North Miami Beach attorney William Dean was arrested by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office for allegedly extorting an NFL player in a high-profile case involving an armed robbery in Miramar last May, according to Channel 10.
The New York Post also reported that Dean represented three of the four men allegedly the victims of former New York Giants cornerback DeAndre Baker. “Dean and his clients demanded $1.5 million from Baker and negotiated the number down to $800,000 in order to change their statements, but no money ever changed hands, a source with knowledge of the situation told The Post. The sheriff’s office declined further comment during an ongoing investigation, but the source says they were involved in the set-up from the beginning.”
The charges were dropped against Baker this morning due to the witnesses recanting their testimony and charges being filed against his lawyer.
The bigger story for North Miami Beach, however, is that newly re-elected Commissioners Michael Joseph and McKenzie Fleurimond each received $2,000 in campaign donations from William “Billy” Dean and also from Dean’s law firm, “Ford, Dean & Rotundo, P.A.”
To complicate matters even further, Billy Dean is a member of the North Miami Beach Public Utilities Commission (PUC). Dean, who was appointed to the Commission by the now former NMB Commissioner Phyllis Smith, has been a strong proponent of terminating the city’s contract with Jacobs Engineering Group, the company that has been running the water utility since 2017. Michael Joseph, who just happens to be the Commission Liaison to the PUC, has also been vigorously pushing to take back control of the management and operations of the water plant.
Michael Joseph received Billy Dean’s campaign contribution on March 31, 2020, and McKenzie Fleurimond received his on July 20, 2020.
On August 4, 2020, Michael and McKenzie both voted, along with three of their colleagues on the dais, to terminate the Jacobs contract.
Mayor Anthony DeFillipo, who was one of the two who voted against termination, did not receive a contribution from Mr. Dean to his campaign for re-election.
We reached out to Mayor DeFillipo for a comment on Mr. Dean’s arrest.
“It is shameful to see that our elected officials have dealings with this alleged extortionist,” Mayor DeFillipo told VotersOpinion. “I realize that anyone can get arrested and Mr. Dean is innocent until proven guilty. However, our city does not need to be tainted by yet another scandal involving a public official, especially someone who is sitting on our Public Utilities Commission. If Commissioner Joseph and Commissioner Fleurimond wish to distance themselves from any hint of impropriety, it is only proper that they return the contributions from Mr. Dean and his law firm.”
We wholeheartedly agree.
Stephanie
How about these 2 commissioners voted to allow Dezer to triple his plans for the intracoastal mall.
Dezer is raping out neighborhood and giving Eastern Shores nothing in return. The mayor and 3 commissioners are not being transparent as to why they didn’t listen to Eastern Shores pleas and voted with Dezer and not their constituents. They are dirty.
Even though I despise both Mr. Joseph and Mr. Fleurimond for what they are doing to this city, I don’t see how accepting contributions from someone, who before this arrest, has not shown that they were corrupt. As Tony said, they should distance themselves by returning the contributions, unless it was given to “win” favor for upcoming votes. Also, the City should already have suspended Dean from the PUC and any other committees he may be on.
You are absolutely correct in that Mr. Dean had not been arrested until long after he contributed to their campaigns. You are also correct that they should return the contributions. But, they won’t.
What I have learned today, however, is that Mr. Dean has been furious with Michael and McKenzie because he had donated to their campaigns because they swore they would vote against the Dezer project. They lied. After they voted for it, Mr. Dean was advised by several people to ask for his contributions back, which he had every right to do. I don’t know whether he did or not.
There was a PUC meeting already scheduled for this evening, but I don’t know if Mr. Dean was asked to step down or not. I will find out. In the meantime, however, I am fervently hoping that Mr. Dean will be found not guilty. Not because I know any of the details of the case, but because he has been an upstanding citizen and member of the community with an untarnished reputation. I do not judge anyone who has the misfortune of getting arrested, and I’m certainly not going to judge Mr. Dean. We should all be keeping him and his family in our thoughts and pray that the charges will be dropped.
Is there a maximum contribution an individual can make to a city campaign including through a business that they are an owner of? I know this would not be popular with sitting Commissioners who want to be reelected, but the City should pass something to limit the maximum contributions so extreme $$ war chests can be prevented to influence future votes on projects that would be more beneficial for those businesses than the residents of our city.
The State sets maximum campaign contributions, which are currently $1,000 per individual or entity. In this case, Mr. Dean gave the maximum personally, as well as from his firm. It is not illegal.
What the Commission can do is restrict campaign contributions from city vendors, lobbyists, bidders, etc., in order to avoid any conflicts of interest or the appearance of vote buying. Several cities have passed such resolutions. Barbara Kramer tried unsuccessfully to sponsor such a resolution a few years ago. But, you are correct that such limitations are definitely not popular with elected officials, especially the Three Musketeers up there on the dais.