Miami Sheriff Says Criminal Ring Scammed HOAs Out of $5.8M
Miami law enforcement officials have brought charges against an alleged criminal ring that is accused of scamming $5.8 million from condominium and homeowner’s associations throughout Miami-Dade County.
After a two-year investigation dubbed “Operation Sundown,” the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office arrested Juan Awais, 60, and five associates, on charges of racketeering, money laundering, organized fraud, grand theft, and solicitation of kickbacks.
Officials say the group tricked elderly, mostly Spanish-speaking HOA board members into signing documents they didn’t fully understand, giving Awais control of association finances.
In a press conference earlier this week, Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz said Awais used his “cultural connections” to various board members, speaking to them in Spanish to build their trust.
“He built a network designed to create opportunities to extract money from the associations he was supposed to serve. Legitimate contracts and legitimate works were allegedly used as part of a larger system for extracting money from homeowners,” Cordero-Stutz continued, calling the group a “brazen criminal organization.”
According to the sheriff, the group was hired by local condo associations, including Mira Villa Condo Association, Los Sueños Condo, Samari Lake East Condo Association, Lago Grande, and Country Lake Manors, to run properties through several companies controlled by Awais.
They collected contracts to complete various jobs, including roof repairs and renovations. But instead, the group invoiced the associations and pocketed the proceeds, the sheriff said.
“Homeowners were dealing with the aftermath of a devastating hurricane and the insurance money was supposed to repair their homes,” said Cordero-Stutz. “Instead, hundreds of thousands of dollars were siphoned through a network for the benefit of people who had no legitimate claim to it.
“These associations and the board members, who are volunteers and mostly elderly people, entrusted the people they hired to do the right thing and, in fact, were schemed and stolen from,” she added.
Awais is charged with money laundering, organized fraud, grand theft, and accepting or soliciting a kickback. His companies associated with the scheme include Sunshine Management Services, 1 Management, Florida‘s Property Maintenance Group Corp., and Quality Investment Properties.
Alleged co-conspirators Juliet Ramos, Johana Perez Tapia, Delma Alonso, Cynthea Louise Waltz, and Michael Irizarry were arrested alongside Awais and are facing racketeering, money laundering, grand theft, and organized fraud charges.
The sheriff’s office also said the ring attempted to obstruct the investigation through falsifying documents and by “discouraging board members from speaking with law enforcement.”
On Thursday, a judge set bail for Awais at $3 million.
Awais was involved in a 2015 investigation into voting irregularities at condo boards across Florida. At the time, he was the vice president of Property Management Group Corp. When that company folded, he transferred several contracts to his own Sunshine Management Services, LLC.
He was again named in a 2020 lawsuit brought by the Las Vistas at Doral Condominium Association over the mismanagement of association files.
The suit also alleged that Awais, in his capacity as manager at several property management firms, including Sunshine Management Services, overcharged the HOA for services. The suit also accused Awais of working with HOA board members to defraud the HOA. The court dismissed the case with prejudice in 2023.
