Miami Judge Milena Abreu Faces Corruption Investigation for Abuse of her Judicial Position
Scandal once again Rocks Florida Judiciary: Hialeah, Florida - Judge Milena Abreu is accused of Misusing Power in Dirty Election Feud with her former judicial opponent.
It appears that in December 2024, a complaint was filed against Judge Milena Abreu, as she now faces a "JQC" or Judicial Qualifying Commission Investigation for Abuse of her Judicial Position – and she’s become known in Miami legal circles as – the Judge with a Grudge.
Shocking revelation that could once again shake the foundations of Miami-Dade County’s judiciary, Judge Milena Abreu, a sitting judge at the Miami-Dade County Hialeah Courthouse, is now facing allegations of a calculated and deliberate abuse of power stretching from her 2018 election campaign through 2023. Sources reveal that a Judicial Qualifications Complaint was filed against Judge Abreu, back in December 2024, stemming from Florida Bar trial, based on a myriad of multi-agency complaints she lodged against her former 2018 judicial opponent.
The complaint alleges that Judge Abreu engaged in a “dangerous misuse of judicial authority” in a clear attempt to sabotage the professional, legal, and judicial career of her former rival, her former 2018 judicial opponent. The complaint further claims that her alleged conduct amounted to a calculated and deliberate pattern of dishonesty, unbridled obsession, and misconduct, including years-long persecution, alleged intimidation, harassment, and threats against her former 2018 judicial opponent.
It is further alleged that from 2018 through 2023, Judge Abreu filed multiple and successive complaints against her former 2018 judicial opponent with various agencies—both during her candidacy and after she assumed the bench. Shockingly, even after her former 2018 judicial opponent, who became a judge in 2020, resigned from the judiciary due to severe and ongoing health struggles with COVID-19, Judge Abreu allegedly continued to file additional complaints against him. Her tactics have been labeled “Lawfare”— or the misuse of legal systems and institutions to damage, delegitimize, discredit, or destroy a political opponent, a page out of Stalin's Marxist play book "Find me the me and I'll find you the crime".
The Judicial Qualifications Complaint claims that Judge Abreu allegedly misused her judicial position to pursue personal grudges, engage in harassment, and demonstrate a troubling lack of impartiality. It further alleges that she engaged in a campaign of alleged intimidation, harassment, and threats against those she perceived as her "enemies."
Judge Milena Abreu faces allegations of Judicial Misconduct and Abuse of Power. These accusations of judicial misconduct claim that Abreu’s behavior not only violates ethical standards but also demonstrates a personal obsession with discrediting her former adversary. Mounting evidence paints a troubling picture of a judge's alleged calculated misdeed and years long obsession with a former rival, that significantly undermines public trust in the fairness of our courts but may also tarnish integrity of Florida’s judiciary.
The controversy traces back to 2018, when Milena Abreu, a public defender and former Florida Bar Grievance Committee member, was a candidate in a Miami-Dade County judicial race. She filed multiple complaints with several agencies against her former electoral opponent. Abreu not only lodged several complaints with the Florida Bar, against her then rival, but also escalated her vendetta by involving the Florida Elections Commission, allegedly hoping to have her former 2018 judicial opponent disqualified from the race altogether. Her bullying tactics didn't work, and although her opponent stayed the race, Milena Abreu was elected as Judge in 2018 and went to work at the Miami- Dade County, Hialeah Court House.
An Ongoing Vendetta even After being elected: Judge Abreu allegedly continued her vendetta, even after becoming a judge, launching multiple grievances, investigation and conducting private inquiries into her former 2018 judicial opponent's personal and professional life from 2004 through 2023. It is claimed that she improperly leveraged her judicial position to access information not readily available to the public and even went so far, without substantiation, to ludicrously accuse her former 2018 judicial opponent of threatening her, a sitting Judge.
Violation of Judicial Ethics: The most concerning incident, however, occurred during the 2023 disciplinary hearings, where Judge Abreu voluntarily appeared as a character witness—an act that violates Florida’s Code of Judicial Conduct. Judges are strictly prohibited from lending the prestige of their office to personal or political battles and from testifying as character witnesses unless subpoenaed.
Court Sources confirmed that that Judge Abreu’s voluntary testimony was not only inappropriate but also a strategic ploy to further her personal vendetta against her former 2018 judicial opponent. According to court transcripts, Abreu repeatedly emphasized her status as the "Associate Administrative Judge for the 11th Judicial Circuit", using her title to imply expertise in both campaign and financial matters, despite having limited to no official experience in either of those areas.
Conflict of Interest and Abuse of Authority: To make matters worse, Abreu allegedly acted as both the sole complainant and the de facto investigator, digging into her former 2018 judicial opponent's finances, properties, family history, and business affairs. Legal experts claim her actions reflected a clear abuse of judicial power, leading to the official complaint now threatening her judicial career and Florida Bar license.
Allegations of Political and Personal Corruption But the scandal doesn’t stop there. Allegations surfaced from trial witnesses regarding Judge Abreu’s alleged romantic ties to former Florida State Representative Gustavo "Gus" Barreiro, who was married at the time and also a candidate for the Miami-Dade Commission. Barreiro made headlines in 2009 after being fired in disgrace from the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) for allegedly watching 382 pornographic images on a government-issued laptop. It is alleged that during the 2018 Abreu judicial race, Barreiro allegedly contacted her former 2018 judicial opponent on Abreu’s behalf, threatening him with imprisonment, arrest, or disbarment unless he withdrew from the race against his alleged paramour. At the Florida Bar trial where Abreu testified, she admitted to knowing Barreiro. Abreu's former 2018 judicial opponent’s legal team argued that Abreu’s allies, including Barreiro and other campaign surrogates, offered bribes and issued threats to force him out of the 2018 and 2020 judicial races.
Although these accusations were struck from the official record (but remain visible in Zoom recordings) by the presiding judge (who also claimed a possible conflict at trial as he claimed his daughter was the personal dog-sitter for the Miami - Florida Bar Prosecuting Attorney and Judge Abreu acolyte Jennifer Falcone"). The accusations in the JQC complaint paint a disturbing picture of a judge and former Florda Bar Grievance Committee member, allegedly willing to exploit her influence and judicial office to protect her political ambitions, while willing to go to any lengths to destroy her opponents or perceived rivals.
Accusations of Influence-Peddling. It is further alleged that Judge Abreu, a former Florida Bar Grievance Committee member, used her connections and influence at the Bar to sway decision-making. According to legal insiders, she allegedly intervened to push for full disbarment against her former judicial rival, despite the Florida Bar previously agreeing to a binding 90-day suspension agreement due to the fact that he had an unblemished 20-year legal career.
Legal Experts Call for Accountability and Action! “Her conduct strikes at the very core of judicial ethics,” said an anonymous legal source. “A judge must act impartially, without malice or bias. What we see here is clear Lawfare—a deliberate and calculated misuse of judicial authority to achieve personal and political goals, undermining public trust in the judiciary.”
If the allegations are proven true, Judge Milena Abreu could face disciplinary action from the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC), and her ability to remain on the bench would be in serious jeopardy. Legal experts argue that her conduct may violate Canon 1 and Canon 2 of the Florida Code of Judicial Conduct, which require judges to uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary and avoid any appearance of impropriety.
The Fallout: A Judiciary already Under Scrutiny for Bias: Legal experts are now pushing for a full investigation and accountability, arguing that the public deserves to know whether these allegations reflect a deeper pattern of judicial overreach and ongoing misconduct. Many in the Miami legal community claim that Judge Milena Abreu’s personal vendetta, obsession and unbridled hate against her former 2018 judicial opponent is well-known and widely viewed as possibly career-ending, unethical, and potentially illegal.
As this case unfolds, Florida’s judiciary faces another crucial test of integrity and accountability.
