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 shocking.
Also working on the Ponzi scheme itself. Follow the money, you know. That's what the bankruptcy and fed folks are trying to do, after all.
In the meantime, here's a video of someone buying a roll of Scott Rothstein toilet paper at Moe Sohail's store, Ultimate Cigar.
OK, the someone is me, and the videographer is researcher Lyn Evans. I wanted to get answers on the six stacks of hundred-dollar bills seen in Sohail's crashed Bentley at the scene visited by Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Frank Adderley with the chief's former good friend Frank Adderley.
Obviously I didn't get any answers, but I did get a Rothstein roll. Haven't used it yet. Will report when I do. Heard it's two-ply. What I do have new for you is the identity of the drinker of the green apple martini listed on the receipt at the Bova Prime lunch prior to that high-speed Bentley crash.
It was veteran criminal defense attorney Herbert Cohen, who says he barely drinks at all and left the lunch with Sohail and Sohail's girlfriend, Sarah Merricks, early because it made him tired.
Cohen, a former prosecutor, said Sohail invited him to lunch at Bova that afternoon. Sources have said that Scott Rothstein, who was having lunch nearby, also poured wine for Moe and Merricks from his table. Cohen wouldn't comment on what anyone else drank at the lunch but confirmed that Rothstein was eating at a nearby table with fellow RRA lawyers Russ Adler, Marc Nurik, and others. Cohen said he ordered alleged Kobe beef sliders and had only the one drink, the apple martini. That leaves numerous drinks unaccounted for at the table, including two vodka drinks, a glass of wine, and
a bottle of wine, all of which are listed on the lunch receipt that I obtained last week. When asked to describe what Sohail and Merricks drank, Cohen said, "I can't, I really can't."
He said Sohail called him later that afternoon -- after the cigar seller's Bentley had plowed into a BMW at high speeds on Third Avenue near the federal courthouse in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Behind the wheel was Merricks, who still had an open DUI case in her background from last year and had a restricted license that allowed her to drive only for business purposes. Cohen said he went to the scene and represented Merricks on her citation, which was subsequently dropped.
"I was her lawyer on her ticket, and of course, having Herb Cohen as her lawyer, it was dismissed," said Cohen. "She was working at the time. They had stopped at the bank just before the accident, and she had made a deposit for Moe. That was work."
Sohail also contacted Scott Rothstein, who called Chief Adderley to the scene. Adderley stood by with Rothstein watching his officers
He didn't explain the stacks of cash spotted by a Fort Lauderdale official in the Bentley and wouldn't discuss the lunch, except for his own. "They told me to try these Kobe beef sliders, and do you know about Kobe beef?" he asked. "It's supposed to be the best steak beef in the world where they massage the cows and let them watch television or something. You could tell it was just regular beef, though."
Cohen said that before the accident, he had never represented Sohail or Merricks.
"Here's the key to the story -- I was hungry," Cohen said. "I know Moe and I have met Scott several times. The only thing I've ever smoked since I was 16 was cigars. And I've bought cigars from Moe for years. That's the only thing I've bought over there because I wasn't enticed by any of the other bullshit. I called him for some Fuente Fuente Opus X's, and he said, 'Are you hungry? Come on over to Bova -- we're having lunch.'"
He acknowledged that he didn't have to pay anything for the lunch. I asked him if Rosenfeldt was there, and he said, "I don't think so. I always thought he was a janitor in the firm. I'm serious. It was like, 'Who the fuck is this little guy?'"
