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Critics question Orlando airport attorney’s family and business ties to OIA contractor

Originally published Oct. 2, 2019


By Jason Garcia and Beth Kassab


In January 2009, about a month after Marcos Marchena was named the top attorney for the agency that runs Orlando International Airport, he helped some family members start a new company.


Within three years, the company, called Verde Construction Managers LLC, was getting work at the airport. In the decade since it was created, the company has built or renovated three spas, two duty free stores, a frozen yogurt shop and a news store, according to the company’s Facebook page.


Verde also won a highly contested continuing contract from the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, the agency that runs the airport. The company was a subcontractor on a project to replace the trams that carry passengers from the main airport terminal to the gates. And Verde is now a subcontractor to one of the companies leading the construction of OIA’s $3 billion south terminal.


While it was doing business at the airport, records show Verde Construction Managers was also working with Marchena. Verde has used Marchena’s law firm and leased space in an office building Marchena co-owns, according to court, property and financial-disclosure records.


As the general counsel for the aviation authority, Marchena and his law firm are involved in many contracting and procurement discussions at the airport. But Marchena said neither he nor anyone else at his firm has ever had any role – either on behalf of Verde or the aviation authority – in decisions regarding Verde business.


“I take seriously my oath as an attorney and obligation to the public in serving a public agency to ensure that both I and my firm avoid conflicts of interest,” Marchena said. He said he has turned down other potential clients because they might seek work at the airport in the future. “My firm and I have gone beyond the requirements or expectations to limit conflicts of interest as it relates to the airport.”


Alex Rey, an executive at Verde and Marchena’s nephew, also said Marchena hasn’t had any involvement in the company’s work at the airport.


He said he could not say how much money Verde has earned from jobs at the airport and he declined to estimate. Marchena said he could not accurately estimate how much money Verde has paid to his law firm in legal fees. The aviation authority was unable to say how much Verde has earned from its airport work because most of the company’s jobs came through contracts with airport tenants.


Read the rest of the story here.

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