Legal News

Rothstein Pleads Guilty, Faces Decades Behind Bars

By Ashby Jones

Well, it’s official. Scott Rothstein, the disgraced south Florida lawyer who for years ran his law firm as a criminal enterprise, has come clean.

In federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Rothstein Wednesday morning pleaded guilty to five counts, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. Click here for the plea agreement; here for the story on the plea, from the Miami Herald; here for the AP story; here for past LB coverage.

Some good nuggets from the Herald on the proceeding:

Dressed in a tan prison jumpsuit and shackled at ankles and wrists, the formerly high-flying lawyer displayed no emotion as he acknowledged guilt . . . .

Rothstein, 47, did not address the court, other than to answer yes or no to questions from the judge. But his wife, Kimberly, shared her feelings after the proceeding:

“Today is the saddest day of my life,” she read from a prepared statement. “Two years ago, when I married the sweetest man I’d ever met, I would never have believed our future together could come to this.”

According to the Herald, Rothstein’s sentence, slated for May 6, is likely to be in the 30-year range. He’ll likely be cut some slack because he returned from a last-minute flight to Morocco, detailed his crime for authorities and named others who aided him or benefited from the illegal profits.

As far as white-collar cases go from time to time, this one was swift. It was only three months ago that Rothstein took a private jet to Morocco to escape the imminent implosion of his Ponzi scheme.

After his return, he pinpointed for federal authorities hundreds of homes, cars, jewelry, watches, businesses, bank accounts and other personal assets purchased with the tainted proceeds of the Ponzi scheme over the past four years. Authorities have seized about $60 million in Rothstein assets. One might say he tried to “do the right thing.”

Rothstein is now in custody at the Federal Detention Center in Miami.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on January 27, 2010 (boomark / email).