FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY
FIU spent $110,000 to review actions in case of accused Cuban spies
FIU spent more than $100,000 on actions related to the case of two
employees charged with snooping for the Cuban government.
BY NOAH BIERMAN
nbierman@MiamiHerald.com
When Florida International University professor Carlos Alvarez and his
wife were charged as agents for the Cuban government last year, school
officials promised a thorough independent review to determine whether
FIU policies had been violated.
Total cost: $110,000.
Last month, Alvarez pleaded guilty to reduced charges of conspiring to
act as an unregistered agent for Fidel Castro's government. The
psychology professor quit his position at FIU in November. His wife
Elsa, an FIU counselor on unpaid leave, pleaded guilty in federal court
in Miami to being aware of her husband's illegal activity, harboring him
and failing to disclose it to authorities. They await sentencing.
FIU, meanwhile, paid one of Miami's top lawyers $105,000 to review its
actions, help the school comply with the federal investigation and
update its Cuba travel procedures. But the lawyer, former U.S. Attorney
Roberto Martinez, did not provide a written report documenting Alvarez's
actions at the school.
Martinez said he reviewed whether other employees were violating the law
and delivered verbal updates to University President Modesto ''Mitch''
Maidique and General Counsel Cristina Mendoza since the criminal case
was filed last January.
NO VIOLATIONS
''We determined that, apart from [the Alvarezes] and what they did, the
university didn't violate any policies or procedures,'' Martinez said.
Martinez said he did not review the Alvarezes' actions because it would
have been inappropriate to interfere with the FBI investigation. Nor did
he look for evidence of others who might be reporting back to Cuba from
the campus.
''It wasn't my task to go in and look for spies. That definitely wasn't
my task,'' he said.
Martinez produced one written document, a 66-page compilation and
summary of laws and policies governing travel to Cuba, which the school
intends to use as a handbook if academic travel to the island is
permitted again. Since July, Florida university employees have been
prohibited by state law from traveling to Cuba. FIU's faculty senate is
suing to have the travel ban, imposed as a result of the Alvarez case,
overturned.
FIU spokeswoman Maydel Santana-Bravo summarized Martinez's findings --
and added that the professor took no FIU students to Cuba under the
school's travel license -- but said the school's lawyer, Mendoza, would
not be available for comment on the specifics of his work.
''I think we're going to let the documents speak for themselves,''
Santana-Bravo said.
Martinez, who serves on the state board of education and as chairman of
the transition team for Gov. Charlie Crist, charged FIU $500 an hour for
his time. Two other lawyers at his firm billed $400 and $425 an hour. A
paralegal billed $160.
FIU also spent $5,000 so that investigators could clear, file and
videotape the contents of the Alvarezes' offices, Martinez said.
NO DISRUPTIONS
Martinez's primary and most sensitive work involved helping the school
comply with FBI search procedures without disrupting school activities,
he said.
''Part of the fallout of their [the Alvarezes] work is that the
university felt the need to hire a lawyer and spend the money to do
so,'' Martinez said.
Public universities are not required to seek bids when they hire outside
attorneys. FIU hired Martinez one other time, in 2003. Martinez said he
does not normally do government work and gave FIU a discount from his
hourly rate of $550 to $575 an hour.
Miami-Dade County Attorney Murray Greenberg said his office usually does
not use outside lawyers. But when it does, he tries to get hourly rates
below $300. Miami Dade College spends between $175 to $450 an hour on
outside lawyers, depending on the type of work, said spokesman Juan
Mendieta.
The County Commission agreed to hire election law specialists
GaryRobinson at $200 an hour in October in a failed attempt to kill a
strong mayor ballot measure. The Tallahassee firm charged $325 an hour
for partners and $200 an hour for associates.
The Miami-Dade School Board paid attorney Richard Ovelmen $171 to $414
an hour to defend the district against legal challenges after it removed
a children's book, Vamos a Cuba, from its libraries.
Miami Herald staff writers Jay Weaver and Matthew I. Pinzur contributed
to this report.
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