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Article Courtesy of The
Miami Herald
By Milena Malaver
Published November 12, 2024
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Another person has been arrested in connection with the theft of money from
Hammocks homeowners, according to Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez
Rundle.
The prosecutor announced the arrest on Friday of Jesus Cue, a 63-year-old
business consultant and accountant.
Cue is accused of a series of thefts that have affected the finances of the
Hammocks Homeowners Association, according to Fernandez Rundle.
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As of Friday
afternoon, he was being held at Turner Guilford Knight
Correctional Facility on a $210,000 bond. A contact for a
lawyer was not immediately available.
Cue, served as the West Kendall HOA’s controller and
accountant and is facing multiple felony charges related to
fraud, money laundering and racketeering.
Cue was hired by the HOA to provide business and accounting
services through his company, Worldwide Business Solution
Corporation, between 2018 and 2022, according to the state
attorney’s office.
During that time, Cue received about $644,000 in payments
from the HOA — an average of $161,000 a year — even as the
HOA faced significant financial issues, including a $375,000
short-term loan taken out to cover basic operating costs, as
Cue testified in a bankruptcy court proceeding, according to
Fernandez Rundle. R
The investigation uncovered that Cue allegedly played a key
role in funneling HOA funds to friends and relatives of
several board members. Some of these people set up fake
companies to disguise the payments, with Cue’s company
listed as their registered agent. Three such companies —
Albri Consulting LLC, Aya Service and Repair Corp., and
Kaissen Technology LLC — received nearly $500,000 in
payments from the HOA, according to Fernandez Rundle. |
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Flanked by SAO Chief of Investigations, Emiliano
Tamayo, left, and Assistant State Attorney Anthony Gil, State
Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle, center, held a press conference
to announce the most recent arrest in the ongoing investigation of
the alleged thefts from the Hammocks HOA
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One witness, Dante Chauca, the husband of former HOA board member Monica
Ghilardi, testified that former HOA president Marglli Gallego directed Cue to
create a false company, Albri Consulting, to pay Ghilardi a hidden salary,
according to authorities. Chauca, who was listed as “manager,” stated he did not
authorize the creation of the company and later confronted Cue about it. Cue
allegedly reassured him, saying, “not to worry about it,” according to a news
release from the state attorney’s office.
Other trouble at the Hammocks HOA
Last month, Ivan Dario Diez, 58, was charged with grand theft, organized scheme
to defraud, fabricating evidence, and perjury after being implicated in a plot
to divert homeowners’ monthly maintenance fees from the West Kendall community’s
HOA. Diez is accused of funneling these funds to fake companies controlled by
the relatives of Gallego, who is described by Fernandez Rundle as the leader of
the criminal operation.
Gallego, along with five others — including her husband, a cousin and three
other HOA board members — was previously charged in the scheme.
A court-appointed receiver has estimated that the theft and mismanagement
drained approximately $6 million from the HOA’s bank accounts. This money was
funneled through checks written to bogus vendors, as well as wasteful spending
and financial mismanagement.
Gallego, who faces charges of racketeering and money laundering, allegedly used
some of the stolen funds to pay for surveillance of her rivals, cover her own
legal fees, and fund personal purchases, including a house in Colombia and
renovations on a property in Miami. Her husband, who was paid $1.26 million
during the scheme, reportedly had no evidence of performing any work, owning any
legitimate businesses, or pulling any permits.
“No homeowner should have to worry about how their HOA is handling the
association’s funds,” Fernandez Rundle said. “Our investigation of the thefts at
the Hammocks HOA have shed a bright light on a crime that may be occurring
throughout our state.
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