Prominent South Florida lobbyist pleads guilty to tax evasion

wooden gavel with usa dollar on desk. close up.

Eston “Dusty” Melton III, who distinguished himself across a four-decade career as one of South Florida’s most influential government relations specialists, may soon see prison time for skirting the IRS.

He just pleaded guilty to tax evasion. The U.S. Department of Justice said Melton, 70, failed to pay more than $1.3 million in taxes between 2005 and 2014. By 2019, interest and penalties from that debt grew to about $1.7 million.

Melton also lied to IRS agents “in multiple ways,” the agency said, when they confronted him.

He initially pleaded not guilty to the charge, but told the Miami Herald last month that he planned to switch to a guilty plea. He said he’d repaid more than half the back taxes he owed since selling his Coconut Grove home in April 2018.

Melton expressed remorse when speaking with the Herald, saying he had “no excuse for failing to take (his) tax obligation as seriously as (he) should have.”

“It is not in my nature to cheat the federal government, to cheat anyone,” he said. “I am absolutely mortified that I did so.”

Melton’s plea agreement could see him serve two to three years in prison. A sentencing hearing before U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg is set for May 16 at 11 a.m.

A prominent and longtime lobbying figure at Miami-Dade County Hall, Melton evaded IRS efforts to collect taxes in six ways, the Department of Justice said, including:

— Dissuading the IRS from seizing his home. Melton told agents he was trying to sell the property himself, but “then undermined his realtor’s efforts to make the sale.”

— Withdrawing $67,000 in cash from his lobbying business, Global Projects Inc., and giving it to his wife, Mabelys, to deposit in her account.

— Having Mabelys open an ostensibly competing lobbying firm called Gryphon Partners to which Global Projects transferred clients. Melton continued to perform all the clients’ lobbying duties but reported almost no income after 2019, instead directing payments to his family members.

— Having Mabelys buy a new home in West Palm Beach, where she directed the closing agent not to include Melton on the deed because she “was buying the home with her own money. In fact,” prosecutors said, “approximately two-thirds of the cash to close was proceeds of Melton’s lobbying work at Global Projects and Gryphon Partners.”

— Having no checking account after December 2018.

— Transferring the titles of two cars and four life insurance policies valued at $51,000 to Mabelys.

According to the Miami Herald, Melton worked as a journalist for the paper before taking a job in 1982 with Steve Ross, a major county lobbyist. Melton acquired Ross’ business after his death in 1995, when he registered Global Projects with the Florida Division of Corporations.

County records show his current clients include Avmed, Delta Dental Insurance, Farm Share, His House, Miami Children’s Museum, the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind, University of Miami and Super Yellow Cab, among others.

In 2005, he stopped paying taxes for 10 straight years. He told the Herald he did it to “put my family obligations first, as a father and a husband.” His expenses also included alimony to an ex-wife, child support and college tuition costs for three kids and an adopted son whose legal fees he also covered in a 2016 drug smuggling case.

Melton told the Herald he made annual tax payments based on 30% of his income between 2014 and 2023. He said about 41% of the $1.36 million he got from selling his home in 2018 went to the IRS as well.