What started as routine condo business in Miami Beach has turned into a criminal case involving hundreds of thousands of dollars, a condo manager, and a maintenance worker, according to prosecutors.
The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office says the property manager of Euclid East Condominium and a maintenance worker were arrested Tuesday in what they describe as an alleged kickback scheme that funneled building funds to a company tied to one of the suspects. Prosecutors charged 38-year-old Francisco Obispo with 18 counts of receiving a kickback and one count of organized scheme to defraud. The maintenance worker, 52-year-old Jose Luis Hernandez-Aguiar, faces a charge of organized scheme to defraud. The case centers on Euclid East, a six-story condo at 1545 Euclid Avenue in the Flamingo-Lummus neighborhood.
What Prosecutors Say Happened
According to the arrest warrant, the whole thing began to unravel in June 2025 when a board member spotted irregularities in the association’s books. Investigators then traced roughly $370,000 in payments made between May 2024 and May 2025 to a vendor owned by Hernandez.
One check for $25,000 was listed as payment for “40-year recertification permit processing,” and another payment for $24,500 was labeled “40-year electrical permits.” Investigators say that when they checked, they found no record of permits being pulled by Hernandez or his company. Prosecutors also allege that some of the money paid out by the condo association flowed back to Obispo and companies linked to him, creating a trail of transactions that led to the criminal charges, according to NBC6.
Why the 40-Year Recertification Is a Big Deal
Euclid East was due for its milestone 40-year recertification, a process that requires licensed engineers or architects to inspect a building’s structural and electrical systems. Since the Surfside collapse, that once-routine chore has been under far tighter scrutiny at both the state and county level…