Two former employees of the Bayfront Trust are suing Miami Commissioner Joe Carollo and a member of the Board of Trustees, Javier Baños, alleging that they misused hundreds of thousands of dollars that belonged to the Trust.
Among the more striking claims, the Trust’s former Executive Director Jose Suarez and former Director of Finance Jose Canto accuse Carollo of allowing a restaurant to perform unpermitted and dangerous electrical work because they were a “very powerful political ally,” invoicing the Trust to pay for his personal holiday party, and buying a mobile veterinary van and storing illegal medicines. Baños, they say, warned them against raising their concerns.
“Carollo and Baños 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” detailed in the lawsuit, the document alleges.
At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Carollo denied the claims in the lawsuit, saying the plaintiffs are "lying through their teeth."
"This is gonna get thrown out quickly. They're claiming whistleblower. Look, I know a little bit about whistleblower and they have no basis whatsoever for whistleblower," Carollo said. "If this wasn't so low and dirty it'd be laughable."
The lawsuit names as defendants Joe Carollo and Javier Baños.
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