FL-Sen. 2010: Crist fundraiser accused of fraud (racketeering, Ponzi schemes, Canada, Morocco)

UPI / The Miami Herald ^ | 2009-11-20

[rabscuttle385]

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Nov. 20 (UPI) -- An attorney who was a major fundraiser for Florida Gov. Charlie Crist allegedly conducted an investment scam that cost investors millions, a lawsuit alleges.

A group of investors said in a suit filed against Scott Rothstein that the co-partner of the Rothstein, Rosenfeldt and Adler law firm took part in a scheme that cost the plaintiffs more than $100 million, The Miami Herald reported Friday.

[rabscuttle385]

Suit alleges massive fraud by Scott Rothstein, TD Bank and others
THE MIAMI HERALD, 11/20/2009

The suit accuses Rothstein, 47, and others of fabricating confidential legal settlements to sell to investors, whose money was used to pay off other investors in a "classic Ponzi scheme." But the 147-page complaint, filed by Fort Lauderdale attorney William Scherer, says that Rothstein and those close to him "did not act alone."

(snip)

Scherer, talking with reporters at a mid-day news conference in front of the Broward County Courthouse, said that Rothstein moved $235 million in and out of the TD branch in October alone.

He also said Rothstein took $16 million to Morocco in late October, when he appeared to be fleeing the country. Rothstein returned in early November to face federal investigators, though he has not been charged by the U.S. attorney's office.

(PHOTO FROM THE PALM BEACH POST)

[word_warrior_bob]

http://www.marcorubio.com/

Donate to Rubio, send Charlie Crist back in the closet, with his lingerie.

[Frantzie]

The chartered jet Rothstein fled in was owned by the ex-husband of Charlie Crist’s wife. The bloggers on these stories are saying the FL GOP is going to deep six Charlie.

Kendrick Meek for the Dems is a nightmare but this scandal may be so bad that Meek could win. The FL GOP better start having a talk with Charlie soon. RINO/DIABLO Crist is toast.

[Frantzie]

Mel (aka Tony Montana) Martinez. Say hello to the bad guy.

Two of the most bizarre disappearing acts in politics is Martinez and Wexler. One day they just decide to quit. Hmmmm...

[numberonepal]

The Rubio campaign needs more polish. I sent an inquiry from the site (which by the way has NO page for volunteers) about offering my time and expertise to the campaign THREE weeks ago. I had not heard back from them until this evening. Here's the message:

Dear Supporter,

Thank you for contacting the Marco Rubio for U.S. Senate campaign. We apologize for our delay in responding as we had some technical issues that have now been resolved. In the next few weeks you will be receiving an e-mail addressing your questions and concerns.

If your inquiry is of a time urgent nature please resend us a message with your questions and/or pertinent information.

Thank you,

Team Rubio

This email was broadcast to about 100 recipients in the "To" field. This is a big mistake because now all those folks have the personal email addresses of many others. This campaign needs to get its act together - fast.

[SunkenCiv]

An attorney who was a major fundraiser for Florida Gov. Charlie Crist allegedly conducted an investment scam that cost investors millions, a lawsuit alleges.

Amateur.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

You realize the race isn't really underway yet, right?
Better that these types of mistakes happen now than later.

[happinesswithoutpeace]

Wow...just...wow.

[Liz]

Two of the most bizarre disappearing acts in politics : Mel Martinez (onetime RNC chief) and Dem Cong Wexler. One day they just decide to quit. Hmmmm......

N-i-c-e take. You got that right. More here than meets the eye.

Wexler announces he is quitting Congress to head The Middle East Peace Center------yet another Middle East Slush Fund---setup as a tax-exempt "foundation." Just filling the money laundering vacuum where Madoff left off (/snic).

NEED TO KNOW Did then-Cong Wexler vote for (or did he earmark) budget appropriations for The Middle East Peace Center--that included a hefty salary, expense account, travel allowance, and other perks, for himself?

==================================================

BACKSTORY Wexler lived with his family in Maryland and calculatedly used his in-laws’ Palm Beach address to establish Florida residency — in overwhelmingly Democratic Palm Beach. Wexler was elected in 1996 and has NEVER faced a serious challenge. Wexler won a seventh term with 66.2 percent of the vote.

(Sob) I just hope Wexler's wealthy Palm Beach district is not the same wealthy Palm Beach affinity crowd that got wiped out "investing" with Madoff (/sniffle).

Wexler's new job at The Middle East (gag) Peace Center involves Big Bucks US tax dollars. Wexler's job will consist of negotiating a multi-billion dollar price tag on the inevitable photo-ops of Peace Pals---Obambi and Bimbiyahoo (in $3500 Armani suits)---shaking hands in the Rose Garden (yawn).

The bilking of the US Treasury continues. An accounting of the Wexler-types getting wealthy off these peace scams is in order. Most Americans believe these people should be prosecuted for daring to utter "peace" and "Mideast" in the same sentence.

[Joe Boucher]

HEY,
J.Edgar Hoover wore ladies lingerie and he was a great American.
Course charlie crist is simply a closet fag.

[Liz]

Scott Rothstein is a guy who had tons of extravagant toys and is a small scale Madoff-like clone operating in South Florida. A lead name partner in a Fort Lauderdale law firm (Rothstein, Rosenfeldt Adler) of about 70 attorneys - he was making his money, not from law, but from the purported sale of structured settlements to investors for a quick 80% return in 12-18 months. Rothstein suckered in very very big rollers - no widows, orphans or otherwise pathetic victims here. Only wealthy chumps.

Trouble was, Rothstein was fabricating the documents that supposedly memorialized the structured settlements - and then soliciting investors to buy the (supposed) stream of payments in the (supposed) settlement for a discounted up-front purchase price.

Federal agents search lawyer Rothstein's estate, seize Ferrari
By Jon Burstein and The Miami Herald, South Florida Sun Sentinel

FBI agents watch over a 2006 Ferrari Spider convertible, owned by Scott Rothstein, with tan interior worth approximately $150,000 as it is being readied for towing Monday morning in Fort Lauderdale.

FORT LAUDERDALE — Federal agents this morning are searching the home of Fort Lauderdale lawyer Scott Rothstein, who returned from a trip to Morocco last week to face a federal fraud investigation. FBI and IRS agents are at the $6.45 million estate located inside an exclusive gated community. FBI agents walked out with what appeared to be two large firearms, one that was under a suit jacket and the other in a white, plastic garbage bag. Shortly before 10 a.m., two FBI agents and two truck drivers were spotted in downtown Fort Lauderdale seizing Rothstein's fire engine red 2006 Ferrari Spider convertible, The Miami Herald reports.

In a brief interview with the Herald, Rothstein said Sunday he was in good spirits. ``I am sitting here smoking cigars with Marc,' Rothstein said, referring to his attorney Marc Nurik. ``Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. I'm doing pretty good.'

Rothstein, 47, has been accused by investors in an alleged Ponzi scheme of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars and by his law partners of crippling their firm, Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler. Federal authorities began questioning Rothstein upon his return from Morocco on Tuesday and based their search warrant to raid the law firm Wednesday in part on what he and his defense lawyer had told them, according to sources familiar with the probe. Nurik, however, said news accounts stating that authorities were talking with Rothstein are false, despite last week's repeated meetings and telephone calls involving Rothstein, his lawyer, FBI agents, IRS agents and federal prosecutors, as reported by sources familiar with the probe.

On Friday, Broward Circuit Judge Jeffrey Streitfeld gave Toronto Dominion Bank, where Rothstein kept dozens of his investors' accounts, until noon today to turn over financial records related to him and his law firm. Streitfeld will hold a hearing one hour later with the receiver, retired Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Herbert Stettin.

Attorney Bill Scherer said he would file a motion today to intervene on behalf of investors who claim Rothstein bilked them of at least $98 million by selling them fabricated employment-discrimination settlements and then stealing their money. Those investors will assert they are creditors and should be allowed to block Rothstein's law firm from collecting any recovered money, including its donations to charities and political candidates. ``I want it to be held to give us a chance to prove it's our money,' Scherer said. Scherer said he would also file a lawsuit today against Rothstein for fraudulent transfers concerning real estate and other businesses that he set up as Delaware corporations. He will also file claims for Rothstein's cars, homes ``and anything we can get our hands on.'

Rothstein and some of his law associates created at least 30 shell corporations, in Florida and Delaware, and used some of them to move assets, court records show. On Aug. 10, for example, Rothstein transferred his four Castilla Isle properties to four separate companies based in Delaware, though the companies shared the Fort Lauderdale address of his law firm, 401 E. Las Olas Blvd. The same day, three other properties were transferred from Florida-based companies to Delaware companies — all with the firm's address.

Delaware is known as a state with business-friendly laws that help companies shield assets from creditors and conceal the identities of corporate officers. Federal investigators are scrutinizing Rothstein's sale of legal settlements at a discount through a tool known as ``structured settlements.'

Rothstein is accused of asking investors to front reduced payouts to plaintiffs and then collect the difference from the full payout later. Authorities suspect the lawsuits were fiction, and investors are preparing to sue him.

The life of the high-profile lawyer who donated lavishly to charitable causes and politicians, including Gov. Charlie Crist, began to unravel in late October, when investors did not receive expected payouts and contacted federal officials. But for months the IRS had already been looking at Rothstein's investment empire, including offshore bank accounts, sources familiar with the case said. By then, Rothstein had taken off for Morocco, only to cut short his trip to face the federal investigation.

The prosecutors poring over the Rothstein evidence are Lawrence D. LaVecchio, Paul F. Schwartz and Jeffrey N. Kaplan. They have decades of experience investigating public corruption, white-collar fraud and organized crime. They are preparing a massive fraud case against Rothstein, zeroing in on his settlement investments, sources said. But they are also examining allegations of theft from his law firm and client trust accounts. Others said to be under scrutiny, according to sources familiar with the case: Rothstein's legal adviser, David Boden; and his uncle, Bill Brock, who traveled with Rothstein to Morocco. They did not return calls seeking comment.

Last week, Streitfeld removed Rothstein as CEO of his law firm, which is now attempting to pick up the pieces. Miami Herald staff writers Amy Sherman, Jay Weaver and Scott Hiaasen contributed to this report. SOURCE http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/state/federal-agents-search-lawyer-rothstein-s-estate-seize-46691.html?

[numberonepal]

You realize the race isn't really underway yet, right?
Better that these types of mistakes happen now than later.

The race is indeed really underway. It may not be official, but the race is on. And, yes, it is better to make these mistakes now rather than later.

[Landru]

*Wexler*...isn't this the porker Rush once dubbed, "The Waddler" due to his enormous girth & quad-chin??? LOL

One way or the other we're going to get rid of these career politicians starting with our very own RINOs. Crist is as good as any for a start, too.

Ahhhhhh, Liz?
I'll take the Ferrari, 'k?
Will bring it to pick you up for dinner.
Deep seating y'know, wear pants. LOL

[maggief]

(no link)

Rahm Emanuel: From Clinton aide to money maker - He made friends and then a fortune
Chicago Tribune - Sunday, November 9, 2003
Author: Mike Dorning, Washington Bureau.

EXCERPT

Emanuel owes his investment banking job to Bruce Wasserstein, a high-rolling Wall Street dealmaker who was one of Clinton's most active fundraisers in the financial community.

Emanuel's two biggest deals involved politically connected utilities: one representing Commonwealth Edison's corporate parent in a merger and the other representing a buyer in the purchase of a home security business from telecom giant SBC Communications. Shortly afterward, SBC hired as its president William Daley, the commerce secretary of the former Clinton administration and the brother of Chicago's mayor.

He gained other commissions by pitching such major Democratic donors as S. Daniel Abraham , the press-shy billionaire and former owner of Slim-Fast, and Bernard Schwartz, a defense industrialist who was a central figure in a scandal over the export of missile technology to China. Taken together with their wives, the two men were the party's largest individual donors in the last presidential election, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan research group.

//

http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2008/521/621/2008-521621126-0504f36d-F.pdf

[stephenjohnbanker]

Why would you want that POS Ferarri? Your new Vette is 4 times the car.Years ago, a friend lent me his 328 GTS for the weekend. I put all of 40 miles on it. Couldn’t wait to return it ;-)

[Liz]

"I'll pick you up for dinner in the 2006 Ferrari Spider convertible."

Mmmmmm.....I dunno. Can you trade it up for a Testarossa?"

[Liz]

If the truth be told-—my fave car is my sister’s white Jaguar two-seater convertible sports car (with all leather champagne beige interior).

Not too many of them around—a collector’s car.

[Liz]

*Wexler*...isn't this the porker Rush once dubbed, "The Waddler" due to his enormous girth & quad-chin???

That was Jerry Nadler. Al D'Amato lost his Senate seat for calling Nadler "The Waddler."

D'Amato's Jewish constituemts who D'Amato sucked up to for years, did not like that---and threw him out of office.

Supposedly Nadler had bariatric weight reduction surgery---but I just saw him recently---he didn't look any thinnner.

[stephenjohnbanker]

I had a 2003 Jag XJ8, light blue metallic with biscuit leather. I loved that car! The newer ones(after 2004) are ugleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!

[stephenjohnbanker]

Nadler was convicted several years ago of 5 counts Felony Buffet.