Next week begins what will surely be an entertaining show: the trial of the irascible and always controversial former Miramar Commissioner Fitzroy Salesman on bribery charges. There promises to be excellent sound — in the form of recorded wiretaps — and videotape taken by FBI agents. Throw in possible inclusion…
It’s not official yet, but Broward political veteran and erstwhile radio host Beverly Kennedy, the wife of a former Broward County commissioner, tells me she’s going to step into the ring to challenge Broward County Mayor Ken Keechl. “We need a change from the Stacy Ritters, Ken Keechls, and Ilene Liebermans,”…
When Gibraltar Bank had concerns about $15 million in suspicious wire transfers made to the Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler law firm back in July 2008, Scott Rothstein must have wondered if his burgeoning Ponzi scheme was about to be discovered. No problem. He just sent a chummy email to his accountant, Gary Berkowitz, of the firm…
A key witness in the well-publicized civil suit aimed at Larry Seidlin is a courthouse attorney who once worked closely with the former Broward County Circuit Court judge. And the witness could provide more embarrassment and shame for Seidlin than Seidlin caused Broward County while presiding over the nationally televised Anna Nicole…
Add another member to Scott Rothstein’s unofficial Moroccan club — Cafe Iguana owner and longtime Rothstein associate Stephen Caputi. Caputi joins Rothstein’s “uncle,” a former bodyguard, and a Moroccan-born guide to the list of those who traveled to Morocco during Rothstein’s weeklong stay after he fled to the country when his $1.2 billion…
Well, as reported elsewhere, Scott Rothstein is gone from the St. Lucie County Jail. I doubt we’ll ever know where he is again, including whenever he’s released from prison at the end of his sentence. In other Rothstein news, Sun-Sentinel reporter Peter Franceschina attended the Marc Nurik deposition and found that…
Ever since it became public yesterday (on this blog) that Scott Rothstein had cooperated with the feds in a case that caught reputed Sicilian Mafiosi Roberto Settineri, the question has hung in the air of those closest to the Ponzi schemer: Are we safe? Rothstein’s wife, Kim, and relatives, including…
Let’s put this Mafia thing in perspective. First, it appears that Scott Rothstein was able to nab someone believed to be international Mafia figure Roberto Settineri, who is pictured at right in what appears to be a surveillance photo. With that gut and cigar jutting from his mouth, he looks like he…
After returning from Morocco and before he was locked up on federal charges, Ponzi schemer and disbarred lawyer Scott Rothstein cooperated with federal agents to help build an international Mafia case. The case involves a security company that Rothstein hired at the Versace mansion after he took over management of the famed Miami Beach property last year,…
Tobin comes across in the column as an off-the-handle loon, but make no mistake, this isn’t about anti-Semitic idiots who post on blogs (we know better than anyone about that kind of thing). It’s about trying to shut down JAABlog because it has helped to expose a lot of judicial…
This is not the best shot he took at the parade, just the most locally pertinent, since we have both Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Frank Adderley and Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti (who looks like he’s wearing old-peoples’ sunglasses). After the jump, we have the governor, Broward County Mayor Ken Keechl,…
After he tearfully pleaded guilty to money laundering and tax crimes, former Broward County Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion called into the Joyce Kaufman show on WFTL 850-AM. Let me say that I never thought I’d see the day that Eggelletion would plead guilty, much less do so with tears and an apology…
Everybody knew it was going to be a lawyers’ bonanza, this Rothstein thing, and now it’s confirmed. I was sent this standard letter to creditors (that particular one went to named creditor Miami metal sculptor Omar Ali) in the Rothstein bankruptcy detailing how much “interim compensation” the lawyers and accountants in the RRA…
If you read the headlines about the major Mafia case that broke in Miami yesterday, you might have wondered if fallen Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein had any connections to the mobsters charged. Maloman Photographers Rothstein with Gov. Crist and Kim at the Versace mansion at a white party held for…
A Daily Business Review reporter sat in on a deposition Tuesday for Szafranski — who served as the “independent verifier” for Scott Rothstein’s bogus Ponzi settlement deals — and reported that Szafranski uttered “‘Fifth Amendment’ hundreds of times” to bankruptcy attorney Theresa Van Vliet’s questions. At the same time he…
OK, sources say Debra Villegas has another day of relative freedom today. Still expected this week. In lieu of action in the case, I’m going to throw out some tidbits. UPDATED: Sentinel reporting that bankruptcy lawyers filed a clawback suit on Kim Rothstein seeking $1.1 million back from her, including charges…
A key witness in the Larry Seidlin civil suit is a courthouse attorney who once worked closely with the judge. I spoke with the attorney today on the condition I wouldn’t name him or her and got an earful. The attorney told me that Seidlin often spoke about Barbara Kasler, the elderly widow in…
I’m hearing that something is going down in the Scott Rothstein case very soon. Might be as simple as the formal charging of Debra Villegas, might be more. In the meantime, I’m going to play the role of aggregator, which means I’m going to let other people do my work. First, let’s go…
Criminally charged politician Fitzroy Salesman’s attorney is fighting his case in the Sun-Sentinel, claiming the FBI used a thuggish gang member as an informant and a shadowy Irishman as a confidential source and that federal agents “sought out” black elected officials to target. The problem for defense lawyer Jamie Benjamin is that Salesman took the…
First, I want to bring to your attention a man who sources say was a major player in bringing big money from New York into Scott Rothstein’s Ponzi: Ari Glass. Glass is president of Platinum Management, a hedge fund that reportedly loaned George Levin’s fund, Banyon, some $50 million for the scheme. I’ve already examined Platinum’s…
Next week, Scott Rothstein’s former political czar, veteran Republican operative Roger Stone, will be deposed in the federal bankruptcy case involving the RRA firm. At issue is an $80,000 “loan” that Rothstein allegedly gave him. Stone says he doesn’t ever recall getting a loan from Rothstein. “There was never any…
The new Broward County School Board construction chief has a nickname for Mark Dorsett, a manager in the district’s maintenance department. Deputy Superintendent Thomas Lindner calls Dorsett “Want Ad.” Why? Because Dorsett has so many relatives working at the School Board. One relative, his brother Philip, also works in the maintenance…
