Forbes.com contributor Dolia Estevez writes that questions about alleged conflicts of interest surrounding Mexico’s First Lady don’t seem to end.
British daily The Guardian reported Tuesday Aug. 9 that Angelica Rivera, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto’s wife, is using a luxury property in Florida bought by a company that is “expected to bid” for lucrative government contracts.
The paper said that Rivera, a former soap opera star with Mexican television giant Televisa, is “using” the $2 million apartment in Key Biscayne, “with the apparent blessing of Grupo Pierdant, which is a contender to run Mexico’s ports.”
In 2009, Ricardo Pierdant, CEO of Grupo Pierdant, bought unit 404 at Ocean Tower One, 799 Crandon Boulevard, which is located at the the same building where Rivera owns unit 304, The Guardian said.
Pena Nieto, Rivera and their children during Independence Day in Mexico City, 2015. (Rolando Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images)
Pierdant confirmed to Univision on August 9 that he has lent his apartment “several times” to the wife of the President, whom he has known since college. But he denied that he also pays property taxes on Rivera’s 304 unit, as The Guardian alleges.
Rivera is the first First Lady of Mexico – a country where 50% of the population is either poor or extremely poor – known to own luxury property in the U.S., and the first to join the exclusive club of Mexican millionaires with “second homes” in the U.S.
To read the full column click here:
Source: forbes.com
