Corey's ties to others in FBI probe run deep

Dining, lobbying and deal-making go hand in hand for Adam Corey

Jeffrey Schweers
Tallahassee Democrat
Local entrepreneur and co-owner of The Edison restaurant Adam Corey chimes in at a business roundtable discussion.

In the 16 years since he graduated from Florida State University, lobbyist and restaurateur Adam Corey has built a business and political portfolio that has seen its share of success and failure — even as it has drawn him deep into the circle of Tallahassee's new generation of power elite.

Those twin rails of ambition have also drawn the Tampa native into the midst of an FBI probe of the city’s redevelopment agency and several other high-profile entrepreneurs it has done business with in the last five years.

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Front and center are Corey and former lobbying partner at Unconventional Strategies, Nick Lowe, who arranged meetings between city and county officials and three mysterious developers whom sources say are FBI undercover agents.

Corey's web of influence stretches from downtown to CollegeTown, from his days as a recent college graduate raising money for the Seminole Boosters to his rise as a lobbyist, philanthropist, real estate developer and high-profile restaurateur. 

Along the way, he's made lots of friends and admirers, who say he's an outgoing, friendly guy. He's also seen his share of ink describing his enthusiasm and energy, his passion for his projects, and love of Tallahassee.

To some local folks, Corey represents a new era of investors and entrepreneurs who have envisioned exciting ideas and projects that have reshaped Tallahassee's landscape. People describe him as bright, business-minded, confident and self-assured.

His social media pages are awash with photos of him at events and gatherings, hosting political fundraisers, opening restaurants, attending sporting events and traveling to faraway places. Wine tastings in the Napa Valley. Christmas in Amsterdam. Picnics under the Eiffel Tower. Sightseeing in Dubai. In the pictures he is always flashing a bright white smile, hugging friends and giving a big thumbs up to the universe.

Corey has assumed a low-profile in recent weeks, and is rumored to be out of town after his name and two of his companies — Cascades Holdings and The Edison restaurant —were listed in two federal subpoenas delivered to City Hall. Also named were personal friends and associates John "J.T." Burnette and Kim Rivers.

Corey has not responded to several requests for comment.

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Corey, Burnette and Rivers are part of the same social circle that includes lawyer/lobbyist Sean Pittman, a campaign advisor to Mayor Andrew Gillum and former legislative lobbyist for the city, and Audra Pittman, head of the Council on Culture & Arts. Their Twitter feeds show photos of them attending last year's holiday party thrown by Burnette and Rivers.

Pittman is also a lobbyist for Trulieve, a medical marijuana company founded by Rivers.

What hasn't been reported until now is that Burnette also rescued the 101 restaurant from foreclosure and leased it to Corey for over a year until Corey could get his own mortgage to buy the place.

Burnette and Rivers are partners in InkBridge, a financial investment company also named in the subpoena, along with several of Burnette's other companies and his business partners Chad Kittrell and Frank Whitley. Catherine Baker and Melissa Oglesby, associates of Burnette and Kittrell, are also named.

The five of them were collectively involved in projects that received CRA funding.

Also named in the supboena is Paige Carter-Smith, a longtime friend and former chief of staff of City Commissioner Scott Maddox.

Rivers, Corey and Carter-Smith are further connected to each other through the Tallahassee Downtown Improvement Authority. Rivers is chair, Corey is vice-chair and Carter-Smith is executive director.

Corey also has personal and political ties to Mayor Andrew Gillum, who is a Democratic candidate for governor. A friend since college, Corey served as Gillum’s campaign treasurer when he ran for mayor in 2012.

Mayor Andrew Gillum listened as his friend lobbyist Adam Corey spoke at the 2015 opening of the city-backed Edison restaurant.

The Edison, Corey’s high-end restaurant at Cascades Park, was subsidized with taxpayer dollars. Among its ranks of secret investors is Pittman and lobbyist Nick Iarossi.

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In a December 2013, city commission meeting, Gillum asked if there was a conflict because of his relationship with Corey. City Attorney Lew Shelly said no.

Years earlier, Gillum voted against renovating the old Electric Building, but changed his mind after Corey took over the project.

"I have known Adam since we were in college when he was at Florida Gulf Coast and I was in student government at FAMU," Gillum said before voting to approve the Edison project at that meeting four years ago. "I am pleased to have him as an entrepreneur in our community."

Corey and controversies

Corey has seen his share of controversies over the years.

Last year, he suddenly closed his signature downtown restaurant and nightclub, the 101 Mint, in the midst of a prolonged lawsuit with former business partners. The lawsuit was settled last month for an undisclosed amount. Tequila Tribe, the restaurant he opened earlier this year, closed its doors after six months.

One of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, and Corey’s former partner in the restaurant, Anthony Murgio was just sentenced to five and a half years in federal prison for his role in a bitcoin scam and cyber attack on J.P. Morgan Chase Bank.

The restaurant was also at the center of a lawsuit that lasted nearly four years over money owed to a former partner in the restaurant.

A confidential settlement was reached in May. 

Burnette saved the restaurant from foreclosure in 2011, paid off the note and leased the property to Corey until he was able to get a mortgage to buy it in 2014. 

The Edison has been clouded in controversy since before it opened. The city is conducting an audit to ensure the city’s financial interests are protected after restaurant owners abruptly fired turnaround specialist Steve Adams. The move alarmed Commissioner Maddox, who called for the audit.

Adams, who was director of operations at the Edison for about six months, is well-known in the industry and once ran restaurants owned by Burnette and Kittrell.

The Edison restaurant received $2.1 million in city and CRA money — all of it city and county property tax revenue — to renovate the 100-year-old former power plant building that houses The Edison. Under the deal, Corey pays $5,100 a month in rent, which goes up 5 percent a year, to pay back the city’s investment.

Owners of The Edison welcomed dozens of guests in late 2015 to the soon-to-be-opened restaurant on the edge of Cascades Park. Here, Adam Corey talks to guests in the main section of The Edison.

 

The Edison has become a nexus where the political and powerful meet and greet. It's hosted wine tastings and fundraisers, many of them hosted by Corey.

He viewed both 101 and the Edison as ideal venues for dealmaking.

"A lot of deals are made in a restaurant over a meal — having a good time, feeling relaxed," Corey told Influence magazine in a 2015 article headlined Downtown Renaissance.  "When you take an hour and a half you can really have meaningful conversation and really understand what (clients') goals and objectives are."

Corey’s name came up two months ago in Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times reports about George Sheldon, a well-known Florida lobbyist and former state official who until recently headed the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

Sheldon was the subject of a state ethics probe involving his Florida friends, including Corey, who had registered as a lobbyist in Florida for Presidio Networked Solutions six months after Sheldon was appointed DCFS director.

Corey has maintained he had no influence on Presidio getting the Illinois contract.

Sheldon resigned as head of the agency at the end of May.

Most recently, Corey and Lowe, a former Tallahassee police officer, set up meetings between city and county officials and a mysterious group of men led by one "Mike Miller" claiming to be out-of-town developers. Several officials and the city/county planning department have confirmed meeting with the men.

Lowe left Corey’s firm around the same time City Hall was hit with federal subpoenas seeking information about Corey, other developers and their dealings with the city and CRA.

Neither Miller nor his companions have been seen or heard from since. Sources close to persons of interest told the Democrat they believed the men were working undercover for the FBI.

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Governor Rick Scott met in March with business leaders at Danfoss Turbcor to discuss jobs, tourism, and the impacts of Visit Florida and Enterprise Florida. Here he meets local entrepreneur and co-owner of The Edison restaurant Adam Corey who participated in the roundtable.

Alumni and philanthropy

Corey’s first big job after graduating from FSU was as a fundraiser for Seminole Boosters from August 2002 to September 2008.  Seminole Boosters CFO J.P. Sinclair said he was hired after Corey left, and couldn’t speak about Corey’s time there.

The Boosters received $2.38 million in grants from the CRA in May 2012 to help with Phase 1 of College Town. Kittrell’s rooftop Recess nightclub with its signature swimming pool, which opened in 2013, is a tenant.

“We’ve kept an eye on the articles,” Sinclair said Friday. He had nothing further to say and referred any other questions to Seminole Booster President Andy Miller.

Miller said Corey left the Boosters on good terms.

"Adam had no involvement with College Town," Miller said in an email to the Democrat.

During his tenure with Seminole Boosters, Corey was involved with Tampa attorney and former FSU football player Lance Barton in creating Old School, a private club for FSU alumni and fans. 

They bought a 1920s brick house a block south of FSU at 633 W. Pensacola St. for $425,000 in 2006 and turned it into a huge party house with pool, cabanas and a bar.

Corey was listed as a manager through 2008, after which Barton took over.

During this period, Corey began making real estate investments. 

Corey left the Seminole Boosters in 2008 to work for the Fort Lauderdale-based International Oil Company. He came back to Tallahassee and joined the Gunster firm in 2011.

Corey invested in the Crepevine restaurants. He also partnered with two others to renovate the old Four Corners custom frame shop on the corner of North Monroe Street and Sixth Avenue, now home of the Divas and Devils House of Style.

He also got involved in the Old School Open, an invitational golf tournament which began in 2010 and has had former FSU Coach Bobby Bowden as a celebrity guest. Corey helped organize and hosted its fifth-anniversary party at the Edison.

He's supported the March of Dimes, Phi Delta Theta and FSU's Dedman School of Hospitality. Corey is listed in the $250-499,999 bracket in the Raise The Torch for FSU donor honor roll. 

By the time Seminole Boosters got its money from the CRA in 2012, Corey had been at Gunster for a year. 

During those years with Gunster, Corey got involved in the 101 restaurant and Mint Lounge. He also bought and developed real estate in the All Saints District, where he has his office for Unconventional Strategies.

Corey also helped launch the Silverfox Label clothing line with business partner Randall Mills. 

His tenure at Gunster came to an end in 2015, following a controversy surrounding Lila Jaber, a lawyer/lobbyist and shareholder in Gunster's Tallahassee office.

Jaber was appointed as the first chair of the city's newly created ethics board in September 2015. But she failed to disclose her firm's business dealings with the city. Gunster had just completed $10,000 in legal work for the city's electric department.

Jaber stepped down that December, saying she wanted to spend more time with her family and take care of her sister, who was being treated for breast cancer.

Corey's name floated through the right-wing blogosphere and talk show circuit because he sat on the Tallahassee Housing Authority at the same time his firm represented the Coalition of Affordable Housing Providers before the Florida Legislature. He quit the housing authority and left Gunster to start his own lobbying firm.

After he left, Corey told Florida Politics he had "a great time" with Gunster.

"But eventually," he said, "I had a bunch of extracurricular activities outside of the firm that were fun and interesting.”

Contact Schweers at jschweers@tallahassee.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeffschweers.