MIAMI – In Joe Carollo’s first Miami City Commission meeting since a federal court ordered U.S. Marshals to start collecting on a $63 million legal judgement, the longtime elected official came out swinging against his critics and was at times irreverent when speaking to local media about the legal ruling.
Carollo, who represents District 3 on the commission, lost a $63.5 million lawsuit brought by two Miami businessmen in June.
In November, a federal court ordered garnishment of the commissioner’s wages after a jury found that he violated the First Amendment rights of two Little Havana entrepreneurs who accused him of trying to destroy their businesses in acts of political retaliation.
In a writ of execution filed Tuesday, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida ordered marshals to seize Carollo’s cash, goods and land in order to make good on what he owes.
At the start of Thursday’s commission meeting, Carollo had pointed words for his detractors.
“They’re not going to shut me up or put me down,” Carollo said. “I’m fed up with the lies, the defamation, the slander, the corruptness. Yes, that is coming from different angles here.”
Carollo was accused of orchestrating a vendetta against William Fuller and Martin Pinilla, the operators of a string of businesses along the Little Havana business corridor that includes the iconic Ball & Chain nightclub, because they supported a rival candidate for political office.
Towards the end of the meeting, things got heated between Carollo and fellow Commissioner Miguel Gabela.
The two appeared to nearly come to blows after arguing on the dias.
Carollo later spoke to local media, telling a tightly-packed huddle of cameras that he didn’t think much of the federal order and doesn’t have much to give up.
“Which arm do you want to take blood from?” Carollo joked. “I am not a rich person.”
According to court records, a judge ordered Carollo to pay $34.3 million with interest to Fuller and $29.2 million with interest to Pinilla.
Carollo continued to crack jokes about his predicament.
“I do have some furniture they would have a right to, some of my underwear, some of my socks, some of my shirts,” he said. “I don’t have a lot of clothes, they are not by any means brand(-name) clothes.”
While underwear is a personal property, legal analyst David Weinstein said other assets that could be seized include any boats or vehicles in his name.
“I don’t have any vehicles in my name, I don’t have any yachts,” Carollo said. “We have one vehicle in the family, a small Buick leased by my wife and I pay for it.”
Carollo’s attorneys filed an objection to the order, arguing the commissioner is exempt from his city paycheck being garnished, because he is the head of his family.
He claims his home is protected from seizure.
“I guess I would have to temporarily go in the street with a tent or something, because I don’t know where I would be going otherwise,” Carollo said. “I have homestead rights, they cannot take my home.”
But the plaintiffs’ attorney told Local 10 News Wednesday that the commissioner’s home is on his clients’ radar.
“The whole point of this is to stop the government abuse,” said their attorney, Jeff Gutchess, who will be providing a list of Carollo’s assets to U.S. Marshals. “The marshals should seize the house and change the locks, and they will take all the property and auction it off to raise proceeds to pay for the judgment.”
Carollo had a message to Fuller and Pinilla.
“What I say to Ball & Chain they are full of BS,” he said, saying he did nothing wrong and was simply acting in the interests of his constituents.
Daniel Figueredo, a co-owner of Little Havana restaurant Sanguich, another business Carollo allegedly harassed, spoke to Local 10 News after Thursday’s meeting.
“I think you reap what you sow and Joe Carollo is a person that has disrupted our community and disbanded our business,” he said. “I think it’s time for him to take in a little bit of the pain that he has inflicted on others.”