Champlain Towers developer, Allegedly Paid Off Local Officials

Edited: TJVNEWS.COM

Champlain Towers developer Nathan Reiber, who died in 2014, was once accused of paying off local officials to sidestep a construction moratorium in Surfside in 1979 because of problems with the sewer system, according to WaPo(LINK).

Reiber had “contributed” to the campaigns of local officials that granted him preferential treatment when it came to building Champlain Towers South in 1981, according to the report.

Building rivals claimed that the partners behind Surfside Champlain Towers South were receiving preferential treatment when it came to getting through the permit system as the site was being built in 1981, the Washington Post said.

Surfside’s developers had contributed to the campaigns of at least two town council members, then demanded that the donations be returned when the allegations surfaced, according to the outlet.

NY Post reported:

In Florida, Reiber and his partners were initially unable to begin construction of the condo buildings due to a 1979 moratorium over faulty sewers.

The developers agreed to pay half of the $400,000 tab for the sewer repairs on the property and were given the green light — sparking anger from rival developers whose projects remained stalled by the moratorium.

Nathan Reibner, the key developer, had a history of being a crook.

The report pointed out:

Reiber, who died in 2014, had been charged with tax evasion by Canadian authorities in the 1970s when he and his partners were accused of skimming cash from apartment buildings they owned.

They allegedly skimmed tens of thousands of dollars from coin-operated laundry machines in the buildings and pocketed about $120,000 from phony construction checks, the Washington Post said.

WaPo noted all the principals involved in the design and construction of the building are deceased. Former construction companies that played a role in the construction of Champlain Towers were unwilling to talk about the building collapse.

The condo building was already conducting its 40-year recertification repair at the time of the collapse on early Thursday morning, numerous sources reported.

Two reports were recently completed on Champlain South. The first was a field study conducted by an engineering firm in 2018 that identified structural damage to concrete slabs under the pool deck and cracking and crumbling in the parking garage. However, there was no evidence of imminent collapse. The second was a study from 2020 that outlined the tower was sinking in the 1990s by 2 millimeters a year.