A suspended Florida financial regulator is receiving assistance from a Miami lawyer in pursuing legal action against a prominent Tallahassee lobbyist.

Attorney Michael Tein is representing suspended Office of Financial Regulation Commissioner Ronald Rubin in his lawsuit against Southern Strategy Group consultant Paul Mitchell.

A complaint filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court on Friday accuses the defendant of conspiring with Florida's Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis and others in a coordinated effort to discredit Rubin. The suit alleges the plaintiff earned the group's ire following his father's refusal to donate $1 million to Patronis' political fund and after Rubin declined to hire Kimberly Grippa, the ex-wife of former Leon County Commissioner and Mitchell associate Tony Grippa, as general counsel to the Office of Financial Regulation Commissioner.

Rubin was suspended from his post as the state's chief financial regulator earlier this year after a complaint characterized as a sexual harassment charge was levied against him by a staffer. According to Friday's lawsuit the grievance against Rubin, which the suit stresses ”does not contain a single allegation of sexual harassment,” was exploited by Patronis and Mitchell to oust the plaintiff from his appointed position. The complaint, which features text messages between Rubin and Mitchell, contends the defendant collaborated with Patronis and others “for the purpose of carrying out a pattern of criminal activity for their own benefit,” conspiring to extort and blackmail the plaintiff in the process.

An example listed in the suit likened Rubin's experience with the named parties to a seminal gangster film.

“Increasingly desperate to execute Patronis' program, Mitchell threatened to call Rubin's 84-year-old father, who is in failing health,” the complaint said with accompanying pictures of texts purportedly sent to Rubin by the defendant. “In what could only be compared to a scene from 'The Godfather,' Mitchell texted Rubin that it would be 'unfair to your parents, who are such lovely people, to find out after the news has broken.' Rubin pleaded with Mitchell, 'Please do not contact my father.' ”

The complaint said, “It is Rubin's hope that this lawsuit will shed light on this enterprise's pattern of corruption and abuse of power, for the ultimate benefit of Florida's citizens.”

Read the complaint:

In addition to the lawsuit, Tein also sent letters to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Chief Inspector General Melinda Miguel on Friday requesting that Miguel “assume jurisdiction over the pending investigation of OFR Commissioner Ron Rubin and open an investigation into heavily corroborated evidence of misuse of public office by CFO Jimmy Patronis and his inner circle.” Tein, who is now a partner at the new Tein Malone law firm following his stint with Lewis Tein, declined to provide comment.

DeSantis' communications director Helen Aguirre Ferre said the governor's office had received Tein's letter and is in the process of reviewing it “for action deemed appropriate for this case.” Whitney Ray, the communications director for Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody's office, said the office had yet to receive a formal request for a formal investigation.

In an emailed statement provided to the Daily Business Review, Mitchell said he “won't dignify Mr. Rubin's largely fictional written account with a point-by-point rebuttal.”

“I would simply suggest that he has created a self-serving narrative calculated to distract from the shocking fact that in a state government career that spanned mere weeks, he managed to rack up a series of sexual harassment complaints that, if true, completely disqualify him as a public official,” Mitchell said.

Patronis' communications director Katie Strickland said: “On advice of counsel, we do not comment on pending litigation.”

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