Miami-Dade County Commissioner Oliver Gilbert steered roughly $3.2 million in taxpayer funds over three years to a youth sports nonprofit run by his own deputy chief of staff, an arrangement that has no physical office, hasn’t filed a federal tax return since 2023, and isn’t registered as a charity with the state. The commission approved 28 separate funding requests from Gilbert between 2023 and March 2026 that sent money to the organization, FYFL United, even as Gilbert now stands as the Democratic nominee for Florida’s 24th Congressional District.
As first reported by Florida Bulldog, FYFL United is administered by Sandra Pierre-Paul, who earns $165,500 annually as Gilbert’s deputy chief of staff. The nonprofit received county funds earmarked for community support and outreach, spring break trips, summer youth internships, and laptop giveaway events, according to the outlet’s review of county records. Money moving through the group was also redirected to projects associated with Gilbert himself, the Florida Bulldog reported, including fully paid trips he led for high school students to historical sites in multiple cities.
The funding history traces back to May 2023, when the county commission approved $90,000 for FYFL United to cover community events and a laptop giveaway, followed by $74,000 across two more funding requests that same year. The pace accelerated in 2024 and 2025, when 22 separate requests delivered $2.6 million to the organization, including $200,000 for a spring break trip and $370,000 for a summer youth internship program. As recently as this year, the commission approved $150,000 for FYFL United on January 21 and another $100,000 on March 3, both for community program and event support.
No Office, No Tax Filings, No State Registration
FYFL United lists its principal address as a P.O. box inside a Staples store in Miami’s Edgewater neighborhood and has no physical office, per the Florida Bulldog’s reporting. The group has not filed a Form 990 tax return since 2023, even though 501(c)(3) charities must file annual returns once revenue exceeds $50,000. Its only tax filings on record show $54,241 in revenue and $1,974 in expenses in 2021, followed by an e-postcard in 2022 claiming revenue below the $50,000 threshold — and nothing filed with the IRS for 2023, 2024, or 2025…