Feds move to take Joe Carollo’s Coconut Grove house for $63.5 mil judgement

Commissioners wife’s bank accounts could be next

Federal agents swooped into Coconut Grove Friday and posted notices on the door of Joe Carollo‘s house, beginning the process of seizure, ordered by the court to pay a $63.5 million judgement against him for violating the first amendment rights of two Little Havana businessmen.

Well, he hasn’t lived there for several years, right?

Carollo allegedly rented an apartment in District 3 because his house on Morris Lane was in District 2 — until the city commission changed the boundaries during redistricting, carving the Grove up to put his house in his district.

The house has a market value of $2 million, up from last year’s $1.6 million, according to the Miami-Dade property appraiser. It’s estimated at $3.9 mil on Realtor.com. But the contents of the home are also up for grabs. What does that include? Everything. Ladra hears from people who have been inside that he has some Cuban art hanging on the walls, along with the tacky posters from city events.

“I don’t think he has much of value,” said attorney Jeff Gutchess, who represents Bill Fuller, the owner of Ball & Chain, and Martin Pinilla, the two property owners and businessmen who claimed Carollo targeted them and weaponized city departments against them because they supported his opponent in 2017. A jury ruled in their favor last June, awarding $34.3 million to Fuller and $29.2 mil to Pinilla.

Built in 1954, the house has a very 80s party pad feel with marble floors and a sunken living room. Folks who have been inside say Tony Montana would feel at home. It’s like a time warp. Any buyer would have to invest half a million to bring the property up to par, including a cleaning of the nasty, toxic koi pond by the front door.

Carollo tried to put the house in his wife’s name on a quick deed beginning one week before the judgement was awarded. But it was too late.

“We recorded the judgement first. So we have priority,” Gutchess said, adding that the next step is to get a judge to issue a “break order” — allowing creditors to “break the door down” — and see what’s inside. Then they publish the property as available for sale. But that’s not all.

“We’re going to see what kind of money his wife is getting for her corporation,” Gutchess said, inferring that, like City Manager Art Noriega‘s wife — who sold hundreds of thousands of dollars in office furniture to the city — Marjorie Carollo is another spouse who has reportedly benefited from her husband’s position in the city.

The working theory is that Joe is hiding assets in Marjorie’s company, MTC Group. Las malas lenguas say she is involved in a number of city events as a talent manager. Anything America TV does in the city, at Bayfront Park or on those Friday Little Havana Nights events, Marjorie Carollo is involved.

She allegedly knows the artist who sculpted the dogs and cats that were placed in Maurice Ferre Park at a cost of almost $1 million without a competitive process, forced down the board’s throat because Carollo liked what he said was his wife’s idea. Everyone thinks the couple got a kickback.

She was also the inspiration for the grab of the Tower Theater from Miami Dade College, where the city paid for new equipment despite not having the commission’s approval.

And insiders say Marjorie is a frequent subcontractor for campaign consultants who Carollo pays.

Gutchess said that no stone would be left unturned in seeking the damages that were awarded.

“We’re hot on his trail.”