He was a Ponzi schemer who went to school in the Bronx, promoted bogus deals for investors, and used the illicit proceeds to buy political influence before he was finally busted and put in prison. No, not Scott Rothstein. I’m talking about Solomon Dwek. You might remember Dwek as the lead…
And it’s not even Model Citizen’s latest photo illustration of Ken Jenne as a tortoise. It’s the rather extraordinary shot taken at the 2008 Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul below. I’ll let you have fun identifying the folks in the photo. Remember, Rothstein was a delegate at the convention (another…
Every day like clockwork, Scott Rothstein would finish work at his law firm and go downstairs to his restaurant and headquarters, Bova Prime, where he would drink vodka and smoke cigars. And that was just the start of it. During the day, Rothstein was busy with a 70-member law firm and billion-dollar Ponzi…
Above is a video taken at Bova Prime last week of the still-existing cigar lockers of Scott Rothstein and his closest compatriots. You’ll have to watch the short vid to see the names, but, as Kim Rothstein might say, it’s the usual suspects (including a high-ranking BSO officer). Also, we’ll be keeping up with…
The man credited with saving polo in Palm Beach killed a man Thursday night. John Goodman, heir to a giant air-conditioning fortune and founder of the International Polo Club, blew through a stop sign and slammed his black Bentley (sound familiar?) into a Hyundai driven by Scott Wilson, a 23-year-old recent college graduate. The impact of the high-speed crash sent…
OK, I’ve got a lot of stuff brewing. More from Bob Scandiffio is coming, specifically about what it was like driving Scott Rothstein around for a year and change. Let’s put it this way: In a lot of ways, Scandiffio’s account confirms Kim Rothstein’s self-portrayal as a neglected wife in ways even I found a little…
So what did former Broward County Sheriff Ken Jenne actually do for Scott Rothstein after he went to work at his law firm one week after leaving prison in fall 2008? Well, among other projects, it turns out that Jenne was overseeing the Fort Lauderdale police detail, trying to develop an…
There’s a lot of stories coming from Bob Scandiffio, Scott Rothstein’s former bodyguard. He spent thousands of hours providing security for the Ponzi schemer, after all. I’m compiling as quickly as possible, but for now, let me share some quick observations from Scandiffio regarding some of the bigger-name public officials…
When Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein fled to Morocco at the end of October, there was one man he called to come over and see him in Casablanca. His name is Bob Scandiffio, a 50-year-old bodyguard who worked for Rothstein for two years. Scandiffio contacted me today and said he wanted to set…
Intrepid Pulp researcher Lyn Evans found Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti at the Pompano City Commission last night and asked him a heavy question that involved Lamberti’s threatened mass layoffs at BSO and Undersheriff Tom Wheeler and Lt. David Benjamin, both former Scott Rothstein chums. Let’s go to the tape: It’s…
The following email sent from Broward County Commissioner Ilene Lieberman to activist Warence Mae Smith about the courthouse the commission decided to build for $328 million against the will of its constituents, who voted it down by a 70-30 58-42 margin. No matter what your view on the courthouse is — and…
If you thought the Town of Davie’s $12.5 million purchase of 25 acres from Austin Forman was a total ripoff for taxpayers, you were right. Yes, the price of $500,000 an acre in today’s economy seems patently egregious, but don’t take my word for it. Listen instead to Bob Breslau, president of real estate development for major builder Stiles…
At Friday’s news conference regarding new corruption legislation, intrepid Pulp researcher Lyn Evans asked Broward State Attorney Michael Satz a pertinent and tough question. To wit: “Can you explain why Broward County has become such a cesspool of corruption under your watch?” To see Satz do a political two-step, watch the video below. There…
When Broward County Public Defender Howard Finkelstein got the evidence, he went straight to the media. The evidence, in this case, was a grainy black-and-white video taken on a dark street, along with the testimony of a key witness. The witness said he saw three Broward sheriff’s deputies beat up…
The Bova Prime lunch receipt tells the tale a lot better than the Fort Lauderdale investigative report. Cigar man Moe Sohail was comped numerous alcoholic beverages by Scott Rothstein at Bova prior to a high-speed crash involving Sohail’s Bentley. Driving the Bentley was Sohail’s girlfriend, Sarah Merricks, who was also present…
Above is a photograph of former Scott Rothstein confidante Michael Szafranski taken yesterday in court. Don’t ask why it’s on YouTube; it’s one of those blog issues (but it does create sort of an eerie effect). Szafranski lost in his bid to have lawyer Bill Scherer disqualified from the civil suit in which he has been named…
Broward County is rife with corruption. One politician is headed to prison (Joe Eggelletion), another is under criminal investigation by the state (Diana Wasserman-Rubin), another is under federal probe (Stacy Ritter), and another has been spending campaign money like a drunken sailor (Ken Keechl). And that’s just the County Commission. Let’s…
We learned Commissioner Diana Wasserman-Rubin is under criminal investigation by the State Attorney’s Office for her dealings in the Town of Southwest Ranches. And Commissioner Stacy Ritter’s name has surfaced in yet another state investigation involving developer Bruce Chait. Along with his son Shawn, Chait has already been charged with…
Ever since Scott Rothstein’s massive Ponzi scheme collapsed, there has been great speculation about whether he stashed any of the money and jewels he amassed away — and if his wife, Kim, has access to any hidden wealth. When I posed those questions to Kim Rothstein, she laughed. “You think Scott wants…
After months of study, Pompano Beach City Manager Dennis Beach made his recommendation Monday regarding the future of the Broward Sheriff’s Office in his city. wrote in a five-page memo to the City Commission that he doesn’t want BSO to have a future in the city at all. The city manager wants to oust…
Scott and Kim Rothstein’s million-dollar wedding at the Versace mansion. The public pronouncements about how nothing was more important to him than his wife. The countless photographs of the couple in society publications, playing the role of Broward royalty. Behind the Rothstein facade, behind the $6.5 million house, the millions in jewelry,…
Well, they did it. The Broward County Commission, that most august body, voted to overturn the will of their constituents to build a new courthouse for our shining criminal justice system, stalwart legal community, and of course the interests of downtown powerbrokers and developers. Hey we knew Broward County Mayor Ken Keechl liked to…
