News

By Dan Moffett
 
    At the height of his influence a decade ago, Delray Beach-based developer Anthony Pugliese III oversaw the biggest land deal in Central Florida since Disney World and sat on Palm Beach County’s Judicial Nominating Commission that selects local judges.
    The day before Thanksgiving, the 68-year-old Gulf Stream resident stood before one of those judges and asked for a bit of leniency. Pugliese wanted to spend the holiday weekend at his $28 million waterfront home before reporting to Palm Beach County Jail on Monday morning.
    Circuit Judge Glenn Kelley granted the request, over the objections of prosecutors.
    A plea deal negotiated by Lee County prosecutor James Miller will send Pugliese to jail for six months, followed by 10 years’ probation, as punishment for complicated scams perpetrated against Fred DeLuca, the co-founder of the Subway restaurant chain.
    In August, Pugliese pleaded no contest to fraud and theft charges stemming from a failed partnership with DeLuca to develop a 61-square-mile property near Yeehaw Junction that was to be known as Destiny, Florida. Pugliese admitted in court depositions that he created sham companies with phony addresses and fake invoices to siphon off roughly $1.2 million of DeLuca’s money.
    Pugliese and DeLuca had accused each other of fraud, with Pugliese suing the Subway magnate six years ago for $5 billion in civil court. The lawsuits between the men remain unresolved. Pugliese blamed DeLuca for an illegal financing scheme that allegedly profited him more than $20 million, and each accused the other of stealing Destiny’s money and using it for lavish personal expenditures.
    The partners also fought cancer as they fought each other. DeLuca died in September, losing his battle with leukemia. Douglas Duncan, Pugliese’s attorney, told Kelley that the “serious and significant health issues” associated with his client’s cancer treatment were reason enough to allow him a final weekend at home before he reported to jail.
    Besides incarceration, Pugliese had to pay more than $1 million in restitution to DeLuca’s estate. Pugliese has said he accepted the plea deal to spare his family the stress of a lengthy trial and to deal with his health problems.
    “I’m glad it’s over,” he said on leaving Kelley’s courtroom.
    Miller was brought into the case from Fort Myers because of conflicts of interest arising from Pugliese’s political connections. The developer donated money to Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg’s election campaign.
    After his arrest in 2012, Pugliese was removed from the Judicial Nominating Commission by Gov. Rick Scott.  
    All told, prosecutors had filed more than a dozen charges against Pugliese that, with convictions, could have sent him to prison for decades.
    Destiny was to have been one of the country’s largest eco-sustainable communities, and its green design earned praise from the Clinton Foundation. Osceola County officials at first backed the project, but state agencies did not, claiming the development would add to urban sprawl and clog roadways.
    In South Florida, Pugliese Development Co. built the Crystal Corporate Center in Boca Raton and helped develop the Pineapple Grove District in Delray Beach.
    In 2010, as Destiny was falling apart, Pugliese gave $150,000 to build a baseball diamond for disabled children in Delray — The Anthony V. Pugliese Miracle League Field in Miller Park.