Lawsuit – NBC 6 South Florida

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.”

Who is named in the lawsuit?

The lawsuit names as defendants Joe Carollo and Javier Baños.

Carollo represents District 3 in the Miami City Commission and has been the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Bayfront Trust since he was elected in 2017. Baños is a trustee for the Bayfront Trust and according to the lawsuit is married to Carollo’s cousin and “also the longtime accountant” for Joe Carollo, one of his companies and his political action committee. 

The plaintiffs are Jose Suarez, who “previously served as Carollo’s District 3 Chief of Staff from 2019 through August 2022” and “was appointed as the Bayfront Trust’s Executive Director in March of 2024,” the lawsuit describes. Suarez also unsuccessfully ran against Carollo for the District 3 seat in 2017.

Jose Canto is the former director of finance for the Bayfront Trust, according to the lawsuit. 

What’s in the lawsuit?

Claim: Restaurant El Toro Loco allowed to dig trench and steal electricity from Bayfront Park.

First, Suarez and Canto claim that Carollo allowed a close friend’s food truck, El Toro Loco, to operate at Bayfront Park and dig a “massive, 200-foot long trench to lay electrical wire underground, aiming to steal electricity from an electric sign at Bayfront Park.”

The work was not permitted, illegal and dangerous to residents, the lawsuit claims, and when Suarez told them to shut it down, the restaurant “brought a generator to the food truck’s location at the park again without any permit from the City.”

When Suarez insisted on the need for permits and later tried to terminate El Toro Loco’s license, Carollo allegedly warned him “that El Toro Loco was ‘very powerful political ally’ and friend and Suarez should steer clear of any further interference.”

“Upon information and belief, the trench and the electrical wiring remain buried underground to this day,” the lawsuit states.

Claim: Public Trust funds were used to support Carollo’s political allies.

The lawsuit mentions one instance in January 2024 in which “the Bayfront Trust wired approximately $45,000 to Joe Carollo’s Little Havana Fridays, despite the Bayfront Trust having no association with Carollo’s event nor deriving any benefit from Carollo’s event.”

It also details that the Bayfront Trust paid AmericaTeve $150,000 to broadcast its New Years Eve party “instead of having Univision, Telemundo, or even Fox either (a) broadcast the event free of charge; or (b) even pay the Trust for the rights to broadcast the event (as the broadcasters profit by selling advertising).”

The plaintiffs claim this is because Carollo is a close personal friend of the owners of AmericaTeve, “which actively supports” his political career.

Carollo denied the claims at his news conference.

“There were no parties whatsoever this year, last year, there was one party that I recall about three years ago from the Trust that was done on New Year’s for the purpose, like it was done a couple of times at least, of having a party for all the dozens of stars and participants for the New Year’s Eve celebration,” Carollo said. “And guess who was one of the guys who was really enjoying it and saying ‘what a great party.’ Mr. Suarez and his wife, surprise surprise, he knew what that party three years ago was for, it wasn’t for me.”

Claim: The Trust was invoiced for Carollo’s personal holiday party.

The lawsuit claims that the Bayfront Trust received an invoice for $20,000 for a yacht party hosted for Carollo’s District 3 Office. When Canto and Suarez raised concerns because the Trust was not associated with the party and shouldn’t have anything to do with the charges, “Carollo retaliated at the next Board meeting, publicly berating and defaming both of them.”

The mega yacht company later retracted the invoice.

Claim: Public Trust money was wasted on a mobile veterinary van, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating prescription drugs found inside.

Suarez and Canto claim that the Bayfront Trust bought a 2007 Ford E450 for $115,000 from Rex Mobile Vet LLC, “which was formed on April 21, 2023, four months after the Trust announced its ’emergency’ plan to procure the vehicle.”

The lawsuit claims the Trust has never used the mobile veterinary van.

“When performing a storage assessment, Suarez discovered that the Trust was storing boxes full of medicines that had been in the van. When Suarez discovered the inventory list of these medicines, Suarez discovered the Trust was in possession of Schedule IV Controlled Substances and prescription drugs, including (a) sedatives (including Acepromazine, Dexmedesed, and Torbugesic / Butorphanol Tartrate); (b) antineurals (including Gabapentin); and (c) anesthetics (including Sevoflurane),” the lawsuit reads.

Suarez and other officials agreed to tell the police, who reportedly took the drugs and launched an investigation.

The plaintiffs claim that then Suarez said he was going to assist in the investigation, Carollo told him: “I hoped you learned your lesson in trying to be transparent” and that he needed “to lawyer up.”

They also said the investigation was closed with “suspicious irregularities, including (a) the prescription drugs being destroyed shortly after the investigation began and (b) the drugs Bayfront Park purchased and possessed being rebranded as ‘lost property.’ Upon information and belief, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement
(“FDLE”) is currently investigating the timing of the City’s destruction of the evidence.”

Carollo said the van was bought with full transparency with the purpose of giving vaccines and spay and neutering pets for residents, particularly the elderly.

He added that the vet who sold them the van left medicine and other supplies inside but it was unknown that any were controlled substances.

Carollo said Suarez was the one who “purposely sat back” and didn’t find a vet to operate the van.

What have Suarez and Canto said about the lawsuit?

“The temperature and climate at the trust just got impossible to be able to move forward on anything,” Suarez told NBC6. “I was berated for being transparent.”

“We started being isolated, people talked bad about us.. it became unbearable to stay there,” Canto said.

Why are they suing?

Suarez and Canto are suing for: “back pay, front pay, loss of fringe benefits; pre-judgment interest; compensatory damages for lost wages, benefits, and other remuneration; accounting; attorneys fees and costs of this action; and grant such other relief as this Court deems just and proper.”

How has Baños responded?

Baños declined a request for an interview due to the pending litigation, but released a statement.

“I categorically deny the allegations made in the complaint. As one of nine board members, my involvement is limited to monthly meetings where all decisions are made collectively and transparently. Furthermore, the trust undergoes annual independent audits,” the statement read. “It’s important to note that during the numerous public meetings held since Mr. Suarez became administrator in April 2024, he never once expressed any of the concerns now outlined in the complaint. During my tenure we have quadrupled the reserves of the trust, and made improvements for the beautification and the public enjoyment of the park. Every resident is entitled to their opinion obviously, but any allegation of wrongdoing on my part is simply defamatory.”