Miami mayor’s net worth increased to $4.45M last year as he grew real estate portfolio

After a whirlwind year that included a short-lived presidential campaign and heightened scrutiny of his financial dealings, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez’s net worth increased by $1 million in 2023, signifying a slowing down in financial gains after two consecutive years when his net worth more than doubled, according to a financial disclosure form released this month.

The latest tally was calculated at the tail end of a year where Suarez mounted a brief run for the Oval Office, a failed bid that lasted just 76 days. The part-time mayor also began to face criticism for his side jobs and business arrangements, finding himself involved in local, state and federal investigations related to the blurred lines between his private work and his job in City Hall.

In a newly submitted financial disclosure form that offers a snapshot of Suarez’s assets and liabilities as of Dec. 31, the mayor reported his net worth to be $4.45 million, up nearly 30% from the $3.45 million he reported the year prior. Suarez purchased two new properties, paid down an American Express debt, took out a quarter-million-dollar loan and more than tripled the value of a cryptocurrency account, according to the new filing.

While Suarez’s net worth has continued to climb since he was reelected in 2021, this latest filing signals what appears to be a cooling-off period compared to the two previous years, when the mayor’s net worth more than doubled.

Summary of gains and losses

The mayor’s real estate portfolio grew by more than $1 million in 2023, driven by the purchase of two condo units and rising property values.

The value of the mayor’s one-story Coconut Grove residence, for example, increased by nearly a half-million dollars to $2.17 million, according to the filing.

Suarez also purchased two condos, including a 793-square-foot unit in a residential building near West Flagler Street — the second unit Suarez now owns in that same building.

The newly purchased condos are valued at $274,400 and $197,900, according to the filing. They’re both listed as investment properties, bringing Suarez’s total number of investment properties up to five.

Suarez took out two mortgages last year: one from City National Bank, for which he owed about $177,000, as of the latest filing, and one from Milo Credit with a balance of $225,120. The only other liability the mayor lists is $6,876.88 in American Express debt, which he paid down from more than $28,500 at the time of last year’s filing.

Milo Credit offers crypto-backed mortgages, according to its website, which means the borrower can use cryptocurrency “as collateral to qualify and secure a mortgage to purchase a home.” The mayor’s spokeswoman, Stephanie Severino, did not directly answer a question about whether Suarez’s Milo Credit loan was crypto-backed.

Suarez, previously branded as the “Bitcoin mayor,” has said in the past that he converts his $97,000 mayoral salary into cryptocurrency. Severino did not respond directly to a question about whether Suarez still converts his salary into crypto, instead pointing to his financial disclosures, which she said are “extensively detailed and provide full transparency on the Mayor’s finances.”

Suarez listed three bank accounts in his filing, including one with City National Bank valued at over $500,000 — more than twice what it was the year before, at about $230,000. His Wells Fargo account decreased from over $195,000 to just under $60,000, and his Strike wallet account — which converts standard currency into crypto — more than tripled, rising from about $71,000 at the end of 2022 to over $260,000 at the end of 2023, according to the latest filing.

Outside work

Revelations about Suarez’s outside employment spurred criticism starting last spring when a former employee at the now-defunct development firm Location Ventures stated in a lawsuit that Suarez was earning $10,000 a month as a consultant for the firm’s URBIN brand.

The previously undisclosed side gig raised questions about the potentially blurred lines between Suarez’s public office and private business dealings with a developer who sought approvals from the city.

A fuller picture of Suarez’s outside employment emerged when he ran for president and filed a detailed federal financial disclosure form last summer that revealed more than a dozen side gigs, many previously undisclosed, that he has held since 2022.

READ MORE: Mayor Francis Suarez worked to draft new law with developer who later paid him $170K

In his latest Form 1 disclosure, a separate financial filing that Suarez submitted to the state ethics commission in late June reflecting his finances through the end of 2023, the mayor’s employment remained largely the same as what he reported in his presidential filing in August.

He worked as counsel for the law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan; served as a senior operating partner at a private equity firm called DaGrosa Capital Partners; and acted as a consultant for the Kremlin-linked financial firms Dreamer Capital and Legacy Wealth Advisors. Suarez also included Location Ventures on his Form 1 filing, confirming that he worked as a consultant for the firm in 2023.

Severino, the mayor’s spokeswoman, did not directly respond to questions about when Suarez’s employment with Location Ventures ended or whether he has gained any new employers in the past six months. Location Ventures shut down after its embattled CEO was forced out last summer.

Miami Herald associate editor Joey Flechas contributed reporting.