WPB History of “Pay-to-Play” Corruption Allegations Continue
The FBI and Grand Jury concluded in 2009, Palm Beach County had a serious crisis of public trust, earning the nickname “Corruption County” after multiple county and city commissioners pled guilty to Federal corruption charges. The Grand Jury investigation, report focused on areas of county governance: bond underwriting, land transactions, commissioner discretion and funds, ethics laws, and anti-corruption criminal statutes. In all areas, the investigative Grand Jury found Palm Beach County had systemic failures in transparency, accountability, and dire need for independent oversight. The State Prosecutor Barry Krischer simultaneously worked his college friend Lois Frankel’s corruption case and Jeffrey Epstein’s case, giving Krischer the rare idea to send Epstein’s to the Grand Jury too. The cases had various characters that intersected and reporters at The Palm Beach Post could barely keep up.
Among significant findings: Palm Beach County used a costly bond sale system against warnings for many years; land transactions had suspicious patterns “buy high, sell low” wasteful tax spending, lack of checks and balances oversight, mismanaged asset accounting. “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” was the famous quote the Grand Jury stated for why West Palm Beach’s voters need to reconsider the abused powerful “Strong Mayor” form of government. It also noted suspicious contributions from developers and entities not based in West Palm Beach. However, that Grand Jury related report was hidden from public view on PBC Court docket by Mayor Lois Frankel, until an April 2026 petition by Deborah Adeimy. Seeking reelection Frankel had the Clerk of Court manually input “John Roe” to conceal Frankel’s identity on the docket, to avoid the public finding the Grand Jury report and improvement recommendations. The problem is today, many same employees remain.
The Grand Jury concluded Florida state law lacked adequate tools for prosecutors to fight public corruption, particularly absence of state-level statutes comparable to Federal law. One recommendation included establishing an independent Office of Inspector General, and creating a formal Ethics Commission with criminal enforcement authority, reforming the bond underwriting process, and eliminating commissioner discretionary funds entirely. Initially with $7Billion for OIG to review, the same 1990’s “clip-art” amateur reports continue for $15Billion today, with trivial, embarrassing examples of savings. It all shows the Palm Beach County Court’s intent for oversight requirement was never taken seriously.
Read Grand Jury Report, judge orders, and full report.
https://pbc.gov/oig/docs/reportsinternal/2025_Annual_Report.pdf
