Edgardo Defortuna has been flying high for years, hiring star architects and erecting a string of ultra-luxury condo and hotel towers on his way to becoming one of Miami’s most prominent developers. He recently announced his first foray outside South Florida, unveiling a design for a trio of luxury towers in Paraguay.
But three separate lawsuits against Defortuna and his Fortune International Group suggests there may be a dark side to the... [...]
The First Presbyterian Church of Miami, the oldest organized congregation in the city, has been hit with a $7.1 million tax bill by the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser, which claims the church has violated its religious exemption status by leasing a portion of church grounds to a for-profit school and food trucks.
The church, located at 609 Brickell Ave., has run a K-8 religious school on the property since 2008. The bill comprises a tax lien... [...]
Jose Smith, the former city attorney from Miami Beach — and then North Miami Beach — is contract shopping in Miami-Dade municipalities on behalf of Bryant Miller Olive, where he was recently hired to lead its new full-service municipal government practice.
The longtime government operator has leveraged his many Miami-area contacts in recent months to informally angle for new contracts and city attorney positions in at least North Bay... [...]
Florida law enforcement officers can invoke the state's "stand your ground" self-defense law to protect them from criminal prosecution in some instances of deadly force, the state Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday.
The court issued its 7-0 decision in the case of Peter Peraza, a Broward County sheriff's deputy charged with manslaughter in the 2013 fatal shooting of a man carrying what turned out to be an air rifle.
Peraza's lawyers... [...]
Moments before jury selection was set to begin Tuesday in a trial that was expected to feature testimony about billionaire sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged abuse of underage women, the case settled, ending nearly a decade of legal wrangling between Epstein and a lawyer who represents the women.
Epstein, 65, who has connections to President Trump and former president Bill Clinton, was at the center of the case here in Florida, where he... [...]
