The Palm Beach Fanjul Dynasty

Palm Beacher, Pepe Fanjul

An example of attaining the American Dream

and being among the One-Percenters

Florida Crystals owned by the Palm Beach Fanjuls, launched a real estate investment division, Legacy Investments of Boca Raton. It is just one subsidiary of the Fanjul conglomerate. VP Jose "Pepe" Fanjul said that their development plan is part of the company's strategy to continue to participate in the region's (Florida's) growth. In actuality, it's not only Florida they want to pave over but they are looking to develop throughout the country.

Since Florida's Growth Management Act was gutted and the oversight shifted from state to local government control of the planning and growth management process, we are seeing more and more of these types of decisions with a lot of pressure put on local governments to approve huge projects--22 story condos on the waterfront in West Palm Beach just recently. Even in Lake Worth, the assumptive and driven developer oriented dais decided not to honor the will of the people who won an election to keep its downtown no more than four stories.

Just about one year ago, Florida Crystals’ purchased  33.1 acres in western Delray Beach for nearly $10 million. The property is slated for 395 multifamily units. Now the Fanjul operative was back in the news yesterday as the top bidder for the A. G. Holley property--$15.6  million for  80 acres in Lantana. Governor Rick Scott and his Cabinet will have to approve the bid.

The Fanjul brothers were large shareholders and directors of Southeast Bank before its takeover and liquidation by the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in 1991. In addition, they are the majority shareholders and directors of FAIC Securities, which was investigated by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission for regulatory violations, so says Wikipedia.

While the U.S. government has spent millions in farm subsidies on the Fanjuls, the Cuban expats allegedly tried to torpedo the CAFCA free-trade agreement in the mid-2000s because it was expected to threaten their bottom line. Eventually passed, CAFCA established a free-trade zone that included the USA, the Caribbean and Central America.  Read the Forbes article on all the wheeling dealing.