Saturday, January 26, 2008

Large scale public corruption: who's in the batting circle, in Miami Dade county government? by gimleteye

"Boose said his goodbyes in the same fourth-floor chamber where his once-secret client, former Palm Beach County Commission Chairman Tony Masilotti, had been sentenced in June to five years. Next month, on Valentine's Day, another Masilotti co-conspirator will face the music in that musty courtroom: Daniel Miteff, a Wellington businessman who admitted to paying off the fallen commissioner with Bahamian gambling chips.

Two weeks ago, in a smaller room two floors below, former County Commissioner Warren Newell wept and hugged his teenage kids after he was sentenced to five years.

Boose, with his grown-up daughter and other family sitting behind him, maintained his composure as he begged for leniency.

"I'd like to apologize to this court and to the Florida Bar for my actions or inactions," he told Senior U.S. District Judge Kenneth Ryskamp. "I'd also like to apologize to my family. ... The circumstances of this situation are not representative of who I am."

Ryskamp, calling it a "sad day for Palm Beach County," fined Boose $25,000 and ordered him to serve a year of supervised release. He also must complete 50 hours of community service once he is out."

(Tom Duboq, former writer for The Miami Herald, has done an outstanding job on public corruption in Palm Beach County. Click here or on "read more" for the full story printed in today's excellent edition of The Palm Beach Post.)


Lobbyist Boose sentenced in ongoing corruption probe

By TOM DUBOCQ

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Saturday, January 26, 2008

WEST PALM BEACH — It was a farewell fit for a wake.

As gracious as ever, William R. Boose III, the defrocked dean of Palm Beach County lobbyists, bid goodbye to the scores of movers and shakers who crammed a dozen pews.

Secret land trust sinks its creator
Lawyer-lobbyist William R. Boose III's criminal conduct was 'a series of bad choices,'prosecutor Stephen Carlton said:

In July 2002, Boose agreed to secretly handle a series of real estate transactions for Tony Masilotti. Boosecreated a secret land trust to conceal the county commissioner's $1.3 million profit and agreed to charge him only for out-of-pocket expenses. Neither mandisclosed the arrangement while Boose lobbied the county commission.

In November 2003, the South Florida Water Management District wanted to buy 3,500 acres of land, which included 150 acres owned by Masilotti. Boose and Masilotti conspired to hide the commissioner's stake from the district. Masilotti pushed district officials to buy the property for public hiking trails without disclosing his financial interest.

In March 2004, Boose and Masilotti demanded that David and Jeffrey Lee, the commissioner's partners in the deal, agree to a tangled series of real estate transactions that would further hide Masilotti's profit from the water district purchase. The Lees agreed, fearing Masilotti could squelch the entire water district deal. The Lees' attorney, Harvey Oyer III, assisted in hiding Masilotti's involvement, prosecutors alleged. The Lees were given immunity for their cooperation, and Oyer was notcharged.

In April 2006, The Palm Beach Post first exposed Masilotti's hidden profit, triggering a federal investigation. After learning of the corruption probe, Boose altered his notes and billing records to hide his involvement in the deal. The following October, Boose lied to FBI and Internal Revenue Serviceagents, denying he represented Masilotti, that he pressured the Lee brothersand that the $6,000 bill for his services was substantially discounted.

In November 2006,Boose worked out a plea deal with prosecutorsbut reneged in January and vowed to fight. In July, he again changed his mind and pleaded guilty.Latest to lose his freedom

William R. Boose III

Personal: 63, divorced, with a 26-year-old daughter.

Crime: Misprision of a felony, for helping hide former Palm Beach County Commission Chairman Tony Masilotti's profit from a government land deal.

Punishment: Two years in prison, one year of supervised release, a $25,000 fine and forfeiture of $400,000. He may lose his law license.



Tony Masilotti pleads guilty

Ex-Palm Beach County Commission chairman gets five years in prison over charges stemming from a federal investigation related to his involvement in land deals.
Headline archive, more
More local news
Latest breaking news, photos and all of today's Post stories.
Share This Story
"Thank you all for coming," he told them, then paused to kiss his former law partner, Alan Ciklin, on the cheek. "I love you all."

The heartfelt handshakes and hugs were delivered in the aisle of a crowded West Palm Beach courtroom Friday as Boose was sentenced to two years in federal prison. He was the latest to lose his freedom in an ongoing government corruption probe that has shocked the public and rocked the power structure.

Boose and the other corruption defendants who have marched through the federal courthouse even had the judge wondering out loud: Who's next?

Boose said his goodbyes in the same fourth-floor chamber where his once-secret client, former Palm Beach County Commission Chairman Tony Masilotti, had been sentenced in June to five years. Next month, on Valentine's Day, another Masilotti co-conspirator will face the music in that musty courtroom: Daniel Miteff, a Wellington businessman who admitted to paying off the fallen commissioner with Bahamian gambling chips.

Two weeks ago, in a smaller room two floors below, former County Commissioner Warren Newell wept and hugged his teenage kids after he was sentenced to five years.

Boose, with his grown-up daughter and other family sitting behind him, maintained his composure as he begged for leniency.

"I'd like to apologize to this court and to the Florida Bar for my actions or inactions," he told Senior U.S. District Judge Kenneth Ryskamp. "I'd also like to apologize to my family. ... The circumstances of this situation are not representative of who I am."

Ryskamp, calling it a "sad day for Palm Beach County," fined Boose $25,000 and ordered him to serve a year of supervised release. He also must complete 50 hours of community service once he is out.

Boose won't be going to prison right away. Ryskamp allowed him to remain free until March 18 so he can fight the revocation of his law license. The license is suspended, but a trial is scheduled March 14 for his permanent disbarment.

At 63, Boose is a humbled man who has lost his reputation and his livelihood, said his attorney, Richard Lubin.

He said Boose is suffering from unrelenting, though nonlethal, skin cancers. He also suffers from an unspecified substance abuse problem that he says has worsened since the FBI came knocking.

Ryskamp said he will recommend that Boose be placed in drug and alcohol rehabilitation at a prison camp near Pensacola for treatment that also could shave months off his sentence.

The punishment could have been worse. Had he not pleaded guilty in July to misprision of a felony - failing to report Masilotti's crimes to authorities - he could have been charged with conspiracy and would have faced five years, Ryskamp pointed out.

The judge said the scandal has reflected badly on all public servants and lawyers.

"Anytime officials are brought down by corruption, I think we are all diminished," Ryskamp said. "The legal profession is diminished also."

Boose pleaded guilty to helping conceal Masilotti's $1.3 million profit from a government land deal in Martin County. Filings by prosecutors show that besides Boose and Masilotti, three others were involved: Masilotti's real estate partners, David and Jeffrey Lee, and their attorney, Harvey Oyer III.

From the bench, Ryskamp asked: Would they be next?

"For myself as a concerned citizen, it makes me wonder why nothing has been done with the Lees and Mr. Oyer," the judge said.

Prosecutors did not answer. Court filings show the Lees were given immunity from prosecution for their cooperation. But other records indicate that Oyer, while not charged, was just as involved as Boose. Prosecutors would not comment, and Oyer could not be reached.

In an interview this month, Oyer said the investigation of him "ran its natural course, and it is concluded."

As part of his plea agreement, Boose had to forfeit $400,000 to the government, even though Masilotti paid just $6,000 for the lawyer's services, a deeply discounted rate. Prosecutors said Boose's paydays came when he appeared before the commission seeking legal business or zoning approvals for his clients. Neither Boose nor Masilotti ever disclosed their relationship before votes that benefited the lobbyist.

"Outright public theft is harmful," prosecutors John Kastrenakes and Stephen Carlton wrote to the judge. "However, dishonest conduct knowingly concealed by an attorney who frequently has business before the same public official whose pockets he is helping to line poses an even greater danger."

The Palm Beach Post first reported Masilotti's land deal in April 2006. The following month, the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service swooped in. They said Boose tried to cover up his involvement by altering his records and lying to federal agents.

"Instead of reporting Masilotti's hidden real estate deals to law enforcement, the defendant chose to deny his own involvement and knowledge, deny the identity of his true client and alter his own internal notes and files," prosecutors wrote. "In our information and document-driven society, attorneys are the tools by which the ever-deepening well of public corruption is dug."

In court filings seeking a slimmer sentence, Boose, a seasoned, shrewd and savvy land-use lawyer, was portrayed as a Nebraska hayseed led astray by Masilotti, a slicker from Chicago. Nearly 100 letters citing Boose's virtues were submitted to the court, many from political insiders who had been his partners in land deals or won lucrative zoning with his influence. Among them were well-connected real estate dealers like Llwyd Ecclestone, George Elmore, Harvey Geller and Herb and Hans Kahlert. Many of them also attended Friday's sentencing.

Not one letter of support came from a sitting county commissioner or the county's top administrators. Nor did they show up in court.

A 1969 graduate of the University of Florida College of Law, Boose had joined the county staff in 1971 at the age of 26. His first assignment: drawing up Palm Beach County's land-use plan, a map of future development that with growth amendments won from the county commission over the years would make fortunes for him and his clients.

In 1974, Boose left his $20,000-a-year government job to become a lobbyist and land-use lawyer. While he prospered, he also shared his success through charity and community service, according to his friends.

"I can't imagine Bill Boose needs any rehabilitation," wrote Jerald Beer, one of his former law partners and an unsuccessful 2006 candidate for circuit judge. "A one-time error in judgment against a career, if not a lifetime, of exemplary character indicates that whatever errors Bill may have committed will not be repeated."

For prosecutors, rehabilitation was not the issue.

"William R. Boose III's conduct in this matter demonstrates that he was a known and witting enabler of large-scale public corruption," they wrote to the judge. "When a lawyer's learned tools become the tools of a calculated scheme to conceal public corruption, a dangerous and unholy reunion results."


8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Time for several Miami-Dade County arrests.

Isn't City of Miami commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones being investigated for taking money from a developer, Related? Didn't she demand Related give money to two very close friends of hers, Barbara Carey-Schuler and Barbara Hardemon, in return for a favorable vote on a request for re-zoning? Didn't Spence-Jones give a rambling incoherent speech saying nothing as she attempted to justify her vote? A vote that had been already bought and paid for? Wasn't Spence-Jones seen driving a new Range Rover immediately after the vote?

Time for the perp walk...?

Anonymous said...

I wonder how many Bahamian casino chips Natacha Seijas has stored away in Nassau?

Anonymous said...

What about Joe Martinez? Friend of sleazy developers, Medicaid fraudsters and assorted unindicted co-conspirtors? Who pays his bills and what does he do in return?

Anonymous said...

Seems like it should be fairly easy to deal with fraud issues here. Look for double-billing on major projects, question all funny-looking transactions, threaten indictments and see who crumbles and gives others up. Bring in outside developers for the set-ups and see who bites. Look for the weakest link. Indict someone like Rene Rodriguez and see how many officials he gives up. Maybe we could clean house.

Anonymous said...

Don't you think these guys in the county commission know that mortgage fraud has tied up the FBI and every other white crime unit? Maybe that was the purpose of the housing boom in the first place.

Anonymous said...

I understand Miami Lakes is a small community in NW Miami Dade. But I haven't seen anything in the Herald or here regarding a council woman who has been selling real estate for three years with an expired license and has not only been investigated by Carmel Cafiero, but now the governing entity of the Real Estate Community, DBPR(Division of Business and Professional Regulation) has found her guilty and has turned the case over the the State Attorney's office.

Nancy Simon who is now Vice-Mayor, has been found to have earned around $28,000 in commissions while her license is expired and yet her primary source of income on her financial disclosures is listed as a realtor. Why no news coverage of this obvious corruption in public office? Many rumors center around her friendship with Seijas and that the Ethics Board is controlled by Seijas and nothing has or will be done. What's your take on this Genius? I find it interesting in a time where mortgage and real estate fraud is such a blight on this community and Mayor Alvarez has jumped on the bandwagon with a Mortgage Fraud Task Force, why is this public official still in office?

Anonymous said...

Check out what happened when Commissioner Gimenez tried to pass an ordinance that would require those in the procurement process to take an oath prior to testifying before the Board (exactly like in the zoning and land use process)":

Miami-Dade County commissioner miffed after manager snuffs procurement oaths proposal

By Lou Ortiz
Miami-Dade County Manager George Burgess lobbied to kill a procurement reform ordinance proposed by Commissioner Carlos A. Gimenez, a move the commissioner says usurped the committee process where matters are aired and discussed.
The action by Mr. Burgess, a county employee who works for Mayor Carlos Alvarez, effectively quashed debate Jan. 22 on the proposal by Mr. Gimenez for vendors and county staff to be under oath when making presentations to the commission on bid awards.
The proposal by Mr. Gimenez would have required anyone, including county employees, to take an oath when the award of county contracts comes up for discussion before committees or the 13-member commission.
But the proposed ordinance didn't make it to committee or commission debate. Commissioners rejected it by a 4-6 vote on first reading. Under commission rules, no debate is allowed in the first reading of proposed ordinances. And the state's Sunshine Law bars elected officials from coming together privately to discuss government business.
The proposal was intended to ensure that persons who seek county contracts, sometimes in the tens of millions of dollars, along with the administration staff who promote their approval, tell the truth in the procurement of those pacts.
"This is the public's money. This is the public's trust," Mr. Gimenez said in an interview. "For me, it's truth in procurement."
Mr. Burgess lobbied some commissioners personally and issued a memo to all commission members to defeat the proposal before the item was called to a vote at last week's meeting.
When Mr. Burgess was called for comment after the meeting, a spokesperson for him, Suzy Trutie, said: "He felt it was a bad idea."
Ms. Trutie said that the last paragraph in Mr. Burgess' memo summed up his stand on the ordinance:
"Approval of this legislation is certain to send a harmful message to the organization, its frontline staff, management and leadership; the vendors we transact business with, and most importantly the members of the public we serve. Requiring that an oath or affirmation be made prior to responding to questions or presenting information in regard to a contract will serve to diminish the public's confidence in the integrity of our purchasing processes and in our professional staff."
Mr. Burgess also wrote in his memo to the commission that past breaches in the public's trust by individuals were "dealt with through appropriate disciplinary action and referred to investigative authorities, where appropriate."
He insisted that "county staff exercises sound professional judgment consistent with the highest standards of professionalism, excellence and integrity."
Commissioner Joe A. Martinez, who voted no, said the proposed ordinance was "not an item I believe in."
Also voting no were commissioners Jose "Pepe" Diaz, Natacha Seijas, Dennis C. Moss, Dorrin D. Rolle and Audrey M. Edmonson.
Mr. Martinez said he works closely with administration staff and department directors and supporting the ordinance would be counterproductive.
"It would be a slap in the face to a lot of people we work with and count on day in and day out," Mr. Martinez said. "It would be detrimental."
Commissioner Sally A. Heyman, who voted for the proposed ordinance, said the matter should have gone to committee. She was joined by commissioners Katy Sorenson, Javier D. Souto and Mr. Gimenez.
"I don't find it offensive," she said, adding that zoning hearings employ an oath. "He [Mr. Burgess] actively opposed it instead of letting it go through the committee process, so we could dialog on it."
She added that she was surprised County Mayor Carlos Alvarez didn't support the ordinance because he campaigned on procurement reform.
"I thought this [ordinance] was a positive direction," she said. "I was hoping it would pass on first reading."
Mr. Gimenez said that under commission rules he cannot revive the ordinance for at least six months.
"I may revive it," he said. "We'll see what happens."

Anonymous said...

I don't know if it's just me or if everyone else experiencing issues with
your blog. It appears like some of the text in your posts are running off the screen. Can someone else please provide feedback and let me know if this is happening to them as well?

This might be a issue with my browser because I've had
this happen previously. Many thanks