"They love to be here, and they like to spend their money and enjoy their life," Lana Bell, a Russian real-estate agent, told NewsNation correspondent Brian Entin of her wealthy Russian clientele right before Russia invaded Ukraine.
Bell didn't respond to multiple emails that I sent requesting to meet last week when I was in Sunny Isles. It's the same silence I received from other real-estate agents. One agent I did speak with deflected my question about Russian buyers, saying there weren't any. Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, is keeping its lips sealed on the Russian wealth that lives there.
Originally a place that attracted both tourists and immigrants fleeing communism in the Soviet Union, this pocket of Florida's Miami region saw a luxury-development boom at the turn of the century. Ever since, a number of Russian elites have parked money in the high-rise condos that tower over the ocean. But amid the rising tensions of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, many people don't want to talk about the money that helped fuel the city's economy and its nickname as "Little Moscow."
"They love to be here, and they like to spend their money and enjoy their life," Lana Bell, a Russian real-estate agent, told NewsNation correspondent Brian Entin of her wealthy Russian clientele right before Russia invaded Ukraine.
Bell didn't respond to multiple emails that I sent requesting to meet last week when I was in Sunny Isles. It's the same silence I received from other real-estate agents. One agent I did speak with deflected my question about Russian buyers, saying there weren't any.
Read more at: Talking About Russian Wealth Is 'Bad for Business' in South Florida
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