing him of funneling public funds to political allies and shielding improper accounting practices
Jose Suarez, former executive director of the Bayfront Park Management Trust, and Jose Canto, the trust’s former director of finance, filed the lawsuit on Jan. 21 in the Southern District of Florida. The defendants are Carollo, the chairman of the trust’s Board of Trustees; the trust itself; and trustee and accountant Javier Banos.
“Carollo and Banos both threatened and then set out to undermine and force the departures of Suarez and Canto after Suarez and Canto began questioning the trust’s lack of proper accounting practices and procedures …” the lawsuit states.
The trust’s questionable accounting methods allowed Carollo to use trust funds for his own political activities, support political allies and pay an excessive salary to his District 3 social media provider, according to the complaint, which was brought under the Florida Whistleblower Law and a federal law allowing people to sue state or local officials for deprivation of constitutional and legal rights.
In addition, the trust is accused of wasting funds by purchasing a mobile veterinary van with a market value of $30,000 for $115,000. The van was allegedly never used, according to the lawsuit, and an attempt was made to use the trust’s funds to pay for the use of a yacht for one of Carollo’s holiday parties.
“Together, these wrongful expenditures totaled hundreds of thousands of dollars of misused and wasted trust funds in less than one year, and Carollo has chaired the trust for the past eight years without any legitimate oversight,” the complaint says.
Carollo’s attorney did not respond to requests for comment, but the commissioner told another media outlet that the allegations in the lawsuit amounted to a political smear from disgruntled former employees. If there was an actual misappropriation of funds, Suarez and Canto would have gone to the police, Carollo said.
But one of Suarez and Canto’s attorneys pushed back against Carollo’s remarks.
“I would caution Mr. Carollo against making any assumptions regarding actions our clients may, or may not, have taken,” attorney Jay Rhodes told the Florida Record in an email.
Carollo has been the defendant in other civil lawsuits filed by plaintiffs who have supported his political opponents.
“I won't speculate on why Mr. Carollo engages in activities that result in things like a $63 million civil judgment being entered against him, or that cause other former staffers to file suit or testify against him,” Rhodes said. “However, the outcomes of those matters certainly speak volumes.”
Little Havana business owners William Fuller and Martin Pinilla won the $63 million lawsuit against Carollo in 2023 as a result of litigation that accused the commissioner of misuse of power and violating the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights.
The more recent lawsuit accuses the owners of El Toro Loco, who are supporters of Carollo, of digging a 200-foot trench at Bayfront Park. The food truck company sought to lay electrical wire underground in the park without a permit and to obtain power from an electric sign, according to the complaint.
In addition, the trust previously stored thousands of dollars in cash from parking lot proceeds in its “money room,” which allowed workers and others to steal sums of money for personal gain, the lawsuit says.