SEC questions Regalado on Marlins park bonds

Tomás Regalado
Tomás Regalado

Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado spent more than three hours Tuesday answering questions posed by U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission investigators on the public financing of the Marlins’ $634 million Little Havana baseball stadium, according to the Miami Herald.

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez and former Miami Mayor Manny Diaz were the main proponents of the deal in which the Marlins franchise owners put up $128 million of the cost with public bond sales financing the $500 million balance.

“They talked about the votes. They asked if I met with anyone from the city or the county out of the Sunshine. They were trying to establish if anyone knew about their finances,” Regalado, who cast the lone vote against the ballpark as a city commissioner in 2008, said.

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The SEC launched its probe in December 2011, requesting thousands of pages of emails and documents from city and county governments related to the deal the Herald said.

Federal regulators have also interviewed County Commission Chairwoman Rebeca Sosa and Miami Commission Chairman Marc Sarnoff, both of whom voted in favor of the financing plans.

The SEC is investigating whether bond buyers were misled about the financial health of the city or county. [Miami Herald] – Emily Schmall