Missing Trust Funds Could Approach $500M In Suspected Ponzi Scheme Allegedly Run By Prominent South Florida Attorney

In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the Daily Business Review reports:

• Fort Lauderdale, Fla., attorney Scott Rothstein's meteoric rise in the South Florida legal and political worlds ended over Halloween weekend with the revelation that investors claim he stole in excess of $200 million.(1) The money is tied to a side business started by Rothstein, [...] which converts a lump sum award to installments for tax and cost-of-living reasons.

• Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler founding partner and law firm president Stuart Rosenfeldt, in a complaint filed Monday by Coffey Burlington partner Kendall Coffey, asked Broward Circuit Judge Jeffrey Streitfeld to dissolve the law firm and appoint a receiver to take over the firm's finances but not its legal practice.

For more, see Fla. Law Firm Rocked by Fraud Allegations Against Partner.

For the lawsuit, see Rosenfeldt v. Rothstein.

See also, The Miami Herald: Feds probe prominent Broward attorney Scott Rothstein (Federal authorities on Monday were conducting a criminal investigation into high-profile Fort Lauderdale attorney Scott Rothstein, who is suspected of operating a Ponzi scheme by selling tens of millions of dollars in fabricated legal settlements to investors).

(1) According to the story, money was taken "from investor trust accounts that made use of the law firm's name," the lawsuit said. The money was not associated with cases handled by the law firm but from the structured settlement business created and operated by Rothstein, according to the complaint. The business purchased structured legal settlements and sold them to investors. A source told the Daily Business Review the amount allegedly misappropriated by Rothstein was at least $200 million but could be as high as $500 million. EscrowRipOffKappa