Starting this past July, attorney Scott Rothstein began a series of deed transfers that, given the allegations about his financial misdeeds, figure to interest his many investors. Broward County records show that on July 22, Rothstein transferred a $1.9 million property on Castilla Isle in Fort Lauderdale from his name to a Delaware limited liability corporation, CI 08. The Broward County Property Appraiser's website shows that he paid $2.73 million for the property in 2005.
A few weeks later, on August 10, Rothstein did the same with another parcel he owned on Castilla Isle, transferring this $2.2 million property into a Delaware corporation called CI 27. That same day he transferred this $1.33 million parcel to CI 07 and this $1.4 million parcel to CI 16. That's nearly $8 million in real estate that figures to grow in value when the economy bounces back -- all controlled by corporations in Delaware, which the Tax Justice Network found to be the world's most notorious tax haven.
Carl Linder, shareholder with Rothstein's firm, has a reputation for helping clients negotiate deals with the federal government
to avoid criminal prosecution for using offshore accounts to evade
taxes. He did not immediately return a message left on his voicemail.
None of the properties listed above are Rothstein's home address -- that's the $5 million home here.
Update: Just found more properties transferred into corporations: This one is across the street from Rothstein's house on Isla Bahia Drive. That's a $1.16 million property he transferred last January. Add this $308,000 property and this $2.2 parcel downtown, which was to be the site of Bova Smoke. And here's one more, an $846,000 property on Broward Boulevard. These four add another $5 million to the properties controlled by Rothstein.
