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Kim Rothstein Sentenced to 18 Months in Federal Prison

Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein's wife, Kim Rothstein has been sentenced to 18 months in prison, followed by two years of probation. The sentence was handed down Tuesday afternoon at Fort Lauderdale federal court. While prosecutors were pushing for at least two years, the judge cited Rothstein's cooperation as to why...
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Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein's wife, Kim Rothstein has been sentenced to 18 months in prison, followed by two years of probation.

The sentence was handed down Tuesday afternoon at Fort Lauderdale federal court.

While prosecutors were pushing for at least two years, the judge cited Rothstein's cooperation as to why she was given a lighter sentence.

In February, Kim plead guilty on her conspiracy charge to commit money laundering after it was discovered that she and her pals concealed more than $1 million worth of jewelry from the federal government, including a 12.08-carat diamond ring worth 450 grand.

Kim's former attorney Scott Saidel and her friend Stacie Weisman, had cooked up a scheme to sell the jewelry and then persuade Scott to lie during a sworn deposition when he was asked about the diamond ring.

Kim, 39, purportedly tried to stash and hide from the feds an intense yellow VS2 radiant-cut colored diamond, which is supposedly very rare and very large.

Scott had purchased the ring for $403,012 back in July 2008.

Before the feds seized the Rothsteins' assets back in November 2009, Kim Rothstein, Saidel, and Weisman "knowingly took action to conceal certain items of jewelry, valued in excess of one million dollars," according to federal prosecutors.

Kim filed for divorce from Scot just last week, and had requested that a federal court give her a break on prison time before Tuesday's sentencing.

Hiding a $450,000 ring from the feds and then pretending it never existed is far cry from the $1.4 billion Ponzi scheme her husband put together, but it's still a pretty big deal.

Or, at least, 18 months and two years of probation kind of a big deal, anyway.

"I'm willing to serve my time with dignity," Rothstein said in court today. "I'm very ashamed and I'm Willing to pay the consequences."

Now ex-husband Scott is currently serving 50 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to five felony charges for orchestrating the biggest investment fraud in South Florida history.

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