Miami Beach politician’s law license suspended. Court cites ‘troubling character flaw’
Former Democratic state Rep. Mike Grieco was suspended from practicing law for a year in a ruling Thursday by the Florida Supreme Court, which decided a harsher penalty was necessary than the 90-day suspension recommended by an independent referee early last year.
The Supreme Court condemned various “false or misleading” statements that Grieco made denying any connection to a political committee in 2017 as he ran for mayor of Miami Beach, including when he told the Miami Herald of his involvement: “It is absolutely untrue. You can look right into my soul.” Grieco’s statements to the Herald and other media sparked a Bar investigation that led to Thursday’s final decision by the Florida Supreme Court.
In a 6-0 ruling, the court also took into account Grieco’s no-contest plea to a misdemeanor charge that the political committee he was secretly running accepted $25,000 of foreign money funneled through a straw donor.
“Knowingly accepting campaign donations from one individual, through or in the name of another (the offense to which Grieco pled no contest) is a dishonest act,” the ruling said. “We agree with the referee that the nature of Grieco’s criminal act establishes conduct that reflects adversely on his honesty and on his trustworthiness — two components of fitness as a lawyer.”
Grieco and his attorney, Ben Kuehne, did not respond to phone calls and text messages seeking comment Thursday.
Now, Grieco has 30 days to shut down his criminal defense practice. He can seek to be reinstated as a lawyer in one year, though a judge will need to accept that reinstatement and deem him fit to practice law.
In its ruling, the Florida Supreme Court pointed not only to Grieco’s conduct during his 2017 mayoral campaign, but also to his “continuous shifting of the narrative” and allegedly misleading statements during the years-long disciplinary process.
That included contradicting positions over time about whether Grieco was acting as a lawyer for the political committee, People for Better Leaders.
The order cites a 2017 Herald article as “significant” for illustrating how Grieco changed his story about his involvement with the committee when presented with a professional handwriting analysis that linked Grieco to the political committee.
Grieco’s shifting narratives and reliance on “technically accurate” statements that were “clearly intended to mislead the public,” the court found, “indicate a troubling character flaw that requires a period of rehabilitation before he can be readmitted to the Bar.”
The ruling notes that 17 witnesses vouched for Grieco’s “good works and rehabilitation efforts,” and that Grieco “has taken steps to correct deficiencies in his campaign and electioneering conduct.” Still, the court cited similar cases and Grieco’s history, including a 2008 public reprimand by the Florida Supreme Court while Grieco was an assistant state attorney, in determining that a one-year suspension was appropriate.
After serving four years as a popular city commissioner, Grieco, 48, resigned from the Miami Beach City Commission in 2017 amid the mayoral campaign finance scandal. But he quickly bounced back, winning a state representative seat in 2018 and running unopposed two years later.
In 2021, he filed to run for state Senate against incumbent Ileana Garcia but dropped out of the race. That year, the Miami-Dade Commission on Ethics and Public Trust found Grieco had falsely portrayed his involvement with the political committee in 2017.
Grieco ran unsuccessfully for Miami Beach mayor last year, finishing last among four candidates. He had hoped to succeed Dan Gelber, his opponent during the 2017 campaign.
