FORT LAUDERDALE
Bank ordered to turn over documents for Rothstein case in Broward County
A bank connected to the case of attorney Scott Rothstein was ordered to release files by Monday.
BY AMY SHERMAN AND JAY WEAVER
asherman@MiamiHerald.com
A bank central to the federal fraud investigation into Fort Lauderdale attorney Scott Rothstein was ordered by a Broward judge Friday to turn over records to the receiver for Rothstein's embattled law firm.
Broward Circuit Judge Jeffrey Streitfeld gave Toronto Dominion Bank until noon Monday to produce bank records for Rothstein and his firm, Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler.
The bank had been stonewalling, according to Herbert Stettin, the receiver Streitfeld appointed earlier this week to untangle the financial mess allegedly created by Rothstein. Investors and law partners say that Rothstein, 47, cleaned them out of hundreds of millions of dollars through a fraudulent investment business he ran out of the firm.
Streitfeld ordered Toronto Dominion to provide all documents since December 2008, including statements, canceled checks and evidence of deposits and withdrawals.
Bank spokeswoman Rebecca Acevedo said in an e-mail that the bank is ``open and transparent'' and ``will make every effort to comply'' with the order.
``At 3:09 p.m. today, our counsel received an order from the court regarding a request for documents,'' she wrote Friday. ``This is the first communication our counsel has received from the law firm Rothstein, Rosenfeldt & Adler or the receiver.''
Streitfeld scheduled a status hearing for 1 p.m. Monday.
The law firm has about $300,000 in its operating account, including $200,000 from a returned check from the Florida Democratic Party. Employees have agreed to forgo paychecks for two weeks, said spokesman Charles Jones. The firm expects the FBI, which raided its offices earlier this week, to return its computer server Monday so that lawyers can have access to files.
Rothstein, who has not been charged, has cooperated with federal prosecutors since his return from Casablanca Tuesday, including identifying others who may have been involved in his alleged scam.
Streitfeld has removed him as chief executive officer of the law firm.
Rothstein's attorney Marc Nurik said, ``He is hanging in there.''
New details continue to emerge about Rothstein's life over the past weeks .
When he flew to Morocco last week he called Broward Sheriff's Office Lt. David Benjamin to escort him from his car to the airplane at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport. Benjamin, who is executive officer to Sheriff Al Lamberti -- who Rothstein supported during his campaign last year -- is a longtime friend of Rothstein's, said BSO spokesman Jim Leljedal.
``Last week Scott called David and said he was leaving town on a business trip and his security people were off and could he meet him at the Executive Airport and escort him to the plane,'' Leljedal said.
Benjamin was not working that evening and escorted Rothstein as a favor to a friend, not as an off-duty detail. Rothstein did not disclose details of his trip, Leljedal said.
Miami Herald news partner CBS-4 and Herald staff writers Diana Moskovitz and Marc Caputo contributed to this article.
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