Purported kickback leads to charges against former housing authority chair

FLORIDA — The former chairman of Riviera Beach Housing Authority has been charged with extortion for kickback payments, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida has announced.

According to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Delvin Thomas, 44, of West Palm Beach, Fla., has been charged with one count of extortion after using his chairman position to receive a kickback from a real estate transaction.

Around April 2019, Thomas was the chairman of the Riviera Beach Housing Authority, during which time the authority sought to purchase real estate located in Riviera Beach for a low-income rental property. Thomas reportedly introduced a real estate broker to the person at Riviera Beach Housing Authority responsible for purchasing the property and Riviera Beach Housing Authority entered into a contract with the broker to purchase the property, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the broker was to receive a three percent commission from the property’s purchase. Once the contract to purchase the property was entered, Thomas allegedly told the broker that he, Thomas, was to receive 50 percent of the commission for its sale.

At closing, the broker’s company was paid a commission of $18,930. In order to hide the unlawful payment of Thomas’ 50 percent share, Thomas contacted a straw party to act as a front for this illicit activity, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

The straw party (or front) reportedly agreed to deposit two checks issued to the front’s business bank account and then issue checks from said account to Sire Development Group LLC, a company Thomas reportedly owned.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, two checks in the amounts of $6,400 and $3,065 were issued to the front’s company account. The amount reportedly totaled 50 percent of the commission received by the broker.

The checks falsely stated in the memo section that the payments were for “company branding” and “marketing services,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

The front then allegedly issued two checks to Thomas’ company, Sire Development Group LLC, in the amounts of $6,400 and $3,000—falsely stating in the check’s memo section that the payments were for “consulting services.”

The checks issued by the broker’s company and the straw party’s company each were drawn on accounts of a national bank and affected interstate commerce, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Thomas is potentially facing a statutory maximum term of imprisonment of 20 years and a fine of $250,000.

Juan Antonio Gonzalez, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and acting Special Agent in Charge Robert M. Dewitt, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, made the announcement.

The FBI investigated this matter. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey N. Kaplan.

A criminal complaint is merely an accusation, and a defendant is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.