Facing intense scrutiny for a previously secret gig with Rishi Kapoor’s firm, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez’s annual financial disclosure form failed to reveal his dealings with the Coral Gables-based developer.
Every year in early July, municipal, county and state elected officials are required by Florida law to file what’s known as a “statement of financial interests” that lists their assets and sources of income for the preceding year. Suarez submitted his form for 2022 on July 1, this year’s deadline.
His net worth more than doubled to $3.4 million compared to 2021, the disclosure shows.
The mayor listed three primary sources of income. Suarez is of counsel at the law firm Quinn Emanuel, senior operating partner at private equity firm Dagrosa Capital Partners, and a board member for the Miami technology conference Emerge Americas, according to the recently filed statement.
In the section for secondary sources of income, Suarez filled out “N/A,” or not applicable. Suarez also did not list how much money he earns annually from each of his primary sources of income.
In May, a Miami-Dade lawsuit and a response to the complaint revealed a subsidiary of Kapoor’s development firm Location Ventures was paying Suarez $10,000 a month as a consultant. The mayor earned at least $170,000 during a two-year period beginning in late 2021, according to the Miami Herald.
Suarez, who is running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, did not respond to a request for comment.
Miami-Dade’s ethics commission and state attorney’s office are conducting a joint investigation of the mayor’s payments, and the FBI is also conducting a public corruption probe of the business arrangement between Kapoor and Suarez.
Given the spotlight on his side hustle with Location Ventures, Suarez should have disclosed the consultancy job on his annual statement, Nova Southeastern University ethics expert Robert Jarvis told The Real Deal.
“Obviously, he had an obligation to list it, given he has been in the crosshairs and this was so publicly reported,” Jarvis said. “One would think he would go out of his way to report everything, including if he found a nickel on the street.”
Requiring politicians to disclose who is paying them provides the public with information about whether their elected officials have any possible conflicts of interest involving people and companies they work for, Jarvis said.
“If you are a politician, you should err on the side of caution, and you should reveal everything,” he said. “That is clearly the spirit of the law. We want to know where you are getting your money from.”
Florida law doesn’t require Suarez, who earns $96,000 a year from the city of Miami, to disclose sources of income under 5 percent of his total annual earnings. Since he is running for federal office, Suarez will be required to file a more detailed accounting of his personal finances by July 14. Under federal election rules, Suarez and his wife must itemize their income sources and other financial information dating back to last year.