Posted on Sunday, 11.08.09
SCOTT ROTHSTEIN SCANDAL
Lawyer Scott Rothstein: The rise and fall of a wheeler dealer
Lawyer Scott Rothstein rose from modest beginnings, but investors and law partners who trusted him say he fueled his empire by siphoning their bank accounts.
BY JAY WEAVER, AMY SHERMAN AND MARC CAPUTO
jweaver@MiamiHerald.com
If there was one thing Fort Lauderdale lawyer Scott Rothstein craved, it was attention. And how better to get it than to whip out his checkbook?
Like at Gov. Charlie Crist's 52nd birthday party/GOP fundraiser last year, when, instead of buying a $5,200 candle, Rothstein bought an entire chocolate cake covered with 52 candles. His donation: $52,000.
As the governor gave a speech, Rothstein was talking loudly.
``Scott, if you want the mic, it's going to cost you another $100,000!'' the governor joked when Rothstein wouldn't stop talking.
Like at an Eagles concert in January, when band leader Don Henley stood on stage and dedicated, at Rothstein's request, Life in the Fast Lane to the lawyer and wife Kimberly for their first anniversary. His donation: $100,000, to a Henley environmental cause.
Like the TV ads showing Rothstein with star athletes Dan Marino and Alonzo Mourning, whose children's charities benefited from his philanthropic largess, and the glossy magazine ad with his firm photo proclaiming: ``Giving back is an essential part of life.''
``Scott wanted attention -- he wanted to be the guy,'' said Roger Stone, a longtime Republican political operative who shared Rothstein's office suite. ``Giving big checks and getting his butt kissed in public was the payoff.''
But now, facing accusations of massive financial fraud, Rothstein is attracting attention of a different kind -- and his life in the fast lane seems to have crashed spectacularly.
The FBI and IRS are sifting through his computer files, and his Las Olas Boulevard law firm is in shambles.
Over the span of six years, Rothstein's net worth soared from at least $160,000 to tens of millions of dollars -- including opulent waterfront homes, a fleet of foreign sports cars, flashy watches, a stake in the former Versace mansion in South Beach and a restaurant group, court records show.
Rothstein, 47, personally spent more than $14 million on a half-dozen properties in Broward County since June 2003, property records show. They include four lots on Castilla Isle in Fort Lauderdale, for which he paid about $7.7 million, and another house bought last year for $6.5 million. He also owned multimillion-dollar homes in Rhode Island and New York.
In recent years, Rothstein also owned a black Rolls-Royce Phantom convertible, and multiple Lamborghinis and Ferraris.
The lawyer had collected cars for years, though his spending increased over time.
With the wealth and philanthropy came well-oiled connections in all the right places. Rothstein was able to use his charisma and contacts in the Broward society scene and business community to lure wealthy friends and patrons to invest with him, lawyers say.
But the very people who trusted him -- investors, law partners and clients -- now accuse him of living large on their dime, running an investment scam that was a massive Ponzi scheme and wiping them out for what could be hundreds of millions of dollars.
``The mark of any good con man is the ability to get people to like them,'' said Steve Geller, a Broward County Commission candidate whose political committee received a $50,000 donation from Rothstein and who now plans to return it. ``The guy certainly spoke a great game.''
Rothstein has not been criminally charged but is cooperating with federal prosecutors, offering to name others who might have been involved in wrongdoing, sources said.
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