Rothstein to Face Criminal Charges

joshua — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:00:38 +0000

Scott Rothstein, the Florida attorney whose alleged ponzi scheme has been chronicled here over the last two weeks, will be charged today with criminal racketeering according to a story from the AP. The government has already initiated seizures of his property, including a large and valuable car collection and a New York condo in the same building as the one seized from Marc Drier.

Rothstein is accused of operating a ponzi scheme based on selling shares in structured payouts from fictitious lawsuits. The FBI has estimated the proceeds from the fraud at $1 billion.

New Allegations Against Scott Rothstein

joshua — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:57:02 +0000

New allegations have emerged against Scott Rothstein, the Florida lawyer accused of running a ponzi scheme and dragging his firm down in the process. These new allegations are a little hard to believe, if only because it’s hard to imagine that Rothstein could have possibly expected to get away with it.

The story comes from the Miami Herald. According to the Herald, Rothstein’s friend Ed Morse hired Rothstein to sue an interior decorator for breach of contract. After losing the case, Rothstein is alleged to have told Morse that he won the case and that the interior decorator owed $23 million. To collect on the judgement, Rothstein suggested they seize a Cayman Island’s account belonging to the decorator. The catch is that in order to seize the money, Morse would first have to post a bond for 2.5 times the amount to be seized, or $57 million. In fact, there was no bank account, no court order to seize it, and no bond. Morse handed over the money to Rothstein and appears to have become yet another of his victims.

Here’s hoping Rothstein does the right thing.

JD Journal » rothstein fraud

Rothstein to Face Criminal Charges

New Allegations Against Scott Rothstein