A new digital video making the rounds on social media gives a scathing first-person account of former (read: disgraced) Miami-Dade Circuit Martin Zilber‘s unethical behavior, as documented by the Florida Judicial Qualifications Committee, and narrated by his very victim, the judicial assistant he abused at work when she was pregnant.
And Dixie Dent, who was ordered to wheel and carry his chair to and from the courtroom, doesn’t sound like she’s forgiven him.
“I speak out from a standpoint of that little immigrant girl that came to this country under the belief that there was justice here, that we had fundamental rights,” says Dent, who is overcome with emotion and, at one point, wipes tears from her face. “The system is broken and it is further corroded by people like Judge Zilber.”
The mini documentary is the brainchild of award-winning filmmaker and political activist Billy Corben, who has used his creative genius in the past to post videos about Commissioner Joe “The Wifebeater” Carollo. His disclaimer said he paid for it and is not associated with another candidate.
He’s ABZ. Like Ladra. Like everybody in Coconut Grove.
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“There is a systematic corruption in Miami-Dade County. It’s very much what Cuba is like. Who you know is what is going to get you somewhere,” Dixie Dent says to start the 3-minute video. “Judge Zilber is part of the Miami Mafia, the elite boy’s club of Miami-Dade County.”
Dent is the one who made the complaint against Zilber in 2021 and prompted the JQC investigation that found multiple ethical lapses and violations of the judicial cannons. He had been absent from the bench on 51 days that he was paid — going on vacations in New York, Malibu and Moscow — basically stealing taxpayers money. He mistreated his staff, having them run errands for him and ordering a very pregnant Dent to roll his chair to court and hoist it on the platform.
“He takes perverse pleasure in hurting others,” Dent said.
Zilber admitted wrongdoing and agreed to an unpaid 60-day suspension and a $30,000 fine, calculated by the amount he stole from taxpayers for his AWOL days. But the Supreme Court didn’t approve that. It wasn’t enough. And Zilber resigned before further punishment could be determined, possibly preserving his pension.
He should have been disbarred.
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“Judge Martin Zilber does not belong as a city commissioner,” Dent says in the video. “Judge Zilber belongs in jail.
“The experience of working for judge Martin Zilber broke my heart. What I saw was not what justice looks like,” Dent says. “Judge Zilber defrauded the taxpayers, falsified time records stating that he was at work when he was on vacation. There were trips to New York, there were trips to Malibu, while he was supposed to be presiding over hearings.”
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She also said that he bragged about unconstitutional gag orders and unconstitutional orders of foreclosure, extending the legal process and running up people’s bills. Zilber also had her illegally work on his re-election campaign.
Dent is also interviewed by Corben and Dan LeBatard on the Dan LeBatard Show with Stugotz podcast, recorded Jan. 6.
From the horse’s mouth: Martin Zilber’s judicial assistant speaks in digital video added by Ladra on
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