In his step-daughter’s phone, Juan Jose Awais was saved simply as “The Boss.”
That was exactly the role he played in a more than $5.8 million fraud that targeted five condo associations across Miami-Dade County, investigators say. Through his property management company, Sunshine Management Services, and an inner circle of his loyalists, including people he grew up with in Cuba, Awais puppeteered the scheme, according to an arrest warrant.
At three of the complexes — Mira Villas, Los Suenos and Samari Lake East — Sunshine was the legitimate property manager, but where it overstepped is having its representatives steer repair contracts to front companies. These companies then paid legitimate contractors to do the actual repairs, but also skimmed off some of the association loan and insurance funds and funneled them through a network of other entities, the arrest warrant says.
The scheme took a different form at other associations, where investigators allege companies tied to the group siphoned off money from delinquent-assessment collections, estoppel fees and surplus proceeds from foreclosure and tax sales.
“This was not just one scheme. It was a series of schemes that were done at the direction and orchestration” of Awais, a state prosecutor told a courtroom this week. “This scheme went on for years. Over 2,000 individual condos [units] in Miami-Dade were affected by the money that was taken by these individuals through these different schemes.”
In some cases, the scheme took advantage of residents’ limited English. Many of the communities are in the Hialeah area, historically home to a large Cuban population, as well as Miami-Dade’s Fontainebleau neighborhood. Over two years, the deputies investigated the dealings, looking at a period spanning from 2020 to last year.
Awais, who faces 32 counts, including racketeering, money laundering and organized scheme to defraud, succeeded in getting his bond reduced to $2 million, after his attorney’s forceful court arguments on Wednesday, pointing out this is Awais’ first arrest and that he’s not a flight risk as he didn’t run over the past year even though he knew of the criminal probe.
Also charged are Johana Perez-Tapia, Awais’ step-daughter, and her mother, Delma Alonso, who previously was in a romantic relationship with Awais. The others arrested are Juliet Ramos, and husband-and-wife Michael Irizarry and Cynthea Waltz.
Miami-Dade records show Awais hadn’t posted bond as of midday Thursday. If he does, a judge previously ordered him to a total lockdown at home. Awais already surrendered his passport.
Attorneys for four of the arrested didn’t respond to requests for comment.
My client maintains his innocence, and a plea of not guilty has already been entered,” Irizarry’s attorney, Pat Dray, said. “He is presumed innocent under the law, and we look forward to the judicial process.”
“We will vigorously and zealously defend Ms. Waltz, protect her constitutional rights, and present the facts that we believe will ultimately tell the full story,” attorney Dave Kubiliun said, adding she will enter a plea of not guilty.
The charges come in the wake of the massive $11 million case at the Hammocks homeowners association, South Florida’s largest HOA. Ringleader Marglli Gallego, a former board president, pleaded guilty this year and was sentenced to seven years in prison, the longest known sentence in an HOA case. Three others in that scheme have pleaded guilty, and another four have pleaded not guilty.
In many ways, the alleged modus operandi in the Awais case is similar to what prosecutors said happened at the Hammocks: a swindle underpinned by a network of shell companies, and a tight circle of family and friends, alleged efforts to obstruct the probe, and sums of money running into the millions.
The latest alleged scheme is neither novel nor complicated, said community associations attorney Lauren Fallick.
“They used the words ‘sophisticated criminal scheme’ and ‘mastermind’ in a few [news] articles,” she said. But the alleged scheme “is quintessential, garden variety homeowners and condo association fraud with glaring red flags.”
In April 2024, Samari Lake East in Hialeah Gardens, received a $20 million insurance disbursement tied to 2017’s Hurricane Irma.
Nearly a year prior, Ramos created an unsigned “Direction to Pay” document that outlined how the money will be distributed: $8.6 million to the association’s law firm that litigated for the insurance claim, $10 million to the association — and $1.4 million to DA Project Management, an entity owned by Alonso, according to the warrant.
Once the $1.4 million tranche hit DA’s account, $926,000 flowed out of it in the span of six days: $555,865 to five entities tied to Awais, and two payments of $186,000 to a Ramos affiliate and Perez-Tapia’s company, the charging document says.
Two board members told investigators they weren’t aware of DA and that it’s owned by Alonso, and they said they didn’t know Samari Lake East had agreed to disburse “so much funds” to Alonso’s firm. Neither of the board members knew the association had won the $20 million settlement.
Throughout the 55-page warrant, the two Miami-Dade deputies who investigated lay out such money flows.
The minutes created by Ramos for a 2024 Samari Lake East board meeting indicate four board members were present via Zoom, when the board decided to award a windows and doors contract to CMJ Construction, led by Waltz, the warrant says.
But two board members told investigators they rarely went to the meetings, and investigators found the meeting minutes document was last accessed three days prior to the actual meeting.
About a month before that meeting, on April 4, 2024, a $10 million insurance settlement hit Samari Lake East’s accounts.
Subsequent wires were made from the association to CMJ’s account — created the day before the settlement was disbursed to the association — including one for $3.3 million, another for $513,049 and two more for $405,165 and $386,962, according to the warrant.
Although $3.1 million from the first wire was used to pay Atlas Door and Gate, the legitimate impact windows and sliding glass doors contractor, some was paid to entities tied to the defendants, including Awais’ Sunshine Management and Florida’s Property Management, investigators say.
A similar pattern took place at Mira Villas, where former board president Rogelio Alberti opened a bank account that received hurricane insurance proceeds, some of which were then paid to Irizarry’s MJ Capital Services. That entity paid the legitimate roof contractor, as well as affiliates of the defendants, according to investigators. In a sworn statement, Alberti denied kickbacks were paid to Awais and added that if he’d known MJ was charging so much for the roof, “he would not be okay with hidden or improper payments to” Florida’s Property, the warrant says.
A man reached at a line listed for Alberti declined to comment.
Sunshine’s control extended to the board. The management firm interviewed prospective board members, even though the positions are entirely based on unit owner votes, according to the warrant.
In fact, Sunshine had its “voter list” for Samari Lake East, with notations next to people’s names such as “nice” or “complicado” and “enemiga,” Spanish for “complicated” or “enemy,” according to the warrant. In texts, Perez-Tapia and Ramos discussed how many votes “their side has versus the other side,” investigators wrote.
During the investigation, deputies say they found backdated documents.
In one example, they found a “Company Disclosures MJ” document — dated April 2020, but created in June of last year — on Perez-Tapia’s computer, stating MJ may hire Florida’s Property Maintenance to perform work. A “Disclosure Statement” found on a Sunshine server — dated May 2024, but created in June of last year — stated Florida’s Property may be contracted by companies involved in the impact windows and doors installation at Samari Lake East. These after-the-fact records were created to validate payments to Florida’s Property, according to the warrant.
The defendants also tried to stymie the investigation, telling board members not to speak with police and pressuring board presidents to sign purportedly mandatory retainers with association attorney, identified only as Eisinger, presenting it as a way to “stop police contact,” according to the warrant. At least one board president met with a co-conspirator before and after providing a witness interview.
Witnesses stated that the co-conspirators and other Sunshine Management personnel repeatedly pressured board presidents to sign retainer agreements with association attorney Eisinger, presenting them as mandatory and as a means to “stop police contact.” These efforts appeared intended to prevent board members from speaking with investigators. One attorney’s email instructed police not to contact board members, but board presidents said that they did not hire an attorney.
Intimidation also was a tactic, investigators say.
“Awais surrounds himself with individuals from his upbringing in Cuba and others whom he perceives as trustworthy,” the deputies wrote in the warrant. Several witnesses said “that they fear Awais and are concerned about potential repercussions for their families residing in Cuba.”
Authorities have indicated more arrests may be coming.
One Mira Villas unit owner said there was “harassment” against residents who spoke with detectives, including cease-and-desist letters, but declined to give his name for fear of retaliation.
“I don’t know if I have to sleep with one eye open,” he said. “I don’t know how deep this rabbit hole goes.”
Read more
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