Bonnie, of course, has claimed to have lost $500,000 in an investment with Rothstein, and her son, Andrew Barnett, worked for Rothstein promoting the investment scheme. He was reportedly supposed to be paid $400,000 by Rothstein on the Friday before the plane trip to Morocco. Needless to say, he never got that money. And now he's named as a defendant in Bill Scherer's lawsuit.
-- UPDATED: Speaking of Scherer, he added George "The Whale" Levin, the Banyon Income Fund, Banyan rep Michael Szafranski, Szafranski's firm Onyx Options Consultants, and accountant Berenfeld Spritzer Schecter Sheer LLP as defendants in his lawsuit today. Can somebody say "scorched earth"?
-- Some of the stuff I'm hearing lately is mind-blowing, but it's just not ripe yet. This thing is going to get a lot darker and uglier before it's said and done (and yes, organized crime appears to be involved).
But in the meantime, I spoke to Muhammed "Moe" Sohail today for a brief minute. I had to ask him if he had read the now-infamous "goodfella" comment in which someone very much resembling Rothstein went off on Sohail and claimed he would be sent back to his native Pakistan, among other choice words. Sohail told me, "People should have the balls to
put their name on what they write. I'm sure it was written by Scott Rothstein. I don't think it could be from anybody else."
That's a pretty solid endorsement of authenticity by a main player in this drama. If it's not from Rothstein, it's from somebody very close to him. It's got all the tell-tale signs. Here are the pertinent contents of the email regarding Sohail (the Morse stuff, well, that's for another day entirely):
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so you think you're funny moe. sure....keep talking....keep laughing you pakistani prick. curse rothstein for taking advantage of people....fine. condemn him for hurting innocent (well sort of innocent) people. but who the fuck do you think you are lying about him and the way he took care of you. everyone around you knows rothstein was always there for you. no matter what he stuck by you. when your buddy ovi the ass turned on you, rothstein was there. when leg breakers were looking for you, rothstein calmed it down so you did not get hurt. when you were low on cash rothstein always took care of you. when you were gambling away all your laundered cash and they came looking for your skinny faggot ass rothstein stopped them. when your girlfriend should have been arrested for dui when she smashed your bentley rothstein came running to your rescue and saved you and her. when the feds were looking up your ass with a microscope he handled it. when bso was looking at you he handled it. i could go on and on. just as anyone could who witnessed the way rothstein took care of you. and now you turn on him. not smart you douchebag. go get your girlfriend some more coke and weed and have a party. its gonna be one of your last in this country you scumbag. rothstein is a fucking criminal. no doubt about it. condemn him for what he really did. dont make shit up to make yourself look like some solid citizen. we all know your story. butch up motherfucker. and tell your friend morse we know about him as well and how rothstein protected him no matter what bullshit morse pulled.... hey moe....better start looking for a new country.
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-- I just got off the phone with attorney Jeff Sonn, who told me that he had just hired a new client related to the Rothstein debacle. This isn't one of his standard stupid-rich victims, it's a guy who sold a house and had his portion of the proceeds -- $137,000 -- sitting in escrow. Former RRA attorney Lee Watson handled the transaction, said Sonn, and did nothing wrong. The money was simply sitting in a Gibraltar trust account that was raided by Rothstein during his October breakout. "He doesn't have a place to stay, has been living with friends, and on top of that is suffering from cancer," Sonn told me. "I've brought this to the attention of Herb Stettin and we're going to work quickly to see if we can trace this to a particular Gibraltar account."
Waiting for an interview.
-- And I'll leave this post with what I'm told is the new logo for the Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler firm. Enjoy.
