Report: companies claim Irma fundraising was a scam

MIAMI — A man who claimed to be a member of a wealthy Puerto Rican family that owns a rum distillery rented warehouses for Hurricane Irma donations and chartered five airplanes to take them to the island.

No one suspected that the apparent Good Samaritan was a fugitive with a long criminal record, authorities said

The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald report the man used a fake name, has a history of fraud convictions and now is accused of duping donors.

Emilio Ismael Vazquez now stands accused of a nearly $500,000 fraud by two Doral companies — Commercial Property Group, which leased the warehouses to him, and Global Aviation Link, the cargo operator. They claim the 47-year-old paid them with fake checks and fraudulent wire transfers.

Vazquez managed to board a private airplane at Miami International Airport and fly to Aguadilla, in northeastern Puerto Rico, to distribute the donations. He travelled with members of the Florida Puerto Rico Relief Committee, including singer Olga Tanon and Telemundo host Maria Celeste Arraras.

He has an outstanding arrest warrant issued in Orange County, Florida in 2016, for violating the conditions of his probation after a 15-year sentence for fraud.

The story of the hurricane-donation fraud was first reported by Univision 23.

Several of the alleged Miami victims in the hurricane-donations case interviewed by el Nuevo Herald requested anonymity because they have been contacted by federal authorities who are investigating.

Meanwhile, tons of food and medicine from South Florida and the Orlando area are stranded and spoiling at the Aguadilla airport, Univision 23 reported. Other donations languish in Doral warehouses.

“Nobody knew they were dealing with such a character. I don’t know what this guy was thinking, but Robin Hood doesn’t exist anymore,” said Rodrigo Narvaez, manager of the airline 21 Cargo, owed more than $400,000 by Global Aviation for the flights. “We feel very badly for Global, but we paid for the pilots, airplanes and landing rights, so we have to be paid.”

El Nuevo Herald tried but failed to contact Vazquez by phone and email. A reporter went Tuesday to an apartment building in Midtown Miami where he had told a lawyer he lived. A receptionist called a man listed as a resident under the name Emilio Perez, who claimed to be out of town. Florida arrest records show Vazquez has used the alias Emilio Perez.

Vazquez’s victims and the volunteers now wonder why he did it. There’s no sign he stole money, because the group did not accept cash donations, or that he diverted any of the goods donated.

Vazquez got involved in the Puerto Rico relief efforts on Sept. 22, shortly after Hurricane Maria walloped the island. That day he called the Isla del Encanto restaurants in Kendall, which was collecting donations, with an offer almost as incredible as the $2 million he allegedly offered on television to Ellen DeGeneres.

DeGeneres announced the donation on national television. A man named Emilio had given $2 million for Puerto Rican victims of two hurricanes during the We Are One Voice — Somos Live! benefit concert.

“We were in the middle of the collections when a man called offering an airplane to deliver the help,” said restaurant owner Rafael Acosta. “I passed the phone to a volunteer ... to take down the information.”

Filled with hope, the volunteers quickly established the Puerto Rico Relief Committee.