A Deerfield Beach man who has formed political groups for supermodels and Taco Bell customers could face more than $2 million in fines from the Florida Elections Commission after being accused of filing false campaign finance reports.

A state investigation found Josue Larose lied about raising millions of dollars in his failed 2010 Florida gubernatorial bid and collecting tens of millions of dollars for his political action committees.

Larose — dubbed in some media reports as "PAC Man"— has created hundreds upon hundreds of political groups within the last four years, swamping elections officials with unprecedented amounts of paperwork.

Now running for U.S. Senate, Larose is prepared to fight the 2,052 violations of state election laws leveled against him by the commission, court records show. He has requested a hearing before a state administrative law judge. Each count carries up to a $1,000 fine.

Larose alleges employees at the Florida Division of Elections orchestrated the case against him because he refused to give them money, according to court documents.

Attempts by the Sun Sentinel to reach Larose, 30, by phone and email were unsuccessful. Officials with the state Division of Elections and the Florida Elections Commission said they could not discuss Larose's pending case.

The licensed real estate agent has run for a variety of political offices, vying simultaneously in 2010 for governor and seats in the Florida Senate andU.S. House of Representatives. He has called himself a billionaire, economist and lobbyist and a "famous Realtor."

Larose had formed 40 political parties in Florida — including the American Imperialists Political Party—but a state law enacted last year bars anyone from managing more than one party.

State officials allege Larose failed to open separate bank accounts for about 330 political action committees he created and then falsely reported donations to — groups including the "Billionaire Josue Larose's Best Friends Committee" and "Florida Economic Elites Political Committee." He acknowledged in an April interview with a Florida Elections Commission (FEC) investigator that the groups never received any contributions, according to state records.

When it came to his gubernatorial campaign, elections officials became suspicious when among his hundreds of supposed contributors, they saw donors who listed their occupation as "female Catholic priest." Only males can be priests in the Catholic Church.

The Florida Division of Elections subpoenaed Larose's bank records and found that he hadn't opened a separate account for his gubernatorial bid, as required by law. When the FEC investigator confronted him, he admitted he had lied about raising millions of dollars, state records show.

"(Larose) stated he wanted to make it appear as though he had financial activity on the same level as his opponents and stated he 'didn't do it to be a bad thing,'" according to the FEC investigative report. Larose ended up receiving 121 votes for governor in the election that Republican Rick Scott won.

As he fights accusations of violating state election laws, Larose still controls more than 600 PACs or electioneering groups known as "527s" that promote a specific cause or message.

He's formed 446 political fundraising organizations in Broward County alone, including ones for Taco Bell customers, Heineken beer drinkers and "wealthy persons." Outside Larose's groups, there are about 20 political action committees registered with the Broward Supervisor of Elections.

"It takes me hours to do his reports and to do anyone else's is just seconds," said Mary Cooney, public services director for the Broward Supervisor of Elections. "I shudder to think what will happen when we get into the election cycle."

On the federal level, Larose has created 65 Super PACs — political committees that can raise unlimited amounts of money.

It's all perfectly legal to create PACs by the dozens — even hundreds.

Despite the paperwork frenzy, there have been no signs of Larose actively soliciting contributions for the political organizations.

Larose said in a 2009 interview with the Sun Sentinel that he was forming the groups "to give everybody a voice."

jburstein@tribune.com, 954-356-4491 or Twitter @jkburstein.