Mutual Benefits Con Man Joel Steinger Spent a Lifetime Getting Mobbed Up

Malnik's comings and goings — including his high-profile 1995 wedding and his 70th birthday party in 2003 — have been documented in local newspapers. At the latter private affair at the Forge, Malnik sat at the head table with pop icon Michael Jackson, whom he counts as a friend and business associate. Another table was reserved for Arab sheiks with whom Malnik has long conducted business.

Also hobnobbing at the birthday bash was Malnik's good friend Joel Steinger, whom he has known for many years.

The strong association between Malnik and Steinger is undeniable, but its nature is mysterious. Malnik, for instance, popped up in the state criminal investigation of Mutual Benefits. Investigators seized Steinger's address book and found phone calls from Malnik dating to at least 2002.

Another obvious connection between the two men is Miami attorney David Goldstein. Goldstein is one of Malnik's right-hand men, serving as the registered agent for many of his businesses. Goldstein does the same for Steinger and last year loaned him $602,000, according to county records. The reason for the loan isn't clear.

Speculation runs rampant as to what, if any, role Malnik may play in Steinger's business affairs, especially since millions of dollars are still unaccounted for in the Mutual Benefits swindle. Malnik himself, when reached on his cell phone, declined to comment on the relationship.

Malnik indirectly has played a role in keeping Steinger out of prison. Sources say it was Malnik who introduced him to former Watergate prosecutor Richard Ben-Veniste, a close friend of President Bill Clinton's who also recently served on the 9/11 Commission.

It was the start of a special friendship between the con man and one of America's best-known lawyers.

Steinger's cousin, Marlene, says the person who really made the con man's long run possible was the man she calls his "Godfather," Richard Ben-Veniste.

Michael Rosen echoes that sentiment, saying that Ben-Veniste served as one of his lawyers in Steinger's Crown Colony criminal case and has been at his side ever since, including the defense of the billion-dollar Mutual Benefits case.

In the file of the years-long investigation of Mutual Benefits conducted by Florida's Office of Statewide Prosecution, officials marked a folder simply "Richard Ben-Veniste." In it are letters Ben-Veniste wrote on Steinger's behalf and records of meetings he had with investigators.

Sources say Steinger has paid Ben-Veniste handsomely for his services over the years, many millions of dollars. As part of his payment for work in Mutual Benefits, he bought Ben-Veniste a new Mercedes convertible, according to court records.

But the pair have more than just a professional relationship; they are close friends.

Rosen remembers that when Ben-Veniste would come to town, he and his stepdad would stay out all hours, partying it up. Their favorite hangout, say sources, was the Lago Mar Resort in Fort Lauderdale. "Ben-Veniste would come to Joel when he wanted to cut loose," Rosen says. "Ben-Veniste is the lowest of the low. You have no idea... and here he is representing us on the 9/11 Commission? It's unbelievable."

Marlene says Steinger even served as best man at Ben-Veniste's wedding. In 2000, Ben-Veniste returned the favor. The Washington, D.C., lawyer was Steinger's best man at his wedding to his third wife, Diana Morrison, held at the Four Seasons in Palm Beach.

Malnik also attended the 2000 wedding and sat at a table with Ben-Veniste, according to a witness.

Marlene says Steinger was boastful about his relationship with Ben-Veniste.

"When he went to Ben-Veniste's wedding as the best man, he was almost uncontrollable," says the 66-year-old Marlene, who lives in Lighthouse Point. "He said to me, 'I can't believe he asked me to be the best man at his wedding. Do you know how important he is?' "

A clue to the answer: Ben-Veniste had been a regular visitor to Clinton's White House and had watched the previous year's Super Bowl at Camp David with the president and a few other close friends. Ben-Veniste, after all, was one of Clinton's great defenders when he served as the Democratic side's chief counsel for the Senate Whitewater Committee.

In the Crown Colony case, Steinger was sentenced to two years of prison and five years of probation, banned from dealing in securities for eight years, and fined an unspecified amount. But Rosen and other sources say Steinger escaped prison time and instead stayed nights for a time in a halfway house at the Salvation Army on Broward Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale.

Rosen and other sources say he boasted about bribing the Salvation Army clerk to so he could get out early.

"He was very proud about that," says Rosen, who was about 10 at the time. "He would come home early all the time with a bag full of donuts."

While Steinger was on probation, he wasn't allowed to travel out of South Florida. The problem was that one of Steinger's greatest passions was horseracing, and he owned thoroughbreds in Ocala that he wanted to see. Rosen says that when he got his learner's permit at 15, Steinger made him drive him to Ocala on weekends.

"He would make me drive in the right-hand lane very slow, at or below the speed limit, so we wouldn't get pulled over," he says. "That's how I learned to drive."