Rubio's Rotten Deal Raises Serious Concerns

Makes a Mint off Loan from Bank Controlled by Miami Politico

For Immediate Release: March 31, 2008

TALLAHASSEE - As he mulls a run for Miami-Dade mayor, Republican State House Speaker Marco Rubio is in hot water following a Miami Herald investigation that exposed a suspicious six-figure home equity loan that he failed to disclose.

Real-estate experts called the way Rubio obtained the loan "unusual." A month after purchasing a house in West Miami in 2005, Rubio had the property appraised by a bank directed by his political supporters. The bank valued the house at almost $200,000 higher than what Rubio had just paid for it - and offered him a $135,000 home equity loan.

"It looks a lot like somebody's currying favor with an important political person," an independent market analyst said. "People off the street don't get this deal because he just purchased the property for $550,000. If it is a true equity loan, there has to be equity in the house to make the loan." [Miami Herald, 3/28/08]

This isn't the first time that Rubio has failed to disclose a loan. Though Rubio told the Herald, "I over-disclose. I try to over-disclose as opposed to under-disclose," he also neglected to disclose a $64,000 equity loan as well.

"What is Marco Rubio hiding and why does he think he can get away with it? This doesn't pass the smell test," Florida Democratic Party spokesman Alejandro Miyar said. "Rubio's pattern is disturbing and reeks of corruption."

Read the full Miami Herald report at: http://www.miamiherald.com/top_stories/story/474645.html