Show Me the Money!! MIA Airport Official offered $$$
A high-level Miami International Airport manager was suspended Monday, 10 days after the Miami Herald reported that he had been offered a “box of cash” by a corrupt employee but did not appear to have reported the shady offer to authorities.
Carlos Jose, the assistant director for facilities, maintenance and engineering, was placed on paid administrative leave as Miami-Dade County continues an internal investigation, an airport spokesman confirmed.
Ivan Valdes (photo)
Jose oversaw a budget of more than $100 million and 400 employees. He could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday.
His suspension stemmed from the corruption conviction of his employee, Ivan Valdes, who orchestrated an illegal kickback scam involving the purchase of high-end light bulbs for airport terminals. The scheme cost the county more than $5 million and landed Valdes in prison for seven years, a sentence he began serving this month.
Jose, his boss who last year earned $161,808, was not charged with any criminal wrongdoing. But the Miami Herald’s report raised questions about whether the scam could have been uncovered much sooner had Jose tipped off his bosses or law enforcement.
It was only after a probe began that Jose admitted to detectives that Valdes, in 2013, approached him with a vague offer to get in on a scheme that would net him “a box full of cash sitting on his front porch the next morning,” according to the prosecution files.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/loca.../Ivan%20Valdes
