Miami City Commissioner Joe Carollo’s home will not be auctioned off this month to pay off his multi-million dollar debt.
At a court hearing on Friday before federal Magistrate Judge Lauren Louis, an attorney for Little Havana business owners William Fuller and Martin Pinilla agreed to call off the impending sale of Carollo’s Coconut Grove property on March 19. The sale will be delayed for more than a month while the court hashes out whether Carollo’s home is protected from sale by Florida law.
On Feb. 2, U.S. Marshals posted a notice of levy on the door of Carollo’s Coconut Grove property, notifying him that they would take possession of the home and auction it off. The proceeds from the sale would go towards paying off a $63.5 million judgment entered against Carollo last year in federal court.
READ MORE: U.S. Marshals set to auction Joe Carollo's home over $63.5 million federal judgment
A Broward jury in a federal civil case found Carollo liable for violating the First Amendment rights of Fuller and Pinilla by abusing his public power to send city police and code enforcement to harass their properties. Fuller is co-owner of the Ball & Chain bar on Calle Ocho, and he and Pinilla own several properties in the same neighborhood.
The court ordered Carollo to pay a combined total of $63.5 million in damages, including punitive damages meant to punish and prevent him from taking the same actions again.
Carollo has argued in court against any attempt at collecting money or assets from him to pay off the judgment. In November, he said his $58,200 salary from the city could not be touched because he is the sole provider for his household, which includes a migrant family of Venezuelans.
When the levy was issued on his home, Carollo’s attorneys argued that the home is exempt from sale under Florida’s homestead law. Under the Florida Constitution, a person’s permanent household cannot be sold to satisfy a court judgment if they claimed the property as their homestead.
At the hearing on Friday, Carollo’s attorneys asked the court to put a stop to the sale until further court proceedings determined if the commissioner’s house is actually exempt.
“A man’s home is his castle and we are here to protect it because it is entitled to that protection,” Mason Pertnoy, one of Carollo’s attorneys, told Judge Louis.
Fuller and Pinilla’s attorneys were prepared to argue that the Coconut Grove house is not Carollo’s homestead because he “abandoned” it in 2017 when he first ran for election to the Miami City Commission.
They also sought to argue that when Carollo’s commission district was redrawn in 2022, and the changes made it so his Coconut Grove house would be moved into District 3, that was done so specifically to protect him from liability. The team called witnesses including former Miami commissioner for Coconut Grove Ken Russell, as well as the city’s redistricting consultant, Miguel De Grandy.
During his testimony in a separate federal lawsuit against the City of Miami, De Grandy admitted before the court that he added the part of District 2 that included Carollo’s home into District 3 in order to please the commissioner. De Grandy said he was not instructed to do so, but when he read about Fuller and Pinilla’s lawsuit, he thought it would be helpful to let Carollo move back into the home.
“It was very clear to me, because there was a very public lawsuit with Ball & Chain,” De Grandy said on the stand on Jan. 30. “When I saw all the newspaper accounts, etcetera, I thought, ‘yes, that would make him happy.’”
Judge Louis, however, did not allow for the witnesses on Friday to take the stand. She told Fuller and Pinilla’s team that they needed to first file a formal objection to Carollo’s homestead exemption before the court could determine if the argument holds water. Both sides agreed to meet again in April and put a pause on the March 19 property sale until the matter is resolved.
Timeline of events
The history of Carollo’s Coconut Grove property — and how long he’s lived there — is at the heart of the arguments going on right now. Back in 2017, Carollo moved out of his $2 million home into an apartment in West Brickell to run for the commission seat in Miami’s District 3, which includes Little Havana. City law requires that a commissioner live in the district that they represent.
Here’s a timeline:
- Nov. 2017: Joe Carollo beats opponent Alfie Leon in a runoff election and is elected to Miami’s District 3. Carollo says he’s moved out of Coconut Grove and into an apartment in the district.
- Oct. 2018: William Fuller and Martin Pinilla file a federal lawsuit against Carollo alleging violation of their First Amendment rights.
- March 2022: The City of Miami redraws its districts following the 2020 Census and adopts a redistricted voting map. Carollo’s Coconut Grove home is absorbed into District 3.
- April 2023: Federal civil trial begins in Fuller and Pinilla lawsuit. Carollo has moved back into his Coconut Grove house.
- June 2023: Carollo is found liable for violating Fuller and Pinilla’s First Amendment rights. He’s ordered to pay them a combined $63.5 million.
- Jan. 30, 2024: De Grandy testifies that he tailored the district map to please Carollo.
- Feb. 2, 2024: U.S. Marshals post a notice to Carollo’s door, notifying him of the impending auction of his property.
- March 1, 2024: The evidentiary hearing on Carollo’s homestead exemption. The auction is postponed.
Marjorie Carollo
Before the Friday hearing concluded, Fuller and Pinilla’s attorney, Jeffrey Gutchess, informed the court of his desire to look into the business records of a company owned by Joe Carollo’s wife, Marjorie Carollo.
Marjorie owns a corporation called MTC Group Inc., which was formed in 2019.
At the hearing, Gutchess said he believes that money from city contracts may have flowed into MTC Group and would therefore count as income for Carollo. He seeks to ask the court for permission to go over MTC Group’s ledger to see if any payments from the city have gone through the corporation.
Pertnoy, Carollo’s attorney, called the request a “fishing expedition.”
The registered agent for MTC Group is Javier Baños Machado, according to records from the Florida Division of Corporations. Machado also worked as the treasurer for one of Joe Carollo’s campaign organizations in 2017.
