Tawdry allegations may emerge in criminal trial of former Florida GOP chairman Jim Greer

TALLAHASSEE --
They headed for Marsh Harbour Airport in the Bahamas, most of them on private planes owned by billionaire Harry Sargeant III, then the finance chairman of the Florida Republican Party.

The weekend trip began on Friday Jan. 11, 2008, for a select group of Floridians —maybe 20 or so — who helped raise money for a constitutional amendment that would increase homestead exemptions.

Those who attended have differing memories of how many were there or what occurred, and no one is very anxious to talk to a reporter about the gathering.

Perhaps it’s the accusation of a golf cart filled with prostitutes that scares them away.

The five-year-old gathering has gained a life of its own in the criminal case against former Florida GOP chairman Jim Greer, who has been charged with money laundering and grand theft for allegedly diverting about $200,000 in party funds to a corporation he created. The trip itself isn’t tied to Greer’s legal problems, but details of the weekend could surface in testimony at his trial, which begins with jury selection Monday in Orlando, or remain secret, depending on which lawyers win out.

The Bahamas trip included an impressive outdoor seafood dinner with then-Gov. Charlie Crist, Bahamian Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, U.S. Ambassador to the Bahamas Ned Siegel, Florida GOP Chairman Jim Greer and a handful of Tallahassee lobbyists and big campaign donors.

It was organized by Greer and Sargeant for supporters of “Yes on 1-Save Our Homes Now,” a constitutional amendment campaign Crist was pushing to expand the state’s homestead exemption. Delmar Johnson, former executive director of the state Republican party and a key witness against Greer, describes it as a thank you trip for those who contributed some of the $4.4 million raised in support of the measure. Others, including Crist, say the gathering was a fundraiser. The amendment was approved by Florida voters on Jan. 29, 2008, a few weeks after the trip.

The trip was for men only. Even women who worked for the party and helped with fundraising were excluded.

Johnson told prosecutors last summer that he saw women who appeared to be prostitutes in a golf cart driven by one of Sargeant’s employees. The information surfaced late last year when a video of Johnson’s testimony was made public.

More specifics have been hard to come by.

Johnson’s testimony is included in a sealed Florida Department of Law Enforcement report prepared last summer by investigators looking at possible witness tampering in the Greer case. Prosecutors say the report — and details about the Bahamas trip — may be used as rebuttal evidence against some of those scheduled to testify on Greer’s behalf.

Lawyers for two unidentified witnesses have asked that the report remain sealed, saying it contains information that would embarrass them. Greer Circuit Judge Marc Lubet says the records must be made public if they are used in an attempt to impeach the testimony of witnesses who might be embarrassed by details of the Bahamas trip.

After reviewing the report in chambers last year, Lubet read the names of four men: Lobbyist Brian Ballard, Sargeant, Johnson and new state Rep. Dane Eagle, R-Cape Coral, asking if they would be witnesses at the trial. At the time of the trip Eagle was a travel aide for Crist. Prosecutors said all but Eagle, now a state legislator, are expected to be witnesses at the trial.

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3 Killed Filming Discovery Channel Production

Three people were killed Sunday morning in a helicopter crash during a production shoot for a Discovery Channel reality show.

The crash occurred about 3:40 a.m. in an open field in the town of Acton outside Los Angeles, Deadline reports. The three victims were thrown from the helicopter and pronounced dead at the scene.

PICS: Star Sightings

In a statement to Deadline, the Discovery Channel confirmed the accident, which occurred during filming by the reality show's producer, Eyeworks USA. "We are all cooperating fully with authorities. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families," the statement said.

Shooting at the location began Saturday and a film permit listed the production as "Untitled Military Project."

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Houseboat man found dead under dock in Brooklyn

The body of an elderly man who lived on a houseboat was found floating under a dock today in Brooklyn, authorities said.

The 74-year-old man’s boat was docked in the Plumb Beach Channel off of Ebony Court in Gerritsen Beach when he he was spotted in the water around 12:35 p.m., cops said.

He was pronounced dead at the scene. Police do not suspect any criminality at this time, cops said.

The city’s medical examiner will determine the cause of death.

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Green cards for sale at a South Beach hotel: Competition is on for EB5 investment visas

If David Hart gets his way, South Beach’s 42-room Astor Hotel will be on a hiring spree this year as it adds concierge service, a roof-top pool, an all-night diner, spa and private-car service available 24 hours a day.

New hires will be crucial to Hart’s business plan, since foreign investors have agreed to pay about $50,000 for each job created by the Art Deco boutique.

The Miami immigration lawyer specializes in arranging visas for wealthy foreign citizens under a special program that trades green cards for investment dollars. Businesses get the money and must use it to boost payroll. The minimum investment is $500,000 to add at least 10 jobs to the economy. That puts the pressure on Hart and his partners at the Astor to beef up payroll dramatically, with plans to take a hotel with roughly 20 employees to one with as many as 100 workers.

“My primary responsibility is to make something happen here over the next two years that will create the jobs we need,’’ Hart said a few steps away from a nearly empty restaurant on a recent weekday morning. “It’s all going to be transformed.”

Though established in the 1990s, the “EB5” visas soared in popularity during the recession as developers sought foreign cash to replace dried-up credit markets in the United States.

Chinese investors dominate the transactions, accounting for about 65 percent of the nearly 9,000 EB5 visas granted since 2006. South Korea finishes a distant second at 12 percent and the United Kingdom holds the third-place slot at 3 percent. If Latin America and the Caribbean were one country, they would rank No. 4 on the list, with 231 EB5 visas granted, or about 3 percent of the total.

Competition has gotten stiffer for the deep-pocketed foreign investors willing to pay for green cards. The University of Miami’s bio-science research park near the Jackson hospital system raised $20 million from 40 foreign investors under the EB5 program, most of them from Asia. The money went into the park’s first building; visa brokers are waiting to see if the second building will proceed so they can offer a new pool of potential green-card sales.

In Hollywood, the stalled $131 million Margaritaville resort had hoped to raise about $75 million from EB5 investors before ditching that plan last year to pursue more traditional financing. A retail complex by developer Jeff Berkowitz in Coral Gables also launched a program to raise $50 million in EB5 money for the project, Gables Station. Hart worked with other EB5 investors to back pizza restaurants in Miami and South Beach. A limestone mine in Martin County also was backed by EB5 dollars.

This year, the city of Miami itself is expected to get into the business by setting up an EB5 program to raise foreign cash for a range of city businesses and developments. The first would be the tallest building in the city — developer Tibor Hollo’s planned 85-story apartment tower, the Panorama, in downtown Miami.

With a construction cost of about $700 million, Miami’s debut EB5 venture hopes to raise about $100 million from foreign investors, said Laura Reiff, the Greenberg Traurig lawyer in Virginia working with Miami on the EB5 effort. “This is a marquis project,’’ she said.

The arrangement is a novel one for Miami, with the city planning to help a private developer raise funds overseas for a new high-rise. And it would allow Hollo and future participants to tout the city of Miami’s endorsement when competing with other Miami-area projects for EB5 dollars. “We will have the benefit of the brand of the city of Miami,’’ said Mikki Canton, the $6,000-a-month city consultant heading Miami’s EB5 effort. “A lot of these others are privately owned and they won’t have that brand.”

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Husband charged with murder of wife missing since September

A five-month investigation into a South Florida woman’s disappearance ended with police arresting her husband Friday on suspicion of murder.

Jesus Maqueira, 54, was arrested early Friday morning and charged with first-degree murder and aggravated stalking, according to an arrest report by Miami-Dade homicide Det. Juan Segovia.

Maqueira’s wife, Raquel Maria Calderin, 42, disappeared on Sept. 4. She was last seen in a black Ford Expedition, driving away from Gloria Floyd Elementary School, where she worked as a custodian.

According to Segovia’s report, Maqueira and Calderin were married for more than 20 years. Maqueira had a history of domestic abuse, to the point that he put a GPS tracking device on Calderin’s car.

She filed for divorce last year.

The day Calderin disappeared, Maqueira showed up at Gloria Floyd Elementary and argued with her, asking her to call off the divorce and stay with him.

Calderin’s coworkers told police she was visibly upset for the rest of the day. Her supervisor allowed her to leave at 9:30 p.m.

Phone records show Calderin was still near the elementary school and talking on her cell phone at 9:36 p.m. when the line suddenly went dead. There has been no activity on her cell phone or with her bank accounts ever since, Segovia’s report states.

Calderin has not contacted any of her friends, family members or coworkers, according to the report. Friends and relatives told police she never misses special occasions like Christmas or her children’s birthdays.

Based on that information, Miami-Dade Police began investigating the disappearance as a homicide.

On Friday, Maqueira admitted to domestic abuse and stalking Calderin.

Maqueira made conflicting statements that were disproved by cell phone records and statements from his children, whom he coached on how to respond to police during the investigation, according to the report. He had also physically abused them.

Confronted with his children’s statements to police, he called them liars.

Maqueira has reportedly told people in the past that if he couldn’t have Calderin, no one could.

When police asked him why he couldn’t give explanations for evidence against him, he replied, “Look, I killed her, so take me to jail.”

He then laughed, but refused to elaborate.

Maqueira was arrested at 5:15 a.m. Friday and taken to the Dade County Jail.

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Double Take Celebrity Lookalikes

Stacy Keibler and Heidi Klum

ETonline has found the lookalikes to the stars and, it turns out, it's
their Hollywood peers. Click the pics and let us know if you think these
celebs bear a resemblance to one another. 

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Snow doesn't muzzle Staten Island gun buyback; 55 guns, including assault rifle, turned in

A gun buyback event held today in Staten Island netted a total of 55 guns, cops said.

The NYPD said today’s event, held at Saint Mary’s Episcopal Church in West New Brighton, brought in 33 revolvers, 14 semi-automatic pistols, and a SKS .726 caliber assault rifle with a 30 round magazine, according to police. A number of BB guns and starter’s pistols were also part of the haul.

People who brought in handguns were given a $200 gift card, while rifles and other miscellaneous weapons were worth $20.

Two of the firearms surrendered today were loaded, authorities said.

Police said that over 8,100 guns have been taken off the city’s streets since the programs inception.

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Are gun maker stocks in your portfolio?

BOSTON --
Are there guns in your investment portfolio? It’s an issue that some politicians and gun-control advocates are raising after recent mass shootings prompted calls for tougher laws.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel wrote letters to six mutual fund companies asking them to sell their stock in gun manufacturers Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger & Co. It’s a critical concern in Chicago, where more than 500 people were murdered last year.

Fund companies should “send a clear and unambiguous message to the entire gun industry that investors will no longer support companies that profit from gun violence,” Emanuel wrote in his letters last week.

Other city leaders, including those in Los Angeles and Philadelphia, are considering similar steps with their pension funds.

Gun control is the kind of issue that can wake investors up to the fact that money in a fund portfolio or 401(k) affects more than just their retirement security. The financial markets support all kinds of companies, including many that an investor may believe aren’t contributing to the greater good.

But whatever one thinks about gun control, removing such an investment from a portfolio on moral grounds isn’t always a simple matter. There are potential costs from putting your principles before profits.

Recognize that over the last 10 years Smith & Wesson has posted an average annualized return of 17 percent, compared with the 8 percent return of the broader market. Similarly, Sturm Ruger, the largest publicly traded gun company, has returned an annualized 23 percent over that time. The vast majority of gun manufacturers are privately held.

LEGAL HURDLES

There would be other potential costs if fund companies or 401(k) managers were to sell gun maker stocks in response to the recent controversy. These companies have obligations to serve the financial interests of vast numbers of individual fund shareholders and plan participants with varying opinions about guns.

For employers sponsoring 401(k) plans, their hands can be tied unless the plan established a mandate to avoid investing in gun makers, says Kathleen McBride, founder of consulting firm FiduciaryPath.

She advises financial professionals who are fiduciaries, a legal designation requiring them to act in the best financial interests of their clients. That obligation is a chief concern cited by Vanguard, among the six fund companies that Emanuel is pressuring. A Vanguard spokeswoman said mutual funds “are not optimal agents to address social change.”

A spokesman for American Funds, which also received a letter from Emanuel, said: “If social issues may have an effect on the investment potential of a company, we take those issues into account as part of the investment process.”

For example, a stock fund manager might expect that gun laws are likely to become more restrictive. That would cut into industry sales, leading the manager to conclude that stocks of gun makers are bad long-term investments. Such a fund manager could justify selling such stocks as beneficial for shareholders. But the manager wouldn’t be justified in selling simply because of moral objections.

INDEX FUNDS

Making changes only gets more complicated with low-cost index funds, which own all the stocks in a given market index.

If such a fund doesn’t track the index closely, then it ceases to be an index fund — no matter whether some of the stocks may be viewed as morally objectionable by some investors.

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South Florida dogs aim to fetch honors at Westminster show

Even the threat of a major snow storm couldn’t keep Pippi, a “powder puff’’ Chinese Crested dog, from heading to New York on Friday for the American Kennel Club’s 137th Westminster Dog Show on Monday and Tuesday.

The tiny dog, with silky fur and pointed ears, made one of the last flights out, with her 11-year-old handler, Jolie Dreiling , of Miami Beach, Jolie’s parents Mary and Michael Dreiling, and one of her canine housemates, another Chinese Crested name Ace, who’s just along for the ride.

Until the storm put some travel plans in jeopardy, Florida planned on sending 116 dogs to the show, which will go on no matter the weather.

In all, about 3,000 dogs are expected to show, most at Madison Square Garden but some at Piers 92/94 on the Hudson.

It’s the first time any part of the show will take place somewhere other than the Garden, which is undergoing renovations.

Two newly-recognized breeds join the contest this year: the Russell Terrier and the Treeing Walker Coonhound.

Jolie, a Cushman School fifth-grader — along with twin brother Albert — is already one of the top junior Chinese Crested handlers in the world — also The International Brotherhood of Magicians’ 2012 Junior Close-Up Magician of the Year.

She and 4-year-old Pippi, whose AKC name is Gingery’s Wintergreen, are entered in the “toy’’ group at Westminster with nearly 40 other Chinese Cresteds, both powder puff and hairless.

Among them: two Chinese Cresteds from South Florida. Mother-daughter breeders from Sunrise, Mary Lou Patti and Jennifer Patti, are showing Barbie (Grand Champion Stillmeadow Solo in the Spotlight), an 18-month-old hairless, and her half-brother Nigel (Grand Champion Stillmeadow Looks Like a Photo Shoot), 2.

They’ve had Chinese Cresteds since the 1980s, said Jennifer, a paralegal.

“Mom showed Yorkies, and I developed allergies, so we went to hairless,’’ she said.

A perennial winner of the World’s Ugliest Dog contest, hairless Chinese Cresteds were recognized by the American Kennel Club in 1991.

The Ugly Dog winners are invariably geriatric and toothless.

“That’s not our breed,’’ said Jennifer Patti, 30.

Also planning to go from South Florida: Dr. Nancy Greenbarg, a Dania Beach endodontist who’s been showing for 16 years, and Rocky, one of three golden retrievers she co-owns.

Champion De La Vega Colorado Rocky Mnt. Hi, his AKC name, will compete in the “sporting’’ group with a professional handler.

Goldens Chelsea (Champion Nautilus Erin Go Bragh), and Juicy (Champion Cashmere Blue Sky Basin), Chelsea and Rocky’s daughter, are sitting this one out.

“These three love more than anything to show,’’ said Greenbarg, 50, public education coordinator of the Golden Retriever Club of America.

Rocky also hunts birds and competes in field trials. He can spend hours in the yard finding and fetching hidden training bumpers, prompted only by hand signals.

Mindful that no golden retriever has won Best in Show since the AKC recognized the breed in 1925, Greenbarg is hopeful nonetheless.

Rocky, she said, “has a big head and a short-ribbed back and has fabulous movement.’’

Jolie Dreiling isn’t sure that Pippi can win, but thinks showing is fun. She’s been handling for more than a year, and is accustomed to being in front of an audience, as a magician.

The point, she said, is to “have a good time.’’

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Grammy Rehearsal Preps

Music's biggest night is just two days away, and from Carrie Underwood to The Black Keys, the stars of music and rhythm are doing their last-minute Grammys sound checks and rehearsals at the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles to make sure it all goes smoothly. Watch the behind-the-scenes video…

Pics: The Best Grammy Gowns of All Time!

"I hope people enjoy it, embrace it, I hope they grab those remote controls and a cold one and enjoy it," says host LL Cool J. "It's going to be fun."

In addition to a tribute to Whitney Houston, performers on Sunday's broadcast will include Justin Timberlake, Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, Rihanna with Bruno Mars and Sting, Jack White, Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson, Frank Ocean, and Fun. Plus Stanley Clarke, Chick Corea and Kenny Garrett playing tribute to Dave Brubeck and Elton John, Mumford & Sons and more performing a tribute to Levon Helm of the Band.

Video: Adam Levine Talks Alicia Keys Grammy Performance

Stay tuned to ETonline for complete Grammy Awards coverage. The kudos air live from Los Angeles Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.

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