Recently we reported on the corruption schemes in Palm Beach County (Florida) which resulted in the County citizens, encouraged by a local Tea Party group, to establish a very strong Inspector General program which is planned to end up having authority over all County government entities as WELL as cities. Palm Beach County corruption cases followed massive cases in Miami-Dade County before that.
Now, as reported in the article below, it is Broward County, Florida's turn (Fort Lauderdale area), and more elected officials are being prosecuted and going to jail. It seems they now are uncovering a string of corruption cases as well as a large Ponzi scheme
run by a big political contributor.
My observation, as a former internal auditor, is that Florida does NOT have an adequate oversight program over local counties. Some other states have elected Auditor Controllers for each County who provide oversight, but here in Florida, there is no such thing. As I have posted earlier, Lake County's "County Auditor" works for the County Clerk, and does not have authority or a charter to initiate audits of other County departments, including the Board's operations or the Sheriff.
You can't help but wonder which Florida County is next in the investigations, since this article mentions that the head of a Florida FBI unit has 500 people andhas more cases in progress.
vj
Cluster of Broward corruption cases might widen, some say
By Paula McMahon South Florida Sun Sentinel
Posted: 10:20 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 10, 2010
It is Broward County's turn at last — time for federal authorities to act on the long-held suspicion that not everything is squeaky clean in local politics and the legal community.
And it's not over yet. Law enforcement officials and local attorneys predict 2010 will bring more arrests and the exposure of more official greed and misdeeds.
The last four months have produced scandalous revelations that some say eclipse prior controversies in the county's 95-year history.
There was the spectacular implosion of the county's flashiest attorney and political bankroller, Scott Rothstein, who plans to plead guilty to running a massive Ponzi scheme.
Broward County Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion resigned after admitting his role in what he thought was a $900,000 international money-laundering scheme.
Broward School Board member Beverly Gallagher and former Miramar City Commissioner Fitzroy Salesman are both facing public corruption and bribery charges.
Dr. Alan D. Mendelsohn, the former chief fundraiser for the Florida Medical Association's political action committee, is charged with running a fraudulent political fundraising scheme and misappropriating at least $350,000.
"It's Lauderdale's time," said Dave Bogenschutz, one of the county's most prominent defense attorneys, and Gallagher's lawyer. "You had to figure they wouldn't just skip over Broward County."
Federal authorities consistently hit hard at politicians and officials who were on the take in Miami-Dade County. They were so busy in the 1990s that Miami was named one of the country's most corrupt cities.
And in the last four years, three Palm Beach County commissioners — Tony Masilotti, Warren Newell and Mary McCarty — were sent to prison on public corruption charges.
No one is suggesting that corruption suddenly moved to Broward County, but a decade of go-go growth and an explosion of construction and real estate values made more money available than ever to tempt local officials.
That, combined with the incestuous relationship of the local power structure, in which many elected officials, lobbyists and attorneys are linked by marriage, family, friendships and political loyalties, may have created a hothouse environment ripe for abuse.
But the number of high-profile arrests in Broward in just a few months is surprising, said Bogenschutz, who has represented politicians and other officials accused of wrongdoing in his more than 30 years of practicing in South Florida.
A lot of local politicians and officials are "nervous," Bogenschutz said. "I don't think anyone believes that this is over yet. There is a sense that several more prominent people may be charged before all of this is done."
John Gillies, an FBI regional chief who supervises 500 agents between Key West and Fort Pierce, has made it clear that stamping out corruption will continue to be one of his priorities.
"We have a number of investigations ongoing, and like all of our cases, we'll go where the evidence takes us," Gillies said in an interview.
Gallagher, Eggelletion and Salesman were arrested Sept. 23 after federal agents wrapped up an undercover operation that began in April 2005.
A week later, Mendelsohn, a Hollywood eye doctor, was arrested on charges of mail and wire fraud, aiding and abetting fraud and lying to federal investigators.
And by early November, Rothstein had returned home to face federal charges after fleeing to Morocco when his $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme blew up, authorities said. He was arrested Dec. 1 and is in the Miami Federal Detention Center. An expected plea agreement could keep him behind bars for the rest of his life.
What's the reason for the cluster of high-profile arrests?
Jeff Sloman, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, said it's sheer chance that the revelations and arrests have occurred in such a short timespan.
"There is no rhyme or reason to these things sometimes," Sloman said in an interview.
"Obviously, the public corruption case with Gallagher, Eggelletion and Salesman evolved over a period of time," Sloman said. "Rothstein popped up when the Ponzi scheme imploded and Mendelsohn I have no information about because it's out of Washington."
Prosecutors from the U.S. Department of Justice's Public Integrity Section, based in Washington, D.C., handled the investigation of the Hollywood ophthamologist. They took the government's case against him to a federal grand jury in Fort Lauderdale.
At the same time, the North Miami Beach office of the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Fort Lauderdale has been running the Rothstein racketeering and conspiracy investigation, as well as the undercover sting against Eggelletion, Gallagher and Salesman.
Sloman wouldn't comment on why the sting operation wrapped up when it did or what additional public officials might be targeted.
But it's clear that federal prosecutors and agents are continuing to ask questions.
Last month, FBI agents went to the Capitol in Tallahassee and interviewed state senators about Mendelsohn and the legislative process.
Former state Sen. Mandy Dawson, a Fort Lauderdale Democrat, said she was questioned in October about how she came to lead the Senate's Health Policy Committee when she was in office.
On Thursday, federal prosecutors reiterated that some of Rothstein's former colleagues at his now bankrupt Fort Lauderdale law firm might be arrested.
Other well-established figures also could fall, Bogenschutz said.
"I call it the Rothstein explosion, and it's one that could hit bankers, lawyers and others," he said.
