Updated at 4:33 p.m.
The Miami-Dade Office of the Inspector General on Wednesday released its final 137-page audit report on the Guardianship Program of Dade County 鈥� detailing a lack of oversight in the nonprofit's property sales section that led to the questionable sales of dozens of homes belonging to vulnerable people.
The report comes more than a year after 港澳天下彩reported that the agency was repeatedly selling properties to a small network of buyers who would then sell them for big profits.
Following a 16-month investigation, the Miami-Dade OIG found that the Guardianship Program 鈥� a county-funded nonprofit meant to care for wards deemed 鈥渋ncapacitated鈥� by the courts 鈥� had multiple conflicts within its structure relating to property sales 鈥� in violation of Florida statutes and the nonprofit's own policies.
The OIG told 港澳天下彩they sent a copy of the audit to the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office today. The State Attorney's Office confirmed receipt of the report to 港澳天下彩and said it would review the findings.
The audit notes that the wife of one of the Guardianship Program's property coordinator currently lives in a ward's property, and a second property coordinator's friend and business partner bought a ward's home. Both property coordinators resigned from the program after the OIG began it probe. Auditors did not identify those with conflicts by name.
Furthermore, the OIG points out that a Guardianship Program board member served as the title agent on the sales of four properties belonging to incapacitated wards, effectively representing both sides.
"GPDC鈥檚 lack of internal controls and failure to properly maintain documentation related to the sale of ward鈥檚 properties, contributed to the violation of the conflict-of-interest provisions that GPDC was required to uphold. Conflicts are prohibited because they give rise to the question of whether the guardian (or in this case, GPDC staff having fiduciary obligations) is truly acting in the best interest of the ward and whether GPDC obtained the maximum value for the ward鈥檚 property," the audit states.
prohibit professional guardians from having any financial interest in transactions related to the guardianship of an incapacitated ward. The sale of a ward's home is supposed to pay for the care of that vulnerable person.
In its response to the audit report, the Guardianship Program challenged the OIG's findings.
"First and foremost, we want to emphasize that the Audit Report does not conclude that GPDC violated any administrative rule or law; only that documentation of GPDC鈥檚 process was sparse at times," wrote Carlos McDonald, executive director of external affairs for the Guardianship Program of Dade County. "GPDC always acted in the best interest of the Wards and any lapses in documentation or deviation from internal procedures were in service of obtaining the best result for the Wards."
The OIG rebuts that the program did, in fact, violate administrative rules related to conflict of interest.
GPDC told auditors that they would enact better safeguards in the future, including requiring employees to declare any outside employment and interests that might conflict with their work for the program.
The audit authors go out of their way to point out the important work that GPDC does for the most vulnerable people in the community. More than 900 guardianship cases were filed in Miami-Dade County since April 2023. GPDC was appointed as guardian of last resort for 182 incapacitated people in that same period 鈥� handling 20% of all guardianship cases in the county.
"The GPDC performs an essential function, and the residents of Miami-Dade County are fortunate to have an organization with a dedicated staff to care for some of the most vulnerable in our community," the auditors state in the report.
Still, as a nonprofit that receives combined funding of more than $5.5 million from the county and from Florida's Department of Elder Affairs, it has a severe lack of transparency and oversight of how it deals with wards that own real estate.
"As the contracted recipient of funds from both the County and the Department of Elder Affairs, GPDC has failed to establish requisite safeguards to prohibit employees, board members, and vendors from using their positions for a purpose that presents the appearance of both personal or organizational conflicts of interest, or personal gain," the report states.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava ordered the OIG鈥檚 office to probe the nonprofit in March 2023 immediately following WLRN鈥檚 reporting in the investigative series Unguarded. This followed a similar call for an investigation by County Commissioner Eileen Higgins.
In an interview with 港澳天下彩today, Higgins called on GPDC's McDonald to step down from his position in light of these revelations.
"If this were a private sector board, he'd already be gone," said Higgins. "He should resign. You are the executive director of an organization. You allowed this to happen on your watch."
Using the same players
Aside from the apparent conflicts of interest in the Guardianship Program, the OIG found that GPDC often violated its own rules with regard to property appraisers, realtors and vendors.
Under GPDC guidelines, the nonprofit must rotate out realtors from a designated list of 15 options each time one is used in a property transaction. Investigators found that the same three real estate agents sold more than half of the 48 inspected. Those realtors were also engaged multiple times in succession, in violation of the program's rules.
The OIG found that several guardianship properties were sold without putting them on the Multiple Listing Service, which would've allowed more people to bid on homes and offer a better payout for the ward.
Investigators found additionally that real estate agents were paid commissions that far exceeded what the incapacitated person would receive from the sale of their home.
In one instance highlighted in the report, a real estate agent was paid a commission of $13,800 for the sale of a ward's property. The ward received only $2,897 after their home was sold.
The Guardianship Program also used the same property appraisers for the majority of real estate sales, including one appraiser whose family owned a company that bought guardianship properties.
"MAIA Investments, Inc. ultimately purchased the property on October 31, 2014. MAIA Investments was a known investor to GPDC. At the time of the sale, MAIA Investments was owned by the father of certified Appraiser No. 1. This appraiser was frequently hired by GPDC to perform appraisals," the report states.
MAIA Investments is owned by . His son, Antonio Lorenzo, is a real estate agent and property appraiser who is part of the tight-knit network that bought and sold guardianship homes over the past decade, as previously reported by WLRN.
The OIG recommended that GPDC open up its pool of realtors and appraisers, and remove anyone from their list who did not post properties on the Multiple Listing Service. The office also recommended that the program put guardianship properties up on websites like Zillow to allow more people to bid on them.
Unguarded
Court documents, property transaction records and business incorporation reports, reviewed by WLRN, revealed that the Guardianship Program was repeatedly selling the homes of incapacitated people to a small network of buyers who would then sell the properties for big profits 鈥� sometimes within a few days.
One of the main buyers of guardianship properties was the real estate firm Express Homes, which is owned by Carlos Morales, husband of former Miami City Attorney Victoria M茅ndez. The program also sold incapacitated people鈥檚 properties to Gallego Homes, a now-dissolved company owned by M茅ndez mother, Margarita M茅ndez. In total, the two companies and their officers bought 33 properties originating from the Guardianship Program, one of which is the home where the M茅ndez family lives.
"Based on just reading this report there was clearly a circle of people who 鈥� they knew this could be taken advantage of and they all got connected and they figured out how to make it work for themselves to the detriment of the people they鈥檙e supposed to care for," Miami-Dade County Commissioner Eileen Higgins told WLRN.
Proceeds from the sale of an incapacitated person鈥檚 property goes toward their long-term care, but profits made on resales do not. Express Homes and Gallego Homes sold Guardianship properties for tens of thousands of dollars more than they were bought for, sometimes within weeks or a few months.
港澳天下彩also found that GPDC board member Sergio Mendez served as the title and escrow agent on multiple properties the Guardianship Program sold to Express Homes. Sergio Mendez and Victoria M茅ndez are not related.
Victoria M茅ndez was ousted from her position as Miami City Attorney earlier this year following a series of scandals including media coverage of her husband's transactions with the Guardianship Program.
The Guardianship Program receives $2.7 million in funding from Miami-Dade County annually. The mayor halted payments in March 2023 following WLRN鈥檚 reporting, then reinstated funding on the condition that the program stop all real estate transactions until an IG investigation was completed.
According to the audit report, the Office of Management and Budget is negotiating a new funding agreement with GPDC for 2024-2025.
Guardianship Program leadership told the OIG that the program will take a step back from property sales in the foreseeable future, though no strict policies have been ironed out.
"In the future GPDC will not be involved in property sales to the extent that it has been in the past. While they will likely have more limited involvement, it is still an area that has not been decided upon by GPDC," the report states. "These situations will require GPDC to have better procedures in place when it needs to sell real property."
