Buyer of suspicious South Beach condo flip part of “Panama Papers”

A suspicious condo flip in South Beach has found its way in the “Panama Papers,” according to a published report.

In January, a small Miami Beach condo at 2129 Washington Avenue sold for $162,000. Then, in March, an offshore entity entered into a contract to buy the same apartment for 60 percent more – $258,000 – the Miami Herald reported. That sale has not yet closed.

That kind of flip could be indicative of money laundering. 

The sale would be a record for the Domicile, a 17-unit boutique condo that was built in 1948. Last year, a larger unit sold for $220,000.

Navajo Overseas Foundation, an entity managed by Digna Perez Martinez, is the buyer. And Martinez, an assistant at a Panama City law firm, appears in the “Panama Papers,” a leak of more than 11.5 million documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. She was a nominee director of at least 11 offshore entities included in the leak, according to the Miami Herald.

Panamanian law doesn’t require private foundations to disclose their owners. Martinez and her real estate broker did not return calls or emails to the newspaper, which is one of 100 to report on the yearlong investigation.

Investor Matteo Soldatini still owns the unit, and declined that he knew about Martinez or the foundation, only telling the Herald “if I am able to buy a property for less than it is worth,” he said, “it means that I am a good buyer.”

The offshore entities mentioned in the “Panama Papers” were established in the British Virgin Islands, Samoa, Hong Kong, and Panama. At least two billionaires with South Florida homes have so far been identified in the papers. The investigation also identified a Brickell condo where Mossack Fonseca’s Miami representative helped incorporate more than 200 shell companies.  [Miami Herald] – Katherine Kallergis