Florida AG Intervened in Developer Lawsuits After Donations

Florida’s attorney general is giving at least two South Florida developers caught in legal battles a helping hand after they gave him thousands of dollars in campaign donations.

James Uthmeier’s office intervened in cases involving Two Roads Development and Whitman Family Development just weeks after the companies’ executives donated to his campaign, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

Uthmeier is running for a four-year term as attorney general in the November election, which will be his first. Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Uthmeier, DeSantis’ former chief of staff, to attorney general in February 2025 after former Attorney General Ashley Moody was appointed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s former seat in the U.S. Senate.

In February, Uthmeier’s office tried to insert itself into the legal battle between Miami’s Biscayne 21 condo tower and Two Roads Development after the developer donated $25,000 to the attorney general.

Two Roads Development, which controls 183 of the 192 units in the tower, wanted to tear down the building to make way for luxury condos, demolishing most of the building’s interior despite objections from residents.

A judge ordered Two Roads to rebuild what it had destroyed, which the developer estimated would cost more than $60 million, the outlet said. Shortly after, Uthmeier’s office asked the judge if the state could join the case on behalf of Two Roads Development to protect public health and safety.

“Ten days after the $25,000, for the first time ever, the attorney general now wants to intervene in our case,” Glen Waldman, the attorney representing the Biscayne 21 residents, told a Miami judge last month. “Is it a coincidence? Hardly.”

During last month’s hearing, Two Roads Development, led by James Harpel, said it wasn’t the first time the attorney general’s office tried to intervene. Last year, Uthmeier tried to step into the case at the Florida Supreme Court but wasn’t able to after the justices declined to hear the case.

Two weeks after that, one of Two Road Development’s managing partners gave $100,000 to the Republican Party of Florida, which transferred $500,000 to Uthmeier’s committee over the next month, the publication said.

In March, Uthmeier received $25,000 from a trust tied to Matthew Lazenby, CEO of Whitman Family Development. The developer is suing the Village of Bal Harbour after officials blocked the addition of a high-rise residential tower to Whitman’s luxury Bal Harbour Shops. Two weeks after the donation, Uthmeier’s office intervened in the dispute, arguing a new state law prevented the village from limiting the project, the outlet said.

Bal Harbour Mayor Seth Salver said the intervention, which came two weeks before the village was set to consider a settlement with Whitman, didn’t affect the case but spooked the community.

“I figured there was some quid pro quo,” Salver told the Tampa Bay Times. “I just didn’t think it would be that brazen.”

Bal Harbour’s village council rejected the settlement in April, opting to continue the two-year litigation.

The publication said there’s no proof that the attorney general’s office agreed to intervene in exchange for money. But other instances of his involvement in legal battles have raised questions about potential conflicts of interest.

Earlier this year, Uthmeier appeared to fast-track a pardon for Sarah Porreca, a convicted felon whose father donated $100,000 to a political committee that supports Republican candidates and the Republican Party of Florida.

—Grace McClung