10 January 4-10, 2024 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | music | cafe | culture | Night+Day | News | letters | coNteNts | Month XX–Month XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS | Eryka Gemma Flores She’s the self-appointed godmother of the Miami Crypto Scene, but when all is said and done, Eryka Gemma Flores’ legacy may well extend beyond the world of digital currency. The venture capitalist and onetime low-key crypto promoter who created Miami’s first Bitcoin Center found herself at the heart of national intrigue when she was said to have supplied Proud Boys chairman and Miami native Enrique Tarrio with a blueprint to overturn the 2020 election. Entitled “1776 Returns,” the document outlined a detailed plot to storm government buildings around the U.S. Capitol and played a key role in the seditious conspiracy charge against Tarrio and other Proud Boys. Texts revealed during Tarrio’s trial appeared to show Flores proudly providing the document to Tarrio just weeks before the January 6, 2021, attack, telling him, “If you don’t like my plan, let me know. I will pitch elsewhere. But I want you to be the executor and benefitor [sic] of my brilliance.” Vicky Méndez Her bio on the City of Miami website contains a lot of background on Miami City Attorney Victoria “Vicky” Méndez. But it won’t tell you what WLRN’s investigative duo of Danny Rivero and Miami New Times alum Joshua Ceballos uncovered in the spring of 2023: that Méndez and her husband, Carlos Morales, are armpits deep in an alleged reverse Robin Hood scheme in which the homes of Miami- Dade’s poor and vulnerable are purchased at rock-bottom prices — ostensibly for the benefit of their owners, who have been adjudicated as incapacitated — and then quickly flipped for a tidy profit. Méndez and Morales steadfastly deny the allegations in the report and the lawsuit. A spokesperson for the Miami-Dade County Inspector General’s Office says the agency is conducting an audit of the Guardianship Program. Newly elected District 1 City Commissioner Miguel Gabela — the man who defeated Méndez’s fellow Dirty Dozen member Alex Díaz de la Portilla in November (sure is a small world, ain’t it?) — recently filed a resolution to fire the city attorney. Carl Ruderman One by one, former Playgirl magazine owner and Aventura resident Carl Ruderman looked on for years as executives from his bankrupt merchant cash advance company, 1 Global Capital, were convicted on fraud charges for an investment scheme that roped in $250 million. Chief financial officer Alan Heide, chief operating officer Steven Schwartz, and two attorneys were sentenced to federal prison while Ruderman skated by with fines and regulatory action but no criminal charges. It seemed that the tycoon once known as pornography’s “Invisible Man” might somehow be invisible to the feds. But the gavel came down hard on Ruderman this past July when he was indicted for wire fraud and conspiracy. Prosecutors said 1 Global failed to loan out tens of millions of dollars it had raised from investors because Ruderman used the cash to cover a mortgage, chauffeurs, a luxury car for his wife, and insurance payments for his art collection. In October, Ruderman pleaded guilty in exchange for a five-year sentence and a $250 million forfeiture order. James Silverstone If you’re looking to hire a Santa Claus impersonator for your company holiday party, you’d best cross James Silverstone off your list. Silverstone, who for years had volunteered to serve as Santa for the small beachside Broward burg of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, was indicted last fall on federal charges of possessing more than 1,500 child-porn images and videos. According to the federal complaint, he’d landed on police radar after his house was linked to an IP address that shared several hundred child porn images via the filesharing app BitTorrent. Silverstone confirmed to police that he’d used the search term “PTHC” (preteen hardcore) but claimed he routinely used BitTorrent to download movies and couldn’t distinguish between children and adults online. Police say some of the downloaded files depicted sexual activity involving infants. [email protected]
