Joy Cooper

Cooper, 57, who had served as mayor since 2005, was suspended by Gov. Rick Scott on Friday January 26 2018 after she was charged with campaign finance violations, official misconduct and money laundering. Cooper was released on a $12,000 bond Thursday as she awaits trial. Her defense attorney said the state’s case — turned over by the FBI to Broward prosecutors last year — was flawed because it was ultimately built upon the cooperation of Alan Koslow. He’s now a fallen attorney who pleaded guilty to an unrelated federal money-laundering charge in 2016 and helped investigators make the case against Cooper. The tale started in May 2012 when undercover agents created a fictitious real estate company and hired Koslow to represent them and reach out to Cooper to find a development site in Hallandale Beach. Koslow, who worked for the prominent Broward law firm Becker & Poliakoff, was unaware that his new clients were FBI agents. In July, Koslow introduced the agents to Cooper in the mayor’s office at city hall. They discussed a development project and her upcoming re-election campaign, as Cooper boasted she could ensure two other votes on the five-member city commission. But, according to the affidavit, Cooper wanted a substantial campaign donation for her support — a figure with three zeros. Later that month, the mayor met with Koslow and they agreed on a $10,000 contribution from the developers in two installment payments. Koslow, aware of the $500 limit on local campaign contributions, told the agents that he would use their funds and his connections to two Russian organizations to have them write checks to Cooper’s campaign. In September, the mayor met Koslow at a fashion show organized by the Hallandale Beach Chamber of Commerce. There, she collected 20 campaign checks totaling $5,000. “That’s fantastic,” Cooper told Koslow, acknowledging that the donations came from a bunch of Russians living in the United States. After the November election, the undercover agents began targeting Koslow, who agreed to launder hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal gambling and drug proceeds. Koslow collaborated with a South Florida woman in writing checks to the agents in exchange for the cash. The agents gave Koslow and the woman a small cut of the dirty money. After a series of transactions, the agents revealed their identities to Koslow in August 2013 — but didn’t arrest him. The longtime Broward attorney began working undercover himself, assisting the FBI agents in their investigation of other politicians and lobbyists. Koslow, however, would finally cut his plea deal in August 2016. He was sentenced to a year in prison on the money-laundering conspiracy conviction.