In Part 1 of Ripping off Uncle Sam, we told you how ex-North Miami Beach City Manager Arthur “Duke” Sorey used Federal tax dollars in the form of American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) funding to benefit ex-Criminal Commissioner Paule Villard’s re-election campaign by purchasing grocery and gas gift cards for her to hand out to future voters.

We also told you how he completely ignored and disregarded former Commissioner Barbara Kramer by not including her in the $15,000.00 each he allotted for the other six elected officials for “Community Engagement.”  In fact, he didn’t even let her know she was entitled to such funding.  While this is not the worst thing he did to Commissioner Kramer during his two year reign of terror, she was finally vindicated when Duke was fired for cause.

And finally, we told you that Duke tried to charge $17,652.37 worth of ARPA money against Commissioner Fortuna Smukler’s allocation, when the only expense she approved from her fund was the $2,000.00 for Target gift cards for the children attending the annual Highland Village holiday party.

Like Fortuna Smukler, Mayor Tony DeFillipo only spent $6,000.00 to purchase holiday gift cards from Target and Publix for residents.

Like Paule Villard, however, Michael Joseph, McKenzie Fleurimond, and especially Daniela Jean really went to town with your Federal tax dollars.

For Michael Joseph and his Juneteenth blow out, it wasn’t enough that Duke Sorey paid a whopping $50,000.00 to his pet organization, Black Professionals Network (up from $28,500.00 the previous year under a no-bid contract), he also hired Luther Campbell, a/k/a Uncle Luke, to host the event at a cost of $4,000.00.

This would be the same Uncle Luke who hosted Duke’s infamous “Uncle Luke’s World Superbowl Experience,” when he blew $6,564,184.62 of North Miami taxpayer money on his infamous Red Garden Sinkhole.

This would also be the very same Uncle Luke whom Duke threatened with a demand letter, claiming he was in violation of Memorandum of Understanding between the City of North Miami and Uncle Luke Records, LLC.

But, hey.  Bygones.

While the mostly unbudgeted cost of Michael Joseph’s Juneteenth $50K plus extravaganza came out of the General Fund, we’re not exactly sure how Duke justified the $4,000.00 he paid to Uncle Luke to host this event as a legitimate ARPA expense.

Keep in mind that according to the White House’s own website, “more than $360 billion in emergency funding for state, local, territorial, and Tribal governments to ensure that they are in a position to keep front line public workers on the job and paid, while also effectively distributing the vaccine, scaling testing, reopening schools, and maintaining other vital services.”

But, we digress.

McKenzie Fleurimond spent $8,294.02 of his ARPA allotment, $5,000.00 of which was spent on his Annual Birthday Party, a/k/a Soup & Champagne, held on New Year’s Day at the Ancient Spanish Monastery.

As usual, when we made a Public Records Request for the cost of McKenzie’s January 1, 2022 birthday party, we were given invoices totaling $13,500.00., of which $10,000.00 was paid to a company called Soup and Champagne, LLC.  We now find out that an additional $5,000.00 was paid to that company out of McKenzie’s ARPA funds, bringing the total cost of this event to $18,500.00.

What’s worse, is that the real cost of Soup and Champagne, LLC’s Invoice Number 2001022022 was apparently $15,000.00 — but it was NOT the one we received via Public Records Request.

The $10,000.00 invoice that we received was addressed to “Commissioner” Joann Milord, who is actually the City’s CRA Director, and was paid on December 29, 2021 by Check Number 1025246, according to the City’s online Check Register.

It wasn’t until we received Barbara Kramer’s Public Records Request on April 25, 2023 in the form of a spreadsheet entitled “ARPA Community Engagement Expenses,” that we discovered an identical invoice from Soup and Champagne, LLC, but this one was addressed to Commissioner McKenzie Fleurimond, and it was in the amount of $5,000.00.

Needless to say, this was not a legitimate ARPA expense.

But, it gets even weirder.

We again analyzed all the check registers for Fiscal Year 2021-22 in search of a $5,000.00 check payable to Soup and Champagne, LLC, but no such check was ever issued.

Welcome to the rabbit hole.

As an aside, McKenzie’s Annual Birthday Party, which cost taxpayers $18,500.00 (that we know of) on January 1, 2022, morphed into an outrageous  $44,700.00 on January 1, 2023.

And that’s not including the $575.19 in overtime that taxpayers shelled out for McKenzie’s Sergeant at Arms chauffeur for the .7 mile, 4-minute drive from his rental apartment to the event.

But, again, we digress.

In any event, none of the $63,775.19 spent on McKenzie’s two taxpayer-funded birthday parties had a public purpose, and not one penny of it was for the benefit of North Miami Beach residents.

Then there’s the self-anointed Princess of NMB, Daniela Jean, whose gross misspending of your tax dollars is legendary by now.

Daniela spent $12,880.11 of ARPA funds for her Emergency Preparedness Drive on July 28, 2022.

This is not including the $530.00 she paid to Brothersoul Films, LLC, to make her self-promotional video for the City to post on its Facebook page, making sure to highlight ex-Criminal Commissioner Paule Villard’s taxpayer-funded campaign tent.

What’s really infuriating is that the $9,255.28 she paid to 4Imprint for personalized first-aid kits, umbrellas, drawstring sportspacks, and rain slickers in-a-bag, included an additional $895.28 for “expedited shipping and freight cost due to last minute change order.”

Instead of $638.00 to ship all the promo items, you were charged $1,533.28 in “expedited shipping and freight” because “Princess” Daniela had some last minute thoughts.

Like the time she had absolutely no problem billing you $223.00 for a “flight change charge for trip to Denver.”

After all, she’s royalty — and it’s not her money!

And besides, campaign season was underway in earnest, and Daniela needed Paule to win so she wouldn’t be “the only black female on this dais,” which she lamented at the December 1, 2023 swearing in ceremony.

Because meetings are so hard for Daniela, she showed up for five minutes at the December 20, 2022 City Commission meeting, and hasn’t bothered to attend one since.

But, she sure likes spending your money — and collecting an undeserved paycheck each and every month!

Daniela also spent $169.00 from her ARPA fund at La Bakerie in Lauderhill on pastries for her Patties on the Plaza event for Haitian Heritage month in May, 2022.

Not including, of course, the salary and gas you paid for a City employee to drive 20 miles and back so that “La Princesa” could have the pastries Her Highness demanded.

Also in May, she spent $2,100.00 of Federal ARPA money for 100 tickets to take City employees to a Marlins game.

As we already reported, according to Duke Sorey’s City Manager Monthly Report May, 2022:

Because nothing says celebrate Haitian Heritage Month like attending a sporting event honoring America’s Pastime.

We remind you once again that one of the purposes of American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) was to provide funding to municipalities in order to “keep front line public workers on the job and paid, while also effectively distributing the vaccine, scaling testing, reopening schools, and maintaining other vital services.”

We also remind you that Duke Sorey’s description of “Community Engagement,” for which these funds were slated, was “This program will allow community engagement to ensure the community members gain access to valued social settings and activities, feel that they are able to contribute meaningfully to those activities, and develop functional capabilities that enable them to participate fully.”

While this was a lovely gesture, we’re pretty sure taking 100 City employees to a Marlins game doesn’t exactly qualify as keeping “public workers on the job and paid” or “maintaining other vital services.”

We’re also pretty sure that no “community members,” a/k/a North Miami Beach residents, gained any access to “valued social settings and activities,” or were able to “contribute meaningfully to those activities,” or enabled “to participate fully,” since they weren’t invited.

Then again, Daniela did pay $2,000.00 to Freeze Frame Marketing & Media, Inc. for “PR/Marketing/Event Management Services” for her “Holiday Literacy Event,” which was open to the public.

But as with almost everything else that Duke Sorey spent your tax dollars on, most of the ARPA money that was expended was not in accordance with the Federal government’s guidelines, nor did they have any public purpose for the benefit of North Miami Beach residents.

One glaring example of his misappropriation of Federal funds was that he approved a payment of $2,600.00 to a non-resident under the Emergency Rent and Mortgage Assistance Program.

Instead of trying to recover the money from the recipient, he simply returned it to the ARPA fund and stole it out of your General Fund to cover his mistake.

Tell your Mayor and Commissioner that you want Duke Sorey to give you a refund!

The incompetence of ex-North Miami Beach City Manager Arthur “Duke” Sorey and his hand-picked Friends & Family staff is the stuff legends are made of.

And not in a good way.

Duke Sorey’s abuse and misappropriation of Federal tax money is literally grand theft on a scale never before seen by a local municipality.  Only a thorough forensic audit will reveal how much damage has been done in the last two years under Duke’s mismanagement, and then he must be held accountable for his actions.

Preferably by the State Attorney’s Office.

Stephanie