Mayor Suarez Cleared in State Ethics Probe Over Glitzy Formula 1 Outings

The Florida Commission on Ethics has dismissed a complaint filed against Miami Mayor Francis Suarez over his attendance at high-end Formula 1 events, finding that he reimbursed the ticket costs and that there was "no probable cause to believe" he accepted gifts in exchange for political favors.

Made public March 13, the commission's decision prompted a victory lap from Suarez, who claims the allegations were politically motivated.

Activist Thomas Kennedy filed the complaint against Suarez in August 2023, roughly three months after Suarez was seen hobnobbing with celebrities and wealthy business leaders at the 2023 Miami Grand Prix and dinner events tied to the race. Kennedy alleged that Suarez received improper compensation in the form of pricey event tickets from Kenneth Griffin, head of hedge fund Citadel, while the firm was seeking to relocate its headquarters to a yet-to-be-built skyscraper in Miami.

The commission accepted an ethics reviewer's determination that Suarez did not receive "gifts" because he repaid Griffin for the tickets, and, in other instances where he did not pay for attendance, was appearing in his ceremonial capacity as mayor.

"Today's bipartisan and unanimous exoneration provides irrefutable proof that the vicious and politically motivated attacks on Mayor Suarez's character are completely inaccurate and without merit," Suarez said in a statement.

Kennedy bit back in a statement provided to New Times, saying the probe was incomplete and let Suarez off the hook for freebies. He contends that the commission treated the mayor's time at certain Formula 1 events as official business when there is evidence that Suarez marked off those attendance windows as personal time.

"This was a poorly conducted investigation by an ethically challenged ethics board that was designed to protect a corrupt politician and the special interests both enriching him and benefitting from his tenure," Kennedy says.

Suarez's attendance at the Miami Formula 1 events spawned extensive local news coverage and scrutiny over who bankrolled the costs, including coverage in New Times' article, "Man About Town: Mayor Suarez Lives It Up at Formula 1 2023," which chronicled his outings in detail.

The mayor and his wife attended a luxury, $3,000-per-person Carbone Beach dinner on May 6, 2023, where fellow attendees included billionaire Jeff Bezos, Griffin, and Miami Dolphins' owner and real estate developer Stephen Ross. The following day, Suarez and his wife viewed the race from the luxury Paddock Club Suite, which cost $4,000 a ticket. He also appeared at the "Once Upon a Kitchen" event, as well as another Carbone Beach function early in the weekend.

The Miami Herald later reported that Griffin had provided Suarez and his wife with VIP tickets for Formula 1 weekend, but that Griffin and the mayor's office insisted Suarez had paid back the hedge fund chief.

In his ethics complaint, Kennedy wrote that Suarez was engaged in an "ongoing abuse of public office to benefit and enrich himself while compromising his work to properly represent the best interests of City of Miami residents."

"I feel strongly there is sufficient evidence here to warrant a comprehensive public and financial records audit and investigation with respect to Miami Mayor Francis Suarez's ability to attend these high-dollar, exclusive VIP sports and entertainment events," Kennedy's complaint stated.

After a months-long probe, Melody Hadley, a reviewer advocate for the Florida Commission on Ethics, wrote in February that Suarez issued a check dated July 5, 2023, for $14,000 to GFS LLC to reimburse Griffin for the cost of Suarez and his wife's Carbone Beach and Paddock Club attendance. GFS is a company that handled Griffin's personal financial affairs, according to the commission records.

According to Hadley, the check covered two $4,000 Paddock Club tickets and two $3,000 Carbone Beach tickets. The mayor cut the check two months after the media firestorm over his attendance but before the 90-day deadline to reimburse a would-be gift under Florida ethics law.

Hadley, who works as a lawyer in the Florida Office of the Attorney General, wrote that Suarez "left without eating or drinking" at his first Carbone Beach event on F1 weekend, and that he "did not have a ticket and did not attend the dinner" at the Once Upon a Kitchen event. Hadley did not find probable cause to establish that Suarez accepted compensation or gifts with knowledge (or constructive knowledge) that they were intended to influence a vote or other mayoral action.

The commission accepted Hadley's recommendation in a March 8 report released today.

In response to the commission's decision, Kennedy tells New Times that investigators failed to address his allegations about Suarez's attendance at a World Cup match in Qatar alongside soccer legend and Inter Miami part-owner David Beckham. If Suarez accepted gifts from Beckham, it would potentially constitute an ethics violation since Beckham has been involved in lobbying for Inter Miami's deal to build a new stadium at the site of the old Melreese Country Club.

Suarez receives a $130,000 salary as mayor, but he has taken some lucrative side jobs that appear to dwarf his municipal pay. During his mayoral tenure, he has worked as an attorney for the law firm of Quinn Emanuel and received a $360,000 salary through his position as a senior operating partner at DaGrosa Capital Partners, a Coral Gables-based private equity firm, the Herald reported.

The mayor also received $10,000-a-month payments as a consultant for development company Location Ventures while it was pursuing a Coconut Grove project.

Last month, the Florida Commission on Ethics dismissed a separate complaint Kennedy filed against Suarez over his use of city police officers as security during his short-lived presidential campaign. The complaint was largely based on New Times' reports that showed that more than $20,000 in hotel and travel expenses for Suarez's campaign trail security were billed to the city.

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