Alan Mendelsohn

Mandy Dawson Gets Six Months for Tax Evasion

Though former Fort Lauderdale legislator Mandy Dawson said in April that "no different than any other person walking the streets of America" with tax problems, she's certainly different from people walking the streets now: She'll be locked up.Dawson was sentenced to six months in prison today a ... More >>

Mandy Dawson to Plead Guilty to Tax Evasion as Soon as She Figures Out How Much She Evaded

​Former Fort Lauderdale state Sen. Mandy Dawson will plead guilty to two counts of tax evasion and three counts of failure to file a tax return, according to documents filed yesterday in federal court. She faces up to 13 years in prison.Dawson was indicted last year after authorities say she faile ... More >>

Mandy Dawson Arrested Again -- for a Little More Than Prescription Pill Fraud This Time

chinalawandpolicy.com​Remember that $87,000 former State Sen. Mandy Dawson allegedly received from ophthalmologist-turned-felon Alan Mendelsohn between 2003 and 2006? That investigation finally landed her a trip to jail yesterday.Dawson was hit with federal tax-evasion charges yesterday in her fir ... More >>

The Friends of Alan Mendelsohn

Alan Mendelsohn​Alan Mendelsohn -- the convicted government scam artist as well as a former Hollywood ophthalmologist, GOP fundraiser, lobbyist, and adviser to former Gov. Charlie Crist -- has a lot of friends.Mendelsohn was sentenced to four years in prisons after he pleaded guilty to a conspirac ... More >>

Alan Mendelsohn, Political Adviser and Government Scammer, to Be Sentenced Today

Alan Mendelsohn​Alan Mendelsohn -- the Hollywood ophthalmologist, GOP fundraiser, lobbyist, and adviser to former Gov. Charlie Crist -- will be sentenced in federal court today after pleading guilty to a conspiracy charge in December.Mendelsohn's conspiracy charge specifically claimed scheming to ... More >>

Alan Mendelsohn Sentenced to Four Years in the Slammer

Alan Mendelsohn​It turns out government scammer Alan Mendelsohn's hopes of being sentenced to home confinement, probation, and community service were a little optimistic -- he was sentenced today to four years in prison.U.S. District Judge William Zloch handed down the sentence this afternoon to t ... More >>

Mendelsohn Talking To State; Klenet And Ritter Remain Under Criminal Investigation

When convicted political operative Alan Mendelsohn was recently debriefed regarding his knowledge of corruption in Florida, it wasn't just federal officials at the table, according to multiple sources. Still on the hot seat​State prosecutors working under Michael S ... More >>

Exclusive: Feds Eyeing Lobbyist Ron Book, Fort Lauderdale Housing Authority

In Broward and Tallahassee politics, influence peddling comes in countless forms. Here's one currently under investigation by the federal government: A powerful lobbyist, seeking to curry favor with a state senator and benefit a major client, helps to secure the senator's boyfriend a job at th ... More >>

Political Money Man Mendelsohn's Sentencing Pushed Back

Wild art: The first edition of the official Tea Party mag. ​Hollywood lobbyist and political fundraiser Alan Mendelsohn won't be sentenced on his federal conspiracy conviction next week after all. The sentencing has been pushed back to April 28, according to court records. Sounds mundane ... More >>

He Still Has His Yacht, Right?

Lobbyist Russ Klenet better hope things are going well in D.C., because the situation on the home front has deteriorated rapidly. The yacht, "Symphony," owned by Klenet and Ginsburg​Last night, the Sunrise Commission voted him right out of his $60,000-ish contract with  ... More >>

Russ Klenet Is a Former Tax Deadbeat

​Sources have been telling me for the past 18 months that the IRS is going to be the agency that brings down lobbyist Russ Klenet, husband of Broward County Commissioner Stacy Ritter. Klenet​Yesterday we got the first official whiff of it when eye doctor and felonious ... More >>

Mendelsohn Singles Out Klenet During Guilty Plea

The illicit payments made to former legislator Mandy Dawson had been widely reported, but it is interesting that seedy lobbyist and political fundraiser Alan Mendelsohn, an eye doctor by trade, singled out Russell Klenet in federal court today. When Mendelsohn pleaded guilty to a fed ... More >>

Broward Dems Say Change Is Coming

Let's start with some fun. Last night's Heat game against the New Jersey Nets provided a real glimpse of the kind of high-flying show this team is going to be. Dunks galore. But none was better than the one above. While the Nets watch helplessly, the towel boy can't repress his ... More >>

Marco Rubio Has Risen With Lightning Speed, but Conservatives Alone Can't Carry Him to the White House

Morning Juice: Spirit Pilots Have a Deal; Final Arrest in Shootout With Boca Police

​Here's what's happening in South Florida this Thursday morning:On the jailhouse phone, 15-year-old Wayne Treacy talks to his parents about living in Key West after serving time for nearly beating to death Josie Lou Ratley at a Deerfield Beach school bus stop in March. [Sun-Sentinel]Hollywood eye ... More >>

All Eyes on Obama-Crist Greeting; Hands Above the Waist, Gentlemen!

Flickr: pauldfullerObama and Crist: a political Romeo and Juliet​Let's be real. Charlie Crist isn't trailing in the Senate race because he's a weak leader who surrounds himself with a coterie of crooked businessmen and conflicted advisers. No, those would be legitimate reasons. Rather, he's traili ... More >>

The Most Offensive People of 2009: Scott Rothstein, Dalia Dippolito, and Jimmy Buffett

Florida's Leading Republicans Offer Deafening Silence on Ethics Reform

FlickrCrist: I'll pass this political football, thank you.​Three of the state's most influential Republicans have "talked the talk" on ethics reform in Florida, but yesterday we asked them to "walk the walk." Make a public statement backing the effort by the Florida Commission on Ethics to free it ... More >>

Morning Juice: Wimberly Guilty; Seminoles Making Bank as They Wait for State Compact

​A few morsels of South Florida news, while you enjoy your breakfast:Is that Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Frank Adderly, standing with Scott Rothstein on Broward Boulevard, at the scene of an August car crash that involved former Rothstein friend Moe Sohail's car? [JAABlog] And if so, is this what ... More >>

For Next 10 Months, Rubio-Crist Will Be a National Story; Will Broward Scandals Play Role?

Flickr: CenFlaPoliticsRubio​It would have been a more fortuitous sign for Marco Rubio if Doug Hoffman hadn't lost his congressional race in upstate New York, but the fact that a Conservative Party candidate won 45 percent of the vote has Rubio more hopeful than ever. The same can be said for the r ... More >>

Morning Juice: Adventures in Bad Parenting

Time to get your Monday on. But first, a look back on what made news this past weekend.​Tamarac mayoral candidate Ed Portner gave a short interview to WPLG about why he went over to his daughter Stacy Ritter's home with a gun last week: "I wanted to scare the crap out of her." Mission accomplished ... More >>

Morning Juice: Dolphins Make the Bills Pay; Local Family Makes the Doctors Pay

​It's Monday. Here's the news from the weekend in Broward and Palm Beach. Big win for the Dolphins, who desperately needed a boost of confidence after an 0-3 start and Pennington's season-ending injury. Vontae Davis returned an interception for a touchdown, setting the tone for the defense's best ... More >>

Morning Juice: Senator Sidesteps Corruption Probe; Triple Murder in Lake Worth

​On what's unofficially the last week of summer, here's what's in the news:Florida's U.S. senator designate, George LeMieux, did not fall for an effort by Alan Mendelsohn, the Hollywood ophthalmologist and Charlie Crist fundraiser, to lure the administration into admitting complicity in the Mutual ... More >>

Joel Steinger and Mutual Benefits Corp. Stole a Billion Dollars by Peddling Bogus Life Insurance Policies

Broward County’s first man admits deep ties to Mutual Benefits

Con Man's Lobbying Dream Team Included Will McKinley

With his fraudulent viatical company Mutual Benefits coming under fire from state regulators, convicted felon Joel Steinger decided he needed to buy the influence of the state legislature. To do that he first purchased the people who had their ears -- the lobbyists. McKinley: A Man For Sale ... More >>

Sun-Sentinel Insults Joel Steinger

In the lead story on this morning's local section, the Sun-Sentinel took off its little white glove and slapped Mutual Benefits' mastermind in the face with it. The newspaper reports that the Ponzi scheme called Mutual Benefits poured $1.4 million into political coffers to help keep state ... More >>

Charlie Crist Adviser Mendelsohn Tied to Ponzi Scheme

   Hollywood ophthalmologist Alan Mendelsohn is one of Charlie Crist's closest political allies, a leader on the governor's transition team who helped raise Crist and other Republicans huge amounts of cash for their campaigns during the past decade. Mendelsohn may ... More >>