Friends of Ours

Kim Rothstein Charged Over Pretty Baubles

Apparently she's a bit like Gollum from The Lord of the Rings, and she must have the precious.

Kim Rothstein, the wife of convicted Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein, has been charged by federal prosecutors in Fort Lauderdale, FL with "conspiring to hide more than $1 million in jewelry from federal authorities," and "among the items was a 12.08-carat fancy intense yellow diamond ring" as reported by Jon Burstein for the Sun Sentinel. 

Scott Rothstein ran a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme involving his law firm as a front to sell phony legal settlements to investors, and he alleged pervasive public corruption and organized crime in South Florida during deposition testimony last December "arising from the bankruptcy of Rothstein's shuttered law firm, Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler, and various lawsuits filed by investors" as then reported by Jon Burstein for the Sun Sentinel:

"We were involved in public corruption with politicians," said Rothstein in transcripts of his Dec. 14 testimony released early Friday evening. "We were involved in public corruption with law enforcement. We were involved in activities with mob-related individuals. We were involved in activities involving the physical threats of other individuals. We were involved in the public corruption side of purchasing of political positions. We were involved in the manipulation of the judiciary."

Rothstein was sentenced to fifty years in prison but likely will get a reduction based on his cooperation with the FBI in a sting which resulted in the bust of Miami Beach, FL wine merchant Roberto Settineri whom U.S. and Italian authorities suspect is an intermediary between the Gambino crime family and the Santa Maria de Gesu clan from Cosa Nostra or the Sicilian Mafia. Settineri was sentenced in November 2010 to four years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The feds should declare South Florida a racketeering enterprise and put the region under receivership if Scott Rothstein is to be believed.

Poll:  Which area of the U.S. is most corrupt?

Organized Crime Behind Financial Fraud

Confirmed:  criminals are responsible for crime.

A recently released report by the RCMP says organized crime groups are behind financial fraud schemes in Canada as reported by Kathryn Blaze Carlson for the National Post:  "the Montreal mafia has a history of boiler-room schemes and stock market manipulation, while Nigerian organized crime groups in Ontario have been involved in telemarketing and investor fraud."

Meanwhile, a separate study by the federal government "concludes that the Canadian commercial construction sector is at a moderate to high risk of corruption and organized crime" as reported by The Canadian Press:  "a barrage of reports about cost overruns in the construction industy, and its ties to crime groups like the Mafia, has prompted a public inquiry that will soon begin in Quebec."

No surprises here.  Now that the problems have been identified for the umpteenth time how about doing something about it, eh?

Scott Rothstein Exposes South Florida Cesspool

The feds should declare South Florida a racketeering enterprise and put the region under receivership if former Fort Lauderdale attorney Scott Rothstein is to be believed.

Rothstein was convicted of running a 1.2 billion Ponzi scheme which involved using his law firm as a front to sell phony legal settlements to investors, and he alleged pervasive public corruption and organized crime in South Florida during deposition testimony "arising from the bankruptcy of Rothstein's shuttered law firm, Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler, and various lawsuits filed by investors" as reported by Jon Burstein for The Palm Beach Post:

"We were involved in public corruption with politicians," said Rothstein in transcripts of his Dec. 14 testimony released early Friday evening. "We were involved in public corruption with law enforcement. We were involved in activities with mob-related individuals. We were involved in activities involving the physical threats of other individuals. We were involved in the public corruption side of purchasing of political positions. We were involved in the manipulation of the judiciary."

Rothstein alleges he paid more than $1 million to dirty cops, judges and politicians, and that he was able to stave off investigations from local law enforcment by employing off-duty cops to his personal security detail.  Apparently some of the boys in blue from the Fort Lauderdale Police Department and Broward Sheriff's Office were randy fellas who copped freebies from a stable of hookers maintained by Rothstein.

However, the feds won't let Rothstein publicly name names: "a federal prosecutor sitting through the deposition prevented the disbarred attorney from answering the questions," and "that could be an indication that federal authorities believed Rothstein's answers could jeopardize ongoing investigations."

Rothstein was sentenced to fifty years in prison but likely will get a reduction based on his cooperation with the FBI in a sting which resulted in the bust of Miami Beach, FL wine merchant Roberto Settineri whom U.S. and Italian authorities suspect is an intermediary between the Gambino crime family and the Santa Maria de Gesu clan from Cosa Nostra or the Sicilian Mafia. Settineri was sentenced in November 2010 to four years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering.

It's funny but who ever would suspect that a lawyer could be so dirty?  Aren't lawyers officers of the court or something, and doesn't the bar monitor the profession?  Rothstein surely must be an aberration among lawyers.

Ponzi Schemer's Former Employees Charged

Two former employees have been charged for their alleged roles in a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme run by Fort Lauderdale, FL attorney Scott Rothstein which involved using his firm Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler as a front to sell phony legal settlements to investors as reported by Susannah Nesmith for Bloomberg:  "William Boockvor, 66, was charged today with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and helping Rothstein's scheme by preparing false documents purportedly from TD Bank (TC), where Rothstein's firm held about 38 trust accounts," and "Marybeth Feiss, 42, one of Rothstein's administrative assistants, was charged with violating federal election campaign laws and conspiring to defraud the U.S. by helping to bundle more than $1 million in contributions to the presidential campaign of U.S. Senator John McCain."

Rothstein was sentenced to fifty years in prison but likely will get a reduction based on his cooperation with the FBI in a sting which resulted in the bust of Miami Beach, FL wine merchant Roberto Settineri whom U.S. and Italian authorities suspect is an intermediary between the Gambino crime family and the Santa Maria de Gesu clan from Cosa Nostra or the Sicilian Mafia. Settineri was sentenced in November 2010 to four years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering.

It all makes you wonder how many other politically-connected lawyers may have ties to the mob down in South Florida.

Nicholas Cosmo Gets 25 For Ponzi Scheme

Nicholas Cosmo, a 40-year-old private lender from Long Island, NY, was sentenced last week to 25 years in prison after admitting that he ran a Ponzi scheme through Agape World that bilked about 6,500 investors out of nearly $400 million as reported by David Winzelberg for Long Island Business News:  "federal investigators found in early 2009 that Agape World, an investment firm that offered short-term bridge loan contracts with impossibly high rates of interest, was simply paying interest to old investors with new investors' deposits in a classic Ponzi-type scheme."

Cosmo once owed over $100,000 in gambling debts to Genovese mobsters which ultimately were paid by Gambino benefactors according to former wiseguy Michael Durso as reported by Charlie Gasparino for CNBC, and the feds were investigating whether Cosmo "had any silent partners" in his operation as reported by the New York Post.

Cosmo also had been convicted in 1999 for misappropriating funds as a stockbroker for which he served 21 months in prison, and several associates at Agape World to whom Cosmo paid millions were convicted felons.