Miami Condo President Charged With Skimming $1.5 Million in Association Fees

The long-time president and engineer of an upscale Miami-area condominium remained in jail late Wednesday after he was charged with stealing $1.5 million in association fees over the last seven years.

It’s the second time in two years that a condo association’s leadership has been arrested on fraud charges.

Early this week, Gregori Arzumanov, 62, was booked into jail in Miami, charged with multiple counts of fraud, money laundering, racketeering and theft, according to arrest records and several local news reports. The man, who also was property manager at Turnberry on the Green condominiums, in Aventura near North Miami Beach, allegedly redirected condo fees from owners, including maintenance fees, to his personal use, the Miami Herald reported.

It was unclear if some of the fees were intended to go toward insurance premiums on the 28-story building. News outlets reported that the State Attorney’s Office said Arzumanov disguised the alleged skimming by making fake rental payments to his deceased mother, hiring a security firm for which he was the sole owner, among other methods. He also reported charged potential owners a fee fro conducting background checks on them.

He was held on $500,000 bond. He had not posted bond by late Wednesday, records show.

State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said at a news conference this week that investigators had probed the alleged crime for four years before the arrest was made. Maintenance fees averaged about $660 per unit, and the association took in more than $3 million per year.

Arzumanov reportedly used some of the diverted money to purchase food and art work for his own condo unit.

Fernandez Rundle noted that the episode is similar to that of the Hammocks Homeowners Association in 2022, in which association leaders were accused of diverting some $2 million from member fees, the Herald reported.

The Aventura arrest can be considered the latest blow for Florida’s beleaguered condominium communities. After the collapse of the 21-story Champlain Towers South condo building in 2021, owners and associations have faced huge new inspection and repair costs, along with soaring property insurance premiums.

A 2022 Florida law now requires condo associations to maintain larger reserve funds and to keep up with needed repairs. If maintenance fees were diverted from the Turnberry condo maintenance work, that could ultimately affect the structural integrity of the building and its insurance coverage. The association’s directors and officers insurance also could be impacted.