A Fort Lauderdale executive accused of masterminding Florida’s biggest financial fraud has just lost his top-tier defense lawyer and his multimillion-dollar waterfront home, thanks to a federal judge’s order.

Joel Steinger, charged in 2008 with bilking about 30,000 investors in an alleged $1.25 billion AIDS-related life insurance scam, can’t afford to pay Miami lawyer Ed Shohat any longer . So taxpayers will pay for his legal defense — and the house proceeds will go toward reimbursing his company’s investors.

Shohat had a $2.75 million claim on the future sale of his client’s house for legal fees. But he canceled the note as a condition imposed by the judge to withdraw from the long-running case, according to a mortgage record filed in federal court Wednesday. Steinger now enjoys “indigent” status.

U.S. District Judge Robert Scola said Shohat and his firm have been “fully and fairly paid” so far, adding that the prospect of representing Steinger further without pay “would impose an unfair economic hardship.”

Meanwhile, the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Marshals Service now have the judge’s permission to put Steinger’s 8,000-square-foot Mediterranean-style home overlooking the New River on the market to help reimburse his company’s investors — a forfeiture that usually happens after a defendant is convicted.

All of this legal drama unfolded over the past week. Steinger, 62, who is free on a $5.5 million bond but must wear an electronic ankle bracelet, is awaiting trial in Miami federal court early next year.

Steinger headed Mutual Benefits Corp., which sold life insurance policies held by people dying of AIDS, before it was shut down by the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2004. Once an influential player, Steinger showered money on politicians, lobbyists and charities, not unlike convicted Fort Lauderdale lawyer Scott Rothstein, who was sentenced to 50 years in prison for running a $1.2 billion investment racket.

Steinger — whose investors lost $837 million, more than double the losses incurred by Rothstein’s victims — has become a pauper, according to court records. He won’t even be able to stay in his house if he can’t pay to maintain it while it’s on the market this winter.

“The defendant must ensure that the lawn and external premises are kempt and that the water and electric bills are paid in a timely manner,” Scola wrote in a court order.

If Steinger fails to maintain the property, the judge warned, the defendant would have “to vacate the premises.”

According to court records, Steinger has struggled to sell his waterfront home in upscale Himmarshee Village, which had been on the market for about $4 million. It has been sinking under the weight of at least two mortgages and an IRS tax lien in a still-weak real estate market.

Shohat, who was fourth in line to collect any potential profits from the sale, began his exit strategy as Steinger’s lawyer when a federal prosecutor made a move to seize the property last year.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerrob Duffy argued that tainted profits from Steinger’s company paid for his residence. Duffy said the businessman, who had been convicted of securities fraud in the early 1980s, concealed his leading role in Mutual Benefits and set up shell companies to disguise his ownership of certain assets, including his home.