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Documents filed in a lawsuit against a high-flying Florida attorney reveal some of the details of the $1 billion fraud allegations he faces, court watchers say.
The lawsuit brought by some of Scott Rothstein's alleged victims includes allegations the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., attorney cheated not only wealthy businessmen and hedge fund managers for rich clients, but also "little guys" such as a Miami ink cartridge business owner and a couple in their 80s, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Monday.
Rothstein, 47, attracted considerable attention for his conspicuous lifestyle and political contributions, rising to the heights of local society, but in the meantime was setting up a massive Ponzi scheme in which he established a cottage industry to feed him cash to invest in what he told investors were secret legal settlements.
The suit alleges Rothstein formed consortiums of investors who brought in other investors for a percentage of the profits. But when his investors began questioning the status of their funds, the scheme was brought down and produced a massive federal investigation into what FBI agents have described as one the largest investment frauds ever in South Florida, the Sun-Sentinel reported.
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