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When a royal brouhaha erupted last week over Miami Police Chief Miguel Exposito’s allegations that city officials offered him a “bribe” to resign, Riptide filed a Freedom of Information Act request for a copy the infamous $200,000 check.
Well, the check just landed in our inbox. It shows that Mayor Tomas Regalado (who says the payout was a legal “severance” offer) was right about one thing — ex-Chief Financial Officer Larry Spring looks to have been the city official signing off on the deal.
Email records show that Spring emailed Finance Director Diana Gomez at 5:54 p.m. on Jan. 12, saying: “Per City Manager, please prepare an check (sic) in the amount of $200,000 payable to Miguel Exposito.”
Minutes later, he sent a second email telling her “this is a settlement type check.”
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A check was cut that same day on a City of Miami bank account at Wachovia for $200,000. A copy of the same check with “VOID” written in black marker is also included in the records.
Nothing in the file obviously contradicts Regalado’s version of events: That Spring, acting on behalf of ex-City Manager Tony Crapp Jr., prepared the $200,000 payment as part of a severance offer to the chief.
Here’s the check:
And here’s the full file with the email trail:
