He said he put residents first then he scored secret cash from special interests
It was raining outside, so hotelier Marc Lawrence met then-Miami Beach Commissioner Michael Grieco in the parking garage of the South Beach condo building where they both live.
Lawrence handed the commissioner a $15,000 check.
“He told me he was running for mayor,” Lawrence later told state investigators probing Grieco’s campaign fundraising. “And he asked if we could contribute.”
The August 2016 donation never showed up in public records for Grieco’s campaign, which formally began several months later. That’s because — at Grieco’s instruction — Lawrence made the check out to People for Better Leaders, a political action committee with no apparent ties to the popular politician.
Now, hours of sworn testimony from the committee’s donors prove the PAC was meant to serve as a secret fund for Grieco’s upcoming campaign for mayor — raising more than $200,000 from Miami Beach business interests and residents between 2015 and 2017 — all out of public view.
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