Arrested Miami Lobbyist Appeared Intoxicated While Pitching Centners’ Zoning Changes
The lawyer and lobbyist is accused of funneling thousands of dollars from the Centners into political committees controlled by the commissioner in exchange for pushing through a $10 million sports facility for the couple’s school, the Centner Academy. Riley and Díaz de la Portilla, who have denied the allegations, bonded out of jail last week.
As Riley faces a newfound national spotlight in the wake of his arrest, his past work on behalf of the Centners has come into tighter focus. In addition to securing approval for the Centners’ sports center at the heart of the criminal case, New Times has learned that Riley lined up lucrative zoning changes for the Miami power couple.
Riley’s campaign to secure those concessions was unusual, to say the least.
A resurfaced video of a July 2021 Miami Planning, Zoning, and Appeals Board (PZAB) meeting appears to show Riley slurring and stumbling over his sentences while presenting the rezoning proposal on behalf of the Centners. Riley sought to up-zone and amend the land use designation for properties next to the Centner Academy’s campus in Miami’s Design District.
Throughout his presentation, Riley mispronounces and mumbles words, some of which are nearly inaudible. He appears to struggle to read and recite the addresses of several properties in question; he’s also seen fiddling with the microphone while speaking, at one point struggling to set up several posters.
During the roughly 90-minute public meeting, Riley spent more than an hour presenting his case. He apologized for “sounding stuffy” and said that he had a cold.
One PZAB member at the meeting says that he and other members were squirming in their seats and had concerns for Riley’s health during the awkwardly drawn-out presentation, suspecting the attorney was heavily intoxicated.
“At first, I thought, OK, this is how he talks,” the board member tells New Times. “And then over time, I was like, wait, something doesn’t seem right. It seems like he’s either really drunk or on some kind of pills or something.”
The board member recalls he felt guilty making a decision during the meeting based on “how clearly something was wrong.”
In a phone interview with New Times, the first since his arrest (which he declined to discuss), Riley says he found out before the meeting that his mother-in-law had only days to live. He says he was struggling with the news of her imminent death and took anxiety medication to help him calm down before the presentation.
Riley claims he was not used to the doctor-prescribed medication and may have taken too much.
“I don’t drink, I don’t do that type of stuff,” Riley asserts. “It was a one-time episode because of my family issues.”
During the PZAB meeting, board members noted that while Riley had not outlined concrete plans to develop the properties at issue, the zoning changes would be a boon for the owners as the options for building out the land would open up.
After deferring Riley’s rezoning proposal and land use amendments, the PZAB unanimously recommended denying his requests later that year. The items then went before the city commission in 2022, and when they came up for discussion, Díaz de la Portilla promptly left the dais and was absent for the vote.
In April 2022, the city commission partially approved Riley’s requested zoning and land use changes despite residents’ concerns over traffic and development density. Díaz de la Portilla voted in favor of the items on the second reading. Among other changes, the vote allowed for property tied to David Centner’s company DLC Capital Management to be up-zoned from “duplex residential” to “low-density restricted commercial.”
At that same meeting, the city commission advanced the $10 million sports facility at the center of Riley’s alleged scheme to grease Díaz de la Portilla’s palms.
In the wake of the arrest, Riley’s attorney said that his client’s interactions with Díaz de la Portilla amounted to legal lobbying activity and that they would prove it in court. Díaz de la Portilla says his arrest was politically motivated.
“These false charges by the outsider Broward State Attorney’s Office [are] an obvious ploy to remove an effective and honored public servant from office,” Díaz de la Portilla’s attorney, Benedict Kuehne, said in a statement to New Times.
The Centners, who have been active in multiple real estate deals in Edgewater and Wynwood, are not charged in the case and have denied wrongdoing. The couple previously made national headlines in 2021 after barring teachers who received the COVID-19 vaccine from classrooms at Centner Academy.
Riley started his career at the law firm of Bilzin Sumberg before moving to GrayRobinson in 2013. He then jumped ship to Greenspoon Marder, one of the largest law firms in Florida, a few months before Miami Mayor Francis Suarez joined the firm as an attorney.
Though Riley appeared at public proceedings, sat on Miami’s Civil Service Board, and worked for powerful landowners throughout his 20-year career, much of his activity stayed out of the public eye and remained relatively unknown to Miami residents. Operating in the labyrinthine world of municipal zoning, Riley pitched projects for city approval at meetings that a sliver of local residents had the time or interest to watch prior to his arrest.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) alleges that between June 2020 and August 2022, Riley routed $245,000 via his Delaware company, Pristine DE LLC, to Díaz de la Portilla’s two political committees as part of the bribery scheme. One $50,000 contribution was allegedly made two days before the 2020 vote on the sports complex at Biscayne Park, which is located within the boundaries of Omni Community Redevelopment Agency.
Two years prior, the Miami city commission had adopted a resolution allowing city manager Art Noriega to negotiate with the Centners over the sports facility, according to the arrest affidavit. Following the commission’s unanimous support for the Biscayne Park project, Riley allegedly submitted a reimbursement to the Centners for more than $1,500 for a “celebratory dinner with city commissioner, manager, and staff.”
According to the affidavit, Riley sought reimbursements from the Centners for thousands of dollars for drinks and meals with City of Miami staff and Diaz de la Portilla, who also served as the chairman of the Omni CRA.
“[Jason Walker, former executive director of Omni CRA] recalled Alex Díaz de la Portilla, Renier Díaz de la Portilla, Riley, and others occupying the CRA’s main conference room to eat, consume alcohol, and hold after-hours fundraising sessions,” the affidavit reads.
Investigators say the Centners also paid for the commissioner’s stay at the luxury East Hotel in Brickell, among other personal expenses.
Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended Díaz de la Portilla from office on September 15. On September 23, city commissioners will meet to decide how to fill his now vacant District 1 seat.
