Just a few of the recent cases in which our clients prevailed...
Acquitted—
General Contractor and Boat Captain Acquitted of Manslaughter after Throwing Drunken Unruly Passenger Overboard:
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—
Charges Dropped, No Felony Conviction:
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—
Charges Dropped, No Felony Conviction:
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—
Charges dropped:
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.
Acquitted—
Former Key West Head of Public Works Only Defendant Acquitted in IRS Tax Fraud Scheme:
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.