A failed Miami-Dade commission candidate spent more than a million dollars challenging one of the county’s longest-serving politicians last year. Now, prosecutors allege some of that money was mishandled.
Sophia Lacayo, who ran against then-Doral Mayor Juan Carlos “JC” Bermudez for the District 12 county commission seat in 2022, was charged with a slew of campaign finance law violations, State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle announced at a Wednesday press conference.
“The numbers provided in the sworn campaign documents, they didn’t add up,” Fernandez Rundle said.
Lacayo, 45, was arrested while getting off a flight at Miami International Airport. Her charges include:
▪ Four counts of making two or more campaign contributions in the name of another, a third-degree felony.
▪ Four counts of receiving two or more campaign contributions in excess of the limits, a third degree felony.
▪ Seven counts of falsifying reporting or deliberately failing to include information, a first-degree misdemeanor.
▪ Three counts of making a campaign contribution in the name of another, a first-degree misdemeanor.
▪ Three counts of receiving a campaign contribution in excess of the limit, a first-degree misdemeanor.
If convicted, she could face up to 40 years in prison as well as 364 days in jail on each of the misdemeanor charges, the State Attorney’s Office confirmed to the Miami Herald, though that likely wouldn’t be the case.
The violations, Fernandez Rundle said, weren’t the production of inexperience. They were “deliberate steps” to sidestep finance laws.
The legal limit for campaign contributions is $1,000, Fernandez Rundle said. That includes loans from individuals, organizations and political parties. All candidates are required — by law — to report all contributions, loans and expenditures.
But Lacayo, Fernandez Rundle alleged, was running funds through several bank accounts to obscure the source of the money. This is a common strategy associated with money laundering, though it can’t be charged in that way due to state law, she said.
Lacayo moved more than $450,000 from her business account to her personal account and, ultimately, to her campaign account, Fernandez Rundle said. This was done to sidestep campaign finance limits.
The people who loaned Lacayo money, Fernandez Rundle said, aren’t believed to be involved in any way. No one else on Lacayo’s campaign team is currently facing charges.
“There’s no doubt in our mind… that… such actions cannot be tolerated in our community,” she said. “We need to have fair, honest and transparent elections.”
Lacayo, the owner of a tax-preparation business, stunned campaign watchers in 2022 when her campaign outspent Bermudez, nearly 3-to-1 with a $1.8 million war chest. Bermudez was mayor of Doral for more than 15 years.
About $1 million of that came from her own accounts and businesses she owned, according to campaign reports. Bermudez won the two-person race with more than 65% of the vote.
This isn’t the first time Lacayo has been in hot water, Fernandez Rundle added, while mentioning that this is the second prosecution of the political hopeful.
During the 2022 campaign, a Lacayo lawyer asked a judge to seal records from a prior criminal case. In 2020, Lacayo was arrested on perjury charges tied to where she claimed to live to qualify for her successful run for the Sweetwater city commission.
Lacayo’s plea agreement then spared her from a guilty verdict, imposing a one-year probation, $3,750 in fees, and a requirement that she resign her Sweetwater seat. She withdrew the request for the records to be sealed after the filing became public.
