Audio By Carbonatix
A lot of people suspect Tony Villegas was framed in the murder of former Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler attorney Melissa Britt Lewis. The prosecution’s theory is that Villegas killed Lewis because she had become close with his estranged wife, Debra Villegas, chief operating officer at RRA and a right-hand woman to Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein. It has been a strange case with scant evidence, and it’s true that Scott Rothstein held special influence with both the Plantation Police Department and the initial prosecutor, Howard Scheinberg, who subsequently left the State Attorney’s Office to work for Rothstein.
I’m not going to make any judgments about it other than to say it should be reexamined. But there is no doubt that Tony Villegas has been treated unfairly in his divorce case with Debra Villegas. That case was recently reactivated, with new hearings scheduled. I haven’t yet determined why, but I hear Tony Villegas is supposed to be teleconferenced into the meetings from the Broward County Jail, where he awaits trial on the first-degree murder charge.
UPDATED: Judge Arthur Birken did, indeed, recuse himself from this case. I was relying on the Clerk of Court’s online information, but it was
outdated. Sorry for the mistake, and apologies to Judge Birken.
But now I want to take this opportunity to take a look at one possibly telling aspect of the murder case. I wrote about it at the time:
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The suspect is, of course, the estranged husband of Debra Villegas, who was the murder victim’s colleague and very close friend at the Fort Lauderdale law firm of Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler. Why would he kill his wife’s best friend? Read this from the Sun-Sentinel’s Sunday story on the arrest, in which Debra Villegas said Tony was “abusive” toward her but had no problem with Lewis:
“[Debra] said Lewis and her husband “never had a cross word” and that he thought Lewis was a ‘very nice person.’ But, she said that he was outraged at the divorce.”
He’s so outraged at the divorce that he not only killed somebody on the fringe of the relationship but also somebody that he liked?
Then there was this from Monday’s story in the same newspaper:
“Debra Villegas on Sunday said Tony Villegas and Lewis were always cordial and that she did not sense that he harbored ill will toward the woman the couple’s children considered an aunt.”
The Monday article also quotes Tony Villegas’ lawyer, Michael D. Walsh, as saying the defendant is “bewildered” since he didn’t know Lewis and had no problem with her.
Okay. You never know what to believe from a man accused of murder (or from his lawyers, for that matter). But the Miami Herald’s report on Tuesday morning included a totally different story from Debra Villegas. It was headlined “Wife: Jealousy was motive in Lauderdale attorney’s killing.” Here’s how it beings:
The motive behind the killing of Fort Lauderdale attorney Melissa Britt Lewis is pure and simple, according to her best friend.
Jealousy.
Debra Villegas alleges that her estranged husband, Tony Villegas, killed her best friend because of how close they were.
”If a dog showed me attention, he’d be jealous of it,” said Villegas, who is in the midst of a contentious divorce.
“He was jealous of her, and in turn killed her because of it.”
Whoa. That’s a total u-turn from the what Debra Villegas told the Sun-Sentinel.
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Question: Was Villegas coached? And did that $475,000 house have anything to do with her reversal?
— OK, now it’s time to delve into the seamier side of this scandal. I’ve heard this one so many times and from such strong sources that it’s time to throw it out there:
Scott Rothstein allegedly held parties for potential investors at one of his empty multimillion-dollar houses on Castilla Isle. These parties included cocaine and prostitutes free to all. The house was wired to the hilt with video and audio surveillance equipment, catching the wanton behavior on tape.
When Rothstein would later meet the investor, he would help him make his decision to throw in some money with a mention of the party and the fact that he had the evidence.
I know this sounds preposterous, and it’s not yet susbstantiated. But of the things I’ve heard about Rothstein’s outrageous tactics, it seems plausible.
— In the new bankruptcy information (posted below by Torts) comes this stunning information:
Shimon Levy: $28.1 million
Ovadia Levy: $12.5 million
Daniel Minkowitz (Shimon’s son-in-law): $6.4 million
That’s comes to about $47 million claimed to have been lost by the extended Levy/Renato clan. Shimon Levy, as we’ve established, was known to have some very powerful criminal friends at one time in Israel. That’s all I want to say about that.
