Just before midnight Monday, after a long, tumultuous vote count that included Facetime calls to voters who said their ballots were forged, a new era began at one of Miami’s largest condominiums. Five winners were declared in the homeowners association board election at The Club at Brickell Bay.

Karl de Borbon was not one of them. De Borbon, running for a ninth term as president, was swept out of office following a contentious campaign blemished by allegations of voter fraud in previous elections. Three challengers and two incumbents were elected to the five-person board at the 43-story, 643-unit tower, 1200 Brickell Bay Drive. A total of 383 votes were counted. The new officers appointed incumbent Maria Sindia Borras —who won 247 votes —as president; Jessiana Escontrela as vice president; Victor Lozier as secretary; incumbent Suad Yidios as treasurer; and Luis Javier de Antonio as director. De Borbon finished in sixth place with 137 votes. “Congratulations to everyone,” de Borbon said after the final tally was announced in the building’s social room. “They ran a good campaign. They made it personal, but that’s politics.” “Good luck to them. So you were expecting a fistfight? You see we are civilized people.” Outgoing vice president Kambiz Azizi, who finished eighth, said he wanted to contest the results but de Borbon said he would not request a review. “I’m happy for others to do the demanding unpaid job of running this building,” de Borbon said. “I hope they have a plan that will not destroy the work we’ve done to make this building financially healthy and physically sound. It’s easy to criticize and tear down the leadership, but what is your plan?” Lozier, an owner and manager of rental units, led an opposition group that alleged de Borbon and others used forged ballots to rig last year’s election and a June 8 vote for a swimming pool deck refurbishment project and a bylaw amendment. Lozier spent hours over the past few months auditing ballots from those votes, collecting copies, calling owners for verification and organizing a slate of challengers.

State election monitor Tomas Rementeria shows a ballot to a voter over Facetime to verify the signature. Club at Brickell Bay homeowner Alejandra Pelaez, who assisted vote tabulation, holds the phone.

“I realized how board members become untouchable and owners become powerless and decided we needed to investigate corruption and fight for change. I’m an athlete; I don’t give up,” said Lozier, a former collegiate and pro tennis player.

“This is vindication for our team. The toughest challenge was winning credibility with owners who don’t know me and aren’t aware of what’s going on in the building. They had a president of eight years and here is a stranger calling them to ask for support.”
‘You have a history of forgeries here’

Monday’s vote count was conducted by Tomas Rementeria, an election monitor sent by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, the state agency that oversees HOA governance. Owners organized a petition drive to request the monitor.

Rementeria acknowledged allegations of fraud at the outset.

“You have a history of forgeries here, so let’s establish how severe the problem is in this election and we will see what steps to take,” he said.

Rementeria spent the first four hours of the evening verifying signatures. He phoned on Facetime about a dozen owners to ask if they had mailed in their ballot, then showed them the handwriting on the ballot while they showed him their signature on a driver’s license or passport.

“Did you turn in one or two ballots?” he asked the owner of an 18th-floor unit. “So the black handwriting is yours and the blue one is a forgery?”

In another conversation with the owner of a 43rd-floor unit: “So this is not your signature. Can I see a license to confirm. Yes, we have another forgery.”

He tossed ballots that had various discrepancies and documented nine forgeries, 17 ballots not validated by property managers who were representing owners (some of whom were asleep in Europe and could not be reached) and 25 ballots that were delivered to The Club’s office on the same day with the same postmark.

Multiple homeowners at The Club told the Miami Herald their ballots for the 2025 board election and June 8 vote were forged. Screenshots of dozens of ballots from those votes provided to the Herald show similar handwriting.

In the case of one homeowner who said she never voted, her signature is different on two ballots, and on one of them her last name is misspelled.

The irregularities have been reported to the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office and Florida’s DBPR. Lozier’s group has also requested an audit of Monday’s election from the HOA.

Proper procedures have been followed and no improprieties occurred during voting, de Borbon and the HOA attorney said. The HOA “remains committed to maintaining the accuracy and transparency of its election processes” the attorney said in an email to owners who sent complaints.

De Borbon said he has never tampered with ballots and that last year’s election was marred by opponents who “dumped 75 votes from a bag into the ballot box.”

“The DBPR has never found wrongdoing here,” he said.

At The Club, only about 100 of the 643 units are occupied by homeowners or long-term tenants. The rest are owned by investors who live elsewhere and rent units on short-term vacation rental sites such as Airbnb.

The new board has promised better management that would balance the interests of residents, investors and guests.