3 June 25 - July 1, 2026 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com NEW TIMES | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NEWS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | CONTENTS | LETTERS | RIPTIDE | METRO | NIGHT+DAY | STAGE | ART | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | ▼ MIAMI WARNING SIGN A MIAMI MUSICIAN HELPED TRIGGER THE ANDREW TATE INVESTIGATION. BY NATASHA YEE L ong before Andrew and Tristan Tate became the subjects of inter- national human-trafficking inves- tigations, a young musician living in South Florida thought she had found a mentor. Instead, according to a major New Yorker investigation published earlier this month by Heidi Blake, she became one of the people whose actions helped spark the criminal probe now hanging over the brothers. The woman, identified by the magazine as “Ella Hadley,” met Tristan Tate in Miami in late 2021. According to the report, the pair bonded over music, literature, art, and poetry. Tristan allegedly promised to help develop her music career and invited her to Romania, where he said she could live near him and pursue cre- ative opportunities. Hadley told Blake that she believed she was entering a serious relationship. Instead, she says she found herself inside the Tates’ world outside Bucharest. She soon discovered other women living in properties linked to the brothers and be- came increasingly alarmed by what she ob- served. One woman allegedly told her she felt trapped and wanted to escape. Others ap- peared frightened and malnourished, accord- ing to the investigation. Hadley began texting concerns back to family and friends in the United States. “Tristan and his brother are terrible peo- ple,” she reportedly wrote to her mother. A family friend with military experience became concerned enough to alert authori- ties through the U.S. Embassy in Romania. That report eventually led Romanian law en- forcement to raid a villa connected to the Tates in April 2022. The operation marked one of the earliest major breakthroughs in what would be- come a years-long investigation into the brothers. Romanian prosecutors later accused An- drew and Tristan Tate of using romantic rela- tionships to recruit women into online sex work. The brothers deny those allegations. According to the investigation, Hadley later cooperated with Romanian authorities and became one of the witnesses at the center of the case. The report describes subsequent lawsuits, public attacks, and efforts by Tate allies to challenge her credibility. Despite years of legal battles, the investi- gation suggests Hadley’s initial warnings helped trigger the first official intervention by authorities. For South Florida readers, the story offers a reminder that one of the most consequen- tial moments in the Andrew Tate saga may have begun not in Romania, but in Miami. [email protected] | RIPTIDE | GET MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY AT MIAMINEWTIMES.COM/NEWS Influencer Andrew Tate attends UFC 313 at T-Mobile Arena on March 08, 2025, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo by Ian Maule/Getty Images ▼ BRICKELL MYSTERY MAN KEN GRIFFIN IS CONFIRMED AS THE BUYER BEHIND BRICKELL’S SOLARIS TOWER. BY NICHOLAS YEE F or two years, owners at Solaris at Brickell Bay watched a single buyer quietly ac- quire units in their 22-story tower and tried to figure out who was behind it. The purchases came through a series of anonymous Delaware LLCs, each buying individ- ual units in all-cash deals. The shell companies shared a registered agent with the entities that held the commercial property surrounding the building, and many owners concluded the buyer was the billionaire next door. Earlier this month, the speculation was con- firmed. Citadel chief workplace officer Paul Dar- rah said on Thursday, June 4, at a Bisnow real estate summit that Ken Griffin was the buyer and now owns every unit in the building. The disclosure clears the way for Griffin to de- molish Solaris, which sat in the middle of his 4.2- acre assemblage — the last holdout between the Citadel founder and control of two full city blocks across from his planned 54-story headquarters. In its place, Griffin is proposing 300 apartments and a parking garage with more than 1,400 spaces. Much of the story was sitting in the public re- cord for anyone willing to follow the paperwork — though not at the address most Brickell projects pass through. Because Griffin’s parcels were folded into Miami-Dade County’s Rapid Transit Zone, the development sidesteps City of Miami zoning review and runs instead through the coun- ty’s Brickell Station Sub-Zone under Chapter 33C, a track that rewards transit-adjacent sites with added height, density, and lighter parking require- ments. Tracing the filings to the county rather than the city is what sur- faces the rest. The county re- cord shows the headquarters won approval in Decem- ber, with commis- sioners granting a variance to shrink the tower’s setback from Biscayne Bay to 40 feet from the standard 50. The project’s at- torney, Akerman’s Neisen Kasdin, a former Miami Beach mayor, told the commission it represents a $2.5 billion private investment. The May 13 filing that addedthe 300 apartments and the 1,420-space garage, and stripped out the hotel, is an amendment to that already-approved plan, which is why the Solaris demolition can proceed without another fight at City Hall. Owners told the Wall Street Journal that Grif- fin repeatedly raised his offers until enough of them agreed to sell — a version of the condo- termination process that has become common in Miami as developers chase scarce land. Griffin’s Miami push has accelerated amid a public dispute with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who filmed a video promoting a pied-à- terre tax in front of the $238 million Manhattan penthouse Griffin owns. Griffin said Citadel needed to “double down on our bet in Miami,” and has since swapped the tower’s planned rooftop hotel for more office space. He is not alone. Down Brickell Bay Dr., a partnership led by Vlad Doro- nin’s OKO Group and Oak Row Equi- ties paid $520 million in December for the Brickell Bay Office Tower and Yacht Club Apartments site — the priciest development-site sale in Flor- ida history, topping Griffin’s own 2022 record. Santander broke ground on a 50-story tower at 1401 Brickell, and Peter Thiel’s family office just set a county office- lease record at 830 Brickell, the same tower where Citadel’s 500 Miami employees work while the headquarters rises. Even after Solaris falls, Griffin won’t quite own the entire block. On one corner stands a structure built in 1905, once the site of Miami’s first physician’s office, that belongs to the City of Miami and houses the Dade Heritage Trust, an architectural-preservation group. Griffin’s com- plex will rise around it. [email protected] GRIFFIN’S MIAMI PUSH HAS ACCELERATED AMID A PUBLIC DISPUTE WITH NEW YORK CITY MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI. Photo by Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images Citadel CEO Ken Griffin speaks during the Semafor World Economy Summit 2025.
