Miami International Airport Official Arrested on Bribery Charges
Miami-Dade County Aviation Department Division Director and Four Others Charged in $5,000,000 Fraud and Kickback Scheme
Miami-Dade County Attorney General Kathy Fernandez-Rundle, center, discusses the charges against Ivan Valdes, a senior manager in the maintenance division at Miami International Airport, during a news conference Friday, Sept. 23, 2016. Valdes, pleaded not guilty to the charges, which allege he was part of a $5 million scam at the county-owned airport. Roberto Koltun rkoltun@miamiherald.com
BY DOUGLAS HANKS
An administrator at Miami International Airport was arrested Thursday on bribery charges in what prosecutors said was part of a $5 million scam at the county-owned airport.
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Valdes came up through the ranks of MIA’s landscaping division, according to his biography on the airport’s website, joining the facility in 1989. He earned $98,000 last year, making him the 147th best-paid official at the airport, , a sprawling county agency with a $1 billion budget.
Valdes supervised a department of more than 100 workers responsible for maintenance of the airport’s six terminals.
A call to the office of Valdes’ attorney was not immediately returned Friday.
“We’ve been an integral part of this investigation for a very long time,” said MIA director Emilio González. “We will never ever tolerate this type of behavior.” He said the charges are part of a larger investigation at MIA, but that no other MIA officials are facing charges.
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