Fort Lauderdale attorney Michael Santucci went missing for a couple of days in April last year. Benjamin reportedly ran a check and found that Michael Santucci had used his credit card in Pompano Beach, according to sources. Santucci was believed to be in a silver Mazda owned by his wife’s parents in Doral…

​A lot of people suspect Tony Villegas was framed in the murder of former Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler attorney Melissa Britt Lewis. The prosecution’s theory is that Villegas killed Lewis because she had become close with his estranged wife, Debra Villegas, chief operating officer at RRA and a right-hand woman to Ponzi…

Russ Adler was just seen walking into the Broward County Courthouse, according to a witness, most likely in a matter involving the Larry Seidlin case. He had a smile on his face as usual and spoke to folks as if nothing out of the ordinary has been happening during this past month…

Broward sheriff’s Lt. Chief David Benjamin, who escorted Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein to his jet when he fled last month to Morocco, has officially been removed from Sheriff Al Lamberti’s inner circle. The sheriff sent out an email late this afternoon announcing that he had appointed a new chief executive…

This is one for the documents file. I just received this email that was sent yesterday from the Banyon hedge fund to investors. Its authenticity is confirmed. In it, Banyon owner George Levin, the leviathan Scott Rothstein feeder who believed he and his investors had nearly $1 billion in RRA’s trust accounts, rebuts allegations…

Now that Scott Rothstein is caged in the Federal Detention Center in Miami, we all wonder what is next for the federal investigation. We know that his inner circle is going to get hit — I would be shocked if Debra Villegas, David Boden, and Irene Stay aren’t nabbed. Lower-level administrative-corridor…

Here are some highlights from the information used to charge Scott Rothstein with racketeering, money laundering, and fraud today. I think it provides a road map for what’s to come in this investigation. One thing seems clear: The feds are going after the political side of this hard. According to…

Wearing a black T-shirt (it was designer, probably Ed Hardy; I don’t know clothes), designer jeans, a pair of silver-colored handcuffs in U.S. Magistrate Judge Robin Rosenbaum’s courtroom today, Scott Rothstein rose from his chair and got ready for his trip to federal detention. I asked Rothstein, whose hair was grayer than I’ve ever seen…

It’s being reported by a certain news outlet (the Miami Herald, or should I say, Jay Weaver) that Scott Rothstein is to be arrested tomorrow and charged with federal crimes. The report from “sources familiar with the case” is true. Rothstein is going to be charged after noon a couple of hours…

I guess it should come as no news flash that Scott Rothstein was a rampant extorter and blackmailer. He basically boasted to potential investors in his Ponzi scheme that he made his money hitting up bosses who were cheating with employees on their wives for out-of-court settlements. But the stuff I’m…

Someone has been wanting me to post Scott Rothstein’s campaign contributions to Broward State Attorney Michael Satz. A reader sent me a list last night that included $4,900 worth of Rothstein-related campaign checks during his 2008 election. I checked it against the state campaign database, and it was good, though I found a…

From its base in South Beach, V Georgio Vodka was supposed to take over the world. Started by college basketball player, recording artist, and sports agent Victor Harvey, the company hooked up with Scott Rothstein, who became a part-owner. Rothstein not only bought a stake in the “ultra-premium” — that means ridiculously expensive…

I know you want a bombshell. There are bombshells to come. Just not today — they aren’t ready to explode yet. Plus my computer’s been attacked by a vicious virus (something called Antivirus System Pro, in case you come across it), so I’m working on a computer that doesn’t have…

Scott Rothstein proudly displayed a framed photograph of this ad behind his desk in the inner sanctum. One of Rothstein’s former lawyers told me that in the early days of the firm, Rothstein slept with every female attorney in the place. There were just a handful at the time, and he didn’t keep that…

Note to Bill Scherer: You’ve dug up some killer information, but couldn’t one of those ten people you’ve had working on the Scott Rothstein suit have done a little spell checking? In Scherer’s amended complaint, there’s a list of people and businesses to whom Rothstein wired money while he was en route…

I wanted to take it easy, but I feel compelled to link Bill Scherer’s amended complaint for the diehards. News never sleeps, etc. SoWhat’s special about it is that it provides more behind-the-scenes drama. Sure we knew about some of Scott Rothstein’s B.S. emails and texts, and we have the scene at Bova Prime…

— Here’s another Scott Rothstein wedding photograph that a generous reader sent to the Pulp email. It’s Kimberly, Scott, Dr. Robert Kagan, and his wife, Bonnie Barnett. Bonnie, of course, has claimed to have lost $500,000 in an investment with Rothstein, and her son, Andrew Barnett, worked for Rothstein promoting…

Let me start this post with a note about Scott Rothstein’s net worth in 2003. It wasn’t much. I got a copy of Rothstein’s divorce settlement. It showed that at the time of the divorce in 2003, when Rothstein was about 40 years old. He and his ex-wife, lawyer Kimberly A…

Broward Sheriff’s Lt. David Benjamin, Al Lamberti’s own “executive officer,” received $30,000 from Scott Rothstein for his outside consulting firm, according to a former close Rothstein associate. The Sheriff’s Office is currently investigating Benjamin’s firm, DWB Consulting Group, a Delaware company incorporated in Florida in May with the help of then-Rothstein Rosenfeldt…

Moe Sohail considered himself a close friend of Scott Rothstein’s for many years. The high-rolling lawyer would come into Sohail’s shop, Ultimate Cigars on Federal Highway, on almost a daily basis, and the two men were planning a venture called Bova Smoke.   That project — which was to go up on Las…

This comes from the unsubstantiated-but-very-interesting file. ​My colleague Tom Francis has been digging into Scott Rothstein’s ties to the North Broward Hospital District. Specifically he’s written about the triangle of influence among Rothstein, Gov. Charlie Crist, and former NBHD Chief Operating Officer Spencer Levine, whom Crist appointed as an appellate judge…

On the day that Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein missed his first payment to several investors in what was a billion-dollar scam, his friend Ovadia “Ovi” Levy called on the Plantation Police Department. Levy didn’t mention the massive crime that was beginning to unfold when he contacted police on Friday, October 23. Instead…