Questions raised on U.S. Marshals' notice of levy on Joe Carollo's home
MIAMI — The controversy surrounding Miami City Commissioner Joe Carollo continues as the U.S. Marshals begin the process of seizing his assets. But, many questions are raised surrounding the notice of levy on his home and if they'll actually put him out.
On Friday afternoon, officials from the United States Marshals Service came to Carollo's Coconut Grove home to put up a notice of levy on his front door, stating that they were coming for it to pay off his $63.5 million debt to two Little Havana businessmen. Later that evening, Carollo told reporters that he was not leaving.
"You know, I'm being held in Limbo like nobody else," he said.
According to his attorney Marc Sarnoff, the home — which Carollo purchased in 2001 and lives in with his wife — cannot be seized because of certain Florida laws.
"Just like when you go home tonight and your husband or wife had an action against them and you have marital property, it's not subject to what's called tenants by entirety — which is your marital — it's not subject to seizure," Sanorff told reporters Friday afternoon.
CBS News Miami found a document where Carollo filed a "quit claim deed" between him and his wife. But what does that mean? CBS News Miami's Nikiya Carerro spoke with a law expert to find out.
"Basically, it says whatever I got in transferring to you," said real estate attorney Kevin Fabrikant. "If I have a good title, now you have and valid title."
Fabrikant said that a quit claim deed is usually done to simplify and speed up the title transferring process of a home. He added that while most of the time it's valid, if you owe money — it can stop the process like a lawsuit.
"That's a creditor," he told Carerro. "We call them a judgment debtor and judgment creditor. The debtor is when they owe the money, [the one] who lost the lawsuit. And, the judgment creditor is now the one that's owed the money."
Regarding when the deed was signed? May 16, 2023 — a month before Carollo's judgment.
So, is it valid? Well, Fabrikant told Carerro something like that can invoke the Florida Fraudulent Transfer and Conveyance Act.
"The fact that you know somebody is suing you, threatening to sue you, coming after you and you try to dispense yourself up your assets and give it to somebody else for no consideration," he said. "Generally, that can be with the cop Claude back into their name, so you can take it back and act like as if it's in their name."
According to the Miami-Dade County Appraiser's website, it says "unable to process sale due to deed errors" next to Carollo's quit deed claim.
Meanwhile, there was movement in another case against him — this time, involving the lawyers for the Little Havana restaurant Ball & Chain. The case, which was filed by businessmen Bill Fuller and Martin Pinilla in November 2023, claims that the City of Miami used its power to destroy their businesses, including Ball & Chain.
According to CBS News Miami's news partners at the Miami Herald, a U.S. District judge dismissed the city's motion to throw out the case. Instead, the court is allowing the businessmen to amend their original complaint with more details.
The City of Miami touted the judge's order as a victory, highlighting the judge's critique against Fuller and Pinilla.