Lawsuit Over Coral Gables Sale Commission Turns Criminal

A lawsuit over allegedly unpaid commissions on the sale of a downtown Coral Gables building that involved the city’s mayor became a criminal case when one of the brokers was charged with stalking the sellers.

Manny Chamizo, a commercial broker with One Sotheby’s International Realty, and Coral Gables Mayor Vince Lago, then a real estate agent with RESF, worked with the seller of the office building at 3251 Ponce de Leon Boulevard. They arranged a deal that fell apart in 2018, and was revived the following year when the seller renegotiated with the same buyer at a higher price. An entity 3251 Property LLC, led by Alex Alvarez, bought the property.

One Sotheby’s sued the seller, All in One Investment Properties, in 2020, seeking what it alleged it was owed for the $6 million sale. RESF joined the lawsuit in March of last year, and settled a couple of months ago. Any settlement amount was not disclosed. One Sotheby’s suit continues.

The lawsuit alleges that Chamizo and Lago were owed a 2 percent commission on the sale, and that All in One Investment Properties’ Eddy Fernandez secretly went behind the brokers’ backs to continue negotiating and ultimately close a deal without them. The commission comes out to about $120,000.

Transcripts of depositions allege Chamizo engaged in hostile behavior. The transcripts recently became public, but were completed in 2021.

The alleged stalking and harassment began in the late summer of 2020, three years after Chamizo was introduced to the sellers by way of Lago. Chamizo has been with One Sotheby’s since 2017.

Chamizo allegedly sent threatening text messages and letters to Fernandez and his wife, Adriana Fernandez, ordering them to pay up and that they “can’t hide” from Chamizo, according to county records. One such letter, sent in late August of 2020, allegedly included a matchbox with a single burnt match and a note reading “We can get to you.”

“Mr. Chamizo has threatened us, harassed us, with multiple texts, letters,” said Eddy Fernandez in a deposition. Fernandez, who was undergoing cancer treatment at the time, described text messages and emails in which Chamizo allegedly says that Fernandez’s daughter will miss him when he’s dead, and that Chamizo wants to “f*ck [Fernandez’s] wife.”

Chamizo allegedly sent messages in a group chat with Eddy Fernandez and Lago — in which Chamizo allegedly threatened to beat Eddy Fernandez up the next time he saw him. Lago asked to be removed from the group chat, according to court documents.

Chamizo was initially charged with misdemeanor stalking in September 2021, but the state elevated the stalking charge to a felony later that year.

Chamizo pleaded not guilty to the felony charge, and did not respond to a request for comment. One Sotheby’s said it was “unable to comment on pending litigation.” Greenberg Traurig attorneys representing One Sotheby’s declined to comment. Attorney Brian Bieber of GrayRobinson, representing the Fernandezes, declined to comment.

“We have entered a not guilty plea and look forward to defending Mr. Chamizo against these charges,” wrote Brian Tannebaum, Chamizo’s attorney in the criminal case, in an email.

Lago did not respond to questions regarding Chamizo. “To my satisfaction and those associated with this real estate transaction, we were able to settle the lawsuit in March of this year, therefore I consider this matter closed,” Lago wrote in a statement to The Real Deal.

Court filings show how Chamizo and Lago worked together. Lago has re-appointed Chamizo to the city’s Waterway Advisory Board over the years. Chamizo is in his third term, which ends May 31.

The lawsuit shows how Lago also helped the Fernandezes navigate the city’s departments by introducing them to the director of parking, so they could convert a parking space in front of the building into a handicap space, and by introducing the Fernandezes to an architect.

“He mentioned how the architect was liked by everybody in permitting there, so he would be a good choice to use,” Adriana Fernandez said in early 2021, about Lago. Fernandez said he introduced her and her husband to city employees and commissioners. “That’s the relationship we had with him.”

Trials for both the criminal case and civil lawsuit are set for later this year.