Former Hialeah First Lady Raiza Robaina took the stand Wednesday in the federal tax evasion trial against her and 
her husband, former Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina, and said, basically, that it was the accountant’s fault.
She said the failure to disclose somewhere between $1 million and $2 million were errors or typos maybe. “Mistakes,” she called them.
As in oooooops.
That’s their excuse? That their math geek messed up? That they were too busy increasing their net worth from $800,000 to $8 million, snatching up a choice condo on Miami Beach and buying toys and bling to notice that their check to Uncle Sam was maybe a little too small?
Really?
When I say they, I mean her. Maybe she speaks for both of them. Because we don’t know yet if Robaina is going to take the stand and perjure himself like his wife just did. How much you wanna bet he won’t?
Raiza apparently doesn’t know she’s just been thrown under the bus — again. The first time was when her hubby was running for countywide office and said the shady loan companies that had come under investigation were his wife’s businesses, not his.
The second time was Wednesday, when she swore under oath that she had taken over two businesses from her husband when he became mayor to avoid a conflict of interest (read: avoid the perception of a conflict of interest). Everybody knows that was in name only. Happens all the time. Everybody knows she is lying. La pobre.
Because while Robaina’s defense is, apparently, that his accountant was inept and the feds’ star witness — convicted Ponzi schemer Luis Felipe “Felipito” Perez — was a criminal trying to gain favor with authorities, what can they say about everybody else?
Sure, Perez is the one who says he was paying Julio Robaina — not Raiza Robaina, by the way — 36% interest. But Roberto Blanco — the son of Robaina’s partner in the 1st Hialeah Bank of Julito — took the stand last week and said that he witnessed some of the cash payment deliveries. Rolando Bolaños Jr., son of the former police chief and a friend and former business partner of Roberto Blanco’s, took the stand and said that he saw Perez employees drop envelopes of cash for Robaina at his friend’s home. Councilwoman Vivian “I’ll Notarize That” Casals-Muñoz said she signed on loans that were originally ordered by Julio Robaina, not his wife.
Have all these people — some of whom have reportedly been offered immunity — perjured themselves? Or is it more likely that only one person did that Wednesday?
What about that accountant’s version of events? He said the Robainas did not tell him about transactions that should have been included in the tax filings. What? Is he psychic? They blame him for not guessing that Robaina made $800,000 in 2007 to lobby for a big, commercial project in neighboring Hialeah Gardens for a developer?
Was that the kind of mistake Raiza Robaina was talking about? That they forgot to claim $800,000 in income? Not $1,000. Not $10,000. Not even $100,000. But almost a million?
That’s some mistake, Mrs. Robaina. And, no, Ladra is not talking about the numbers now.
Julio Robaina’s wife: only one to stand by her man added by Ladra on
View all posts by Ladra →
