Attorney and lobbyist William Riley Jr. sued private school moguls and real estate investors David and Leila Centner, alleging they let him “take the fall” for making political contributions to a former Miami commissioner.
In September 2023, Riley was charged with bribery, money laundering, criminal conspiracy and unlawful compensation or reward for official behavior, alongside then-commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla. Law enforcement alleged that Riley funneled illegal payments and campaign contributions to Diaz de la Portilla in exchange for the city commissioner allegedly doing favors for the Centners.
The Centners own Centner Academy, a group of private schools in Miami.
They sought and received a no-bid deal to build a $10 million recreational facility on city-owned land across the street from one of their Centner Academy sites.
That deal has since been canceled. And the charges against Riley and Diaz de la Portilla were dropped by the Broward County State Attorney’s Office in November.
Riley sued David and Leila Centner, and their companies, Pristine DE and DLC Capital Management, in Miami-Dade Circuit Court on Jan. 30. He is seeking indemnification from the Centners, based on his agreements with their companies.
Riley was recruited by the Centners in 2019 to work for them as in-house counsel, a consultant and lobbyist. As part of the Centners’ goal of acquiring development rights for the park property, the Centners lobbied city of Miami politicians, zeroing in on Diaz de la Portilla, according to the complaint.
Riley alleges that the Centners, led by Leila, told him to open a bank account at Space Coast Credit Union for Pristine during the height of the pandemic. The Centners used that company’s bank account to acquire real estate and make political contributions. The Centners gave Riley “specific and detailed instructions with respect to whom they wanted to make political contributions and in what amount,” in writing, Riley’s suit alleges.
Leila Centner “closely scrutinized all amounts being sent into and out of her family’s accounts,” including those for Pristine and DLC Capital, according to the complaint.
At the direction of the Centners’, Riley signed checks on behalf of Pristine to political action committees affiliated with Diaz de la Portilla. He also hosted the former commissioner for meals and other events. The Centners’ DLC Capital reimbursed Riley for all of that, he alleges. His actions were lawful, according to the complaint.
Though Riley wasn’t aware, Diaz de la Portilla was at the time under investigation for alleged political corruption. In the summer of 2023, the Centners were subpoenaed for documents and testimony related to the Diaz de la Portilla investigation.
Leila Centner testified in September 2023 that she didn’t frequently work with Riley, that she wasn’t sure if Riley had done work tied to Centner Academy, and that she didn’t closely look at bills or invoices paid by entities that she controlled, the lawsuit alleges. She also claimed she was unaware of Pristine and that she didn’t socialize or communicate directly with Diaz de la Portilla, according to the complaint. David Centner had similar testimony.
Two days after the Centners testified, Riley was arrested and charged.
Riley alleges he requested the Centners pay his legal expenses, but they pushed him off. He claims he has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal fees.
“At no time did the [Centners] voluntarily correct their misstatements or approach the prosecutorial authorities to provide them the exculpatory information that would show that [Riley] was acting entirely at their direction,” the complaint states.
Broward assistant state attorneys determined the Centner contributions were legal, and that there was no evidence of “corrupt intent, falsification or quid pro quo arrangements,” according to a memo issued when the charges were dropped.
Lisandra Guerrero of Black Srebnick, an attorney representing the Centners, said that according to the arrest affidavit, Riley “knowingly provided false statements to investigators” in which he denied being reimbursed by the Centners for political contributions that were “ultimately determined to have been ‘lawful and transparently documented.’” The Centners, Guerrero wrote, testified truthfully and fully complied with the subpoena.
Riley’s attorney, Benjamin Brodsky of Brodsky Fotiu-Wojtowicz, said the Centners “failed to honor their legal and ethical responsibilities to Mr. Riley.”
“They can try to distract from those failures by mischaracterizing an arrest affidavit that was later disavowed by the Office of the State Attorney,” he said.
By the time the charges were dropped more than a year later, the damage had been done, Riley’s complaint states.
Guerrero, the Centners’ attorney, said it was “an unfortunate ordeal for everyone involved.”
Riley was drained “emotionally and financially,” the complaint alleges. “Worst of all, during the
pendency of his criminal charges both [Riley’s] mother and his father died…. without knowing their son had been exonerated.”
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South Florida
David and Leila Centner allegedly at crux of Alex Diaz de la Portilla scandal