Acquitted:
October 17, 2023
An Ohio couple stole millions of Dollars from several victims throughout the country. Two investors from California and two investors from Arizona tracked down the couple living an Exotic lifestyle in Miami. The Investors hired two armed bodyguards to assist in their collection of their funds and took the Nanny and two infants from their house and drove them to the Pizzeria the Mother was running.
The Ohio woman was taken from the Pizzeria by force and the Nanny, two children and their mother were held for 9 hours at 3 different holding locations while the investors sent ransom demands to the husband/father with photos of the family and wiring instructions to be met by 8pm or else.
Six Defendants were charged with conspiracy to Kidnap and 4 counts of kidnapping with guns. One Defendant pled guilty six days before trial and agreed to a 17-year sentence to testify against the defendants. The Nanny testified our client snatched the sleeping baby from the bedroom of the home, forced them from the home, was locked in the car with child safety locks activated and held against her will. The cooperating co-defendant testified that our client provided a disguise for her to enter the pizzeria, was sent banking information to his phone to transfer moneys from the kidnappee as he went through her phone and found bank accounts. The house and pizzeria abductions were captured on video tape and the Government showed a video and called an expert witness from Volkswagen of America who testified that the video shows the child locks being activated by a co-conspirator as the mother was being forcefully placed in our client’s car.
Our defense was our client was hired to protect, was unaware it was a kidnapping and the Government’s witnesses were lying for a reduced sentence and special visa’s for victims. After a three-week trial our client and one other defendant were acquitted of all charges while the other three Defendants were convicted of the kidnappings.
Acquitted:
October 17, 2023
The son of Two Boston lawyers flew to Miami to visit his Boston childhood best friend. After a night out of partying, his host’s gun went off, striking him in the middle of the chest and killing him. The deceased’s Prominent Miami Doctor’s father hired the retired former second in command of the State’s Attorney’s Office to pressure the office to bring first degree murder charges. They brought manslaughter charges that would result in a minimum 15-year sentence if convicted. After a 1-week trial our client was acquitted of the charges and is now living back in Boston.
Hung Jury:
October 17, 2023
The Federal Government Charged our client with Conspiracy to commit Wire Fraud and five counts of Wire Fraud in an elaborate scheme where the victims were told the IRS had large penalties against them requiring them to deposit large sums of cash into our client’s bank accounts in their home states resulting in over one million dollars in losses.
Treasury investigators visited our client to discuss the money deposited into his accounts; they claimed our client confessed to two different agents that he had committed this crime. The Jury was unable to reach a verdict after our defense that our client was used and fooled by the same elusive criminals who fooled the victims, and the Agents were untruthful or mistaken about a confession; he only acknowledged the moneys came through his account. On the eve of the retrial, the prosecutors agreed to dismiss all but two of the charges and recommend no jail and probation to the Judge.
Case Dismissed:
October 17, 2023
A Federal Prosecutor was arrested for Battering a City of Miami Police officer in Wynwood at 3am. After our own investigation was presented to the State’s Attorney’s Office, we were able to show our client believed a man was in danger as he was being harmed by several men who turned out to be police officers making an arrest. The State declined to press charges against our client.
Charges Dropped, No Felony Conviction:
October 17, 2023
A Lawyer was charged with Two counts of Felony DUI with Serious Bodily Injury, possession of Cocaine and Four counts of Misdemeanor DUI after his car went into oncoming traffic at a high rate of speed and hit a car head on with a mother and daughter in it. They required several surgeries. The client was also taken to the hospital where he thought he was in a different county; his blood was taken by the hospital and through force after a Search Warrant was executed showing he had a blood alcohol level two times the legal limit, cocaine in his system and a baggie of cocaine in his possession. After several meetings with the Prosecutors demonstrating that the Blood drawn by both the Hospital and as a result of the Search Warrant was in Jeopardy of Suppression, we reached a plea agreement where the Felony DUI’s were dismissed, our Client was not convicted of any felonies and was convicted of one count of Misdemeanor DUI.
General Contractor and Boat Captain Acquitted of Manslaughter after Throwing Drunken Unruly Passenger Overboard:
October 17, 2023
Boat Captain Acquitted
A boat captain was acquitted after the passenger he threw overboard failed to get onto a neighboring boat. When both boat captains realized the passenger wasn’t on either of their boats an intense search ensued with several law enforcement agencies. The passenger was found floating dead in Biscayne Bay two days later.
Charges Dropped, No Felony Conviction:
October 17, 2023
A Married couple with a successful international electronics business was accused of being involved with Human Smuggling into the United States and using its electronics business to launder the proceeds. The State’s Attorney held a Press Conference Displaying the couple and the many allegations against them. Their home was raided in the early morning hours by car, truck, boat and helicopter. After cross examining the lead agent in a parallel Forfeiture Proceeding where the Judge noted he believed the Agent committed perjury, the State Agreed to drop 5 Charges and our client pled to one count of Operating a Money Transmitter Business without the Proper License and was given a Withhold of Adjudication (No Conviction) and probation.
Charges Dropped, No Felony Conviction:
October 17, 2023
A Parking garage and Car Booting executive was charged with defrauding the City by lying about the number of cars booted daily which resulted in the city not receiving it’s fair portion of per car Booting. Search Warrants were served on our client’s office and home where ledgers seized showed the true number of cars Booted and the much lower number reported to the City. The State’s Attorney held a press conference outlining the alleged scheme. After the State offered a final plea agreement of several years in Prison, we presented a power point to the prosecutors demonstrating the ordinance requiring the per car Boot was passed by the City Commission illegally, was an illegal tax, there was no loss to the City and no crime committed. The State dropped 4 counts and our client plead to one count where he received a Withhold of Adjudication (No Conviction) and probation.
Charges dropped:
October 17, 2023
The Coast Guard Captain served Out of Town Yacht owners and their Captain a Captain of the Port Order requiring them to stop doing Boat Charters. The Captain was charged with several Misdemeanor criminal and civil violations. All the Charges were dismissed in court. After several meetings at the Coast Guard Headquarters the Order was rescinded.
Former Key West Head of Public Works Only Defendant Acquitted in IRS Tax Fraud Scheme:
October 17, 2023
Defendant Acquitted in IRS Tax Fraud Scheme
Our client, a former superintendent of the Key West Public Works Department, was accused of conspiring with his brother, sister, and niece of filing fraudulent tax returns and receiving several hundred thousand dollars in illegitimate refunds. The four family members were charged with using the names and social security numbers of federal inmates to file returns with non-existent jobs from companies that were bankrupt or out of business. Because some of the coconspirators were in state or federal custody at the time of the scheme, all of their communications were recorded. There were hundreds of hours of phone conversations spanning more than two years where the intricacies were discussed in great detail. Seven of the eight defendants in the two indictments pleaded guilty believing the evidence was overwhelming. Our client’s brother and niece agreed to testify against him, but the government decided not to call the brother after we obtained damning information through our investigation. Our client was on tape discussing payments and the tax returns. The jury acquitted our client of all counts. The acquittal was especially upsetting for the government because our client had also been accused of stealing two hundred thousand dollars’ worth of quarters when he was the Superintendent for Key West Public Works.