Carlos Curbelo hides lobbying client list under wife’s skirt

Carlos Curbelo hides lobbying client list under wife’s skirt
  • Sumo

As a Congressional candidate, Miami-Dade School Board Member Carlos Curbelo has said repeatedly that it is time for the voters in Distrct 26 to have cecilia curbeloa representative that is not embroiled in scandal.

Everyone knows he is referring to not just Congressman Joe Garcia, whose chief of staff served a 90-day sentence for absentee ballot fraud, but also to former Congressman David Rivera, a fellow Republican who federal prosecutors believe illegally funded a Democratic challenger to Garcia in 2012 and was dogged by previous allegations of creative accounting on which prosecutors seemed to drag their feet until they statute ran out or their case dried up.

Time and again Curbelo has said he wants to bring transparency and a clean slate to the District. He’s even made it part of his pitch for contributions, which will help “put an end to the scandals and fraud that have haunted our community for too long.”

But maybe Curbelo hasn’t been embroiled in controversy yet because he’s hiding something: His client list. He’s found a way to dodge disclosure laws so that he doesn’t have to tell us who he’s working for.

The lobbyist — well, he says he does PR — has a well known company, Capitol Gains, that, as the name and logo implies, concentrates on business with government entities. It also donates regularly to political campaigns.

But it’s not really Curbelo’s company. On paper. Because his wife, Cecilia Curbelo, is registered as the owner on Florida state corporate documents — even though she has never worked a day there in her life. Okay, maybe she made copies for him one day, but you smart asses know what I mean. This is Curbelo’s company. Everyone knows it. She’s a front.

Why would Curbelo turn his baby, the company he formed in 2002 — “just months out of college,” like it says on his website, which by the way doesn’t mention the title transfer — and groomed over time, over to his wife of10418160_10204132627060081_3453081304628511056_n three years (at the time)? He says it was to cut business ties while he worked in the Senate. Ladra says it is to avoid financial reporting requirements that may not be convenient for an elected, especially one with higher political aspirations.

Curbelo told Ladra the company’s ownership was changed to his wife’s name in 2009, when he went to work for then Sen. George Lemieux. Senate attorneys, he said, advised him that it would be better if he did not have interests in a private company like that one. I guess it was to avoid the perception of improprieties without avoiding the improprieties themselves. Ladra doesn’t know how to confirm that, since he didn’t give me any particular attorney’s name. And it is a silly argument that I cannot believe our Senate attorneys espouse, since a name change doesn’t actually change anything else. It just clouds it. Capitol Gains was then, has always been and still is Carlos Curbelo’s company, even if it is his wife’s on paper and, as he says, a law firm ran it for him while he worked for Lemieux. And one might think that simply having it run by someone else would be enough.

Corporate filings indicate that he resigned as managing member in October of 2009. He may or may not already have been campaigning, even privately, because thScreen shot 2014-06-10 at 10.11.51 AMe very next year he was elected to the School Board. And, though he stopped working for the Senator when he won — and we don’t know how much campaigning he did on his federal time and the taxpayers’ dime — he never returned the company to its rightful owner. On paper. The company has stayed in his wife’s name long after he left the Senate in 2010. He says he had no reason to change it back.

“Why would I? I trust my wife,” he told Ladra.

Why would you? To be transparent, maybe.

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14 Responses to "Carlos Curbelo hides lobbying client list under wife’s skirt"

  1. […] As reported by the South Florida watchdog website Political Cortadito, Curbelo signed over his public relations firm Capital Gains to his wife Cecelia Curbelo in 2009. This means if any Ukrainian oligarchs are paying large sums to Curbelo via his company, the public will never know. As Curbelo himself is no longer (at least on paper) the owner of the company, he is exempt from declaring its interests. […]

  2. Carlito Curbelo la marioneta está ocultando algo. Es un hombre poco viscoso y solapado con grandes esperanzas y ambiciones que no ha hecho nada, pero su campaña y utilizar el sistema escolar como una escalera. Es una mala elección para Distrito 26.

  3. Ladra criticas a Curbelo pero no te veo decir que Rivera violo todas las normas, cometio ilegalidades y ademas violo “el espiritu” de la ley que tanto defiende. Fair and balance PLEASE.

  4. Are you an elected official, Erick? Because if you are, you may be hiding something, too.

    Ladra said it’s not illegal. But it certainly violates the spirit of the law. He is supposed to disclose his clients. How can he get out of it? Putting his business in his wife’s name.

    You don’t think it’s a big deal? Just watch. I am certain this is not the last we have heard about it.

    Love, Ladra

  5. Ladra you usually do an excellent job reporting, however, this story has no substance as his “worst” lobbying employment is already in the open. Don’t scream scandal please, you’re much better than that. Employment is not a scandal, people transfer things to others names all the time, my company has been in my wife’s name for a a long time, her never having worked there either.

  6. Yes, those are the lawyers of which i speak. Joe asked for their opinion.

    Some make be shocked to learn Bob “fig leaf” Meyers rulings were often see is nothing more than transparent political cover for incumbent politicians. Unfortunately even though the ethics commission commands one of the highest employees salary budgets in the county today (a budget controlled by the BCC) the department to continues to be perceived by many as the BCC’s lapdog. I wonder why?

  7. Nat a Fan,
    Perhaps your reading of the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics & Public Trust investigation into this matter may be of interest to you…as they say, “the truth will set you free”. Then come back and post a more accurate accounting of what transpired.

  8. I can’t Wait for the debate on June 23rd in FIU, Joe’s going to take it, and Carlos will not be able to hide behind Mario nor Lincoln.

    • I concur with Truth-O-meter. It is obvious that Martinez has substance,experience and integrity. Money can’t buy any of those. It’s going to be a grand slam. Can’t wait. This was a great article.

    • Curbelo is a worm, He lied to the members of his school district when he supported the name change of Kendale Elemetary to Lincoln Diaz Balart and told the audience that he did not know who had proposed the name change. He’s a F$*@en corrupt rat liar. You’re way over your head little man; Joe Martinez has your number.

  9. Joe’s no angel either. Ask him about the time when he was the chairman of the BCC his buddy developer gave him a sweetheart deal on the construction of his home. The lawyers told him he was only obligated to abstain from voting on that developers zoneing variances during construction. As soon as the house was finished he was free to vote on anything the guy wanted.
    Legal? Sure. Ethical? Not a chance.

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