Key witness in Robaina’s tax-evasion trial testifies paying former Hialeah mayor in cash
Source: Miami Herald
Posted on Monday, 04.14.14
Key witness in Robaina’s tax-evasion trial testifies paying former Hialeah mayor in cash
By Jay Weaver
jweaver@MiamiHerald.com
A key witness in the tax-evasion trial of Julio Robaina blew a big hole in the former Hialeah mayor’s defense Monday, when he testified that the politician regularly picked up cash payments from him or his father on high-interest loans that Robaina made to a jewelry investor.
Roberto Blanco testified that Robaina came to his father’s Hialeah home to collect the cash stuffed in envelopes as payments on loans to Luis Felipe Perez, who would later be convicted of running a Ponzi scheme.
Asked by a prosecutor who gave the cash payments to the then-Hialeah mayor, Blanco testified under oath: “Myself or my father. ... I would call him or text him and tell him to come and pick it up.”
Blanco also testified that he “never discussed” the loans to Perez with Robaina’s wife, Raiza, who is also standing trial on tax-evasion charges.
Blanco, testifying for the prosecution, received immunity from the U.S. attorney’s office.
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/04/14/4059475/key-witness-in-robainas-tax-evasion.html
[center]
Julio Robaina
Hialeah former mayor[/center]
How could this ever happen in South Florida?
= new reply since forum marked as read
Born April 21, 1965
Newark, New Jersey
Political party Republican
Residence Hialeah, Florida
