After Miami-Dade prosecutors recuse themselves, Broward will probe Miami corruption claim

Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle recused her office from investigating claims of corruption made by former Miami police chief Art Acevedo against city commissioners, according to unsealed documents obtained by the Miami Herald.

Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered Broward State Attorney Harold Pryor to take over the case on Dec. 17, the documents show.

Shortly before being fired last year, Acevedo wrote a memo accusing Miami Commissioners Joe Carollo, Alex Díaz de la Portilla and Manolo Reyes of corruption and improperly interfering in police matters. He passed his accusations on to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami and the FBI, which have expressed little interest in pursuing them. He also alerted Fernández Rundle’s office.

But Fernández Rundle discovered her office had a conflict of interest after launching a criminal investigation into Acevedo’s claims, according to an email her staff sent the governor’s office on Nov. 18.

“During the course of [our] criminal investigation, we became aware that a substantial witness to potential wrongdoing ... is the brother of a Senior Attorney in our office whom the State Attorney relies upon regularly for wise counsel for her most sensitive legal matters,” the email stated.

The email does not name the senior attorney or the witness.

DeSantis’ order states that the “executive assignment” of the case to Broward will last for one year, until Dec. 17, 2022. It also says Broward prosecutors should “notify the Governor on or before November 17, 2022, if additional time is required.”

Although the order is marked confidential and is redacted from the governor’s website, the governor’s office provided it and other records to the Herald in response to a public records request. Fernández Rundle’s office had originally asked that the order be kept secret, the records show.

But Ed Griffith, a spokesman for Fernández Rundle, said Monday that confidentiality was no longer necessary because the press had begun reporting on the investigation.

“The reason is that we had received sufficient media calls ... to indicate that this was no longer confidential and it no longer needed to be labeled as confidential,” Griffith wrote in an email.

The Broward State Attorney’s office said it had no comment.

Acevedo was fired in October after clashing with city commissioners. He served just six months on the job.

After being forced out, Acevedo told NBC Nightly News that elected officials meddled with police matters — accusations the commissioners have denied.

“I’ve never experienced, as a police executive, what I’ve experienced here, which was really elected officials inserting themselves in operations, inserting themselves in the work of the department,“ Acevedo said.

Miami Herald staff writers David Ovalle and Joey Flechas contributed to this report.