Florida Supreme Court suspends former Key West city attorney in felony cases

The Florida Supreme Court has suspended former Key West city attorney Ronald Ramsingh as three Monroe County felony cases move forward, putting one of the central figures in the city hall corruption probe under fresh professional discipline.

The Florida Bar said the interim suspension took effect May 11 and will remain in place while the criminal cases are resolved. Ramsingh, who was admitted to The Florida Bar on April 14, 2000, is listed by the Bar as a member in good standing with suspension pending, eligible to practice law in Florida. The Bar also said he is fighting the charges and maintains his innocence.

The suspension comes as Ramsingh faces accusations that reach into the city’s internal operations and record handling. Prosecutors said Ramsingh, then 51, along with Code Compliance Director James Young, 68, and Building Department Director Rajindhar Ramsingh, 56, were indicted and arrested by a Monroe County grand jury on April 15, 2025, after investigators said they tried to obstruct a law enforcement probe by tampering with text messages from June 2024. Prosecutors also accused Ramsingh of unlawfully intercepting a Zoom video interview and later disclosing its contents without authorization.

The Monroe County State Attorney’s Office said the investigation was conducted with the FBI. Local 10 reported Ramsingh’s bond was set at $75,000, while Young and Rajindhar Ramsingh each had bonds of $25,000.

A later grand jury report, released May 29, 2025, described what it called a “pervasive culture of negligence, nepotism, manipulation and abdication of duty at the highest levels of city leadership.” The report said the investigation lasted more than six months and included subpoenas for bank records, phone records and public records from the city of Key West. It also said the original inquiry began as a Sunshine Law investigation before widening into broader corruption allegations.

For Key West, the fallout is not limited to criminal court. Ramsingh was the city’s top legal adviser, so his suspension adds another layer of scrutiny to prior legal work, city decision-making and records practices inside city hall. The grand jury report said Ron Ramsingh was terminated without cause in April 2025, Rajindhar Ramsingh was suspended without pay pending an internal review, and James Young retired days after his arrest. It also said Ron Ramsingh later faced an official-misconduct charge tied to allegations that he interfered with the reporting of a felony committed by his brother, Rajindhar Ramsingh.

The suspension keeps pressure on the criminal cases and on the broader question of how city government in Key West was run, handled, and defended when the allegations first surfaced.