Victim’s Lawyer: RRA Is Using Stolen $$$ To Stay Afloat
BY BUDDY NEVINS
The disgraced Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler law firm may close sooner than expected.
Fort Lauderdale lawyer Bill Scherer, who represents 12 victims of Scott Rothstein’s scams, is protesting RRA’s use of returned political contributions to remain in business.
Bill Scherer
RRA’s lawyer told a Broward circuit court yesterday that the firm is staying afloat by using a $200,000 check returned from the Florida Democratic Party.
“You can’t use that money,” Scherer said. “It’s stolen money.
The returned contribution was going to keep the firm operating at least two weeks.
Scherer called Herbert Stettin, the retired Miami-Dade judge who was appointed RRA’s receiver after the scandal broke, to complain about the use of the money.
He told Stettin that it wasn’t right to spend the money until it is determined that it wasn’t part of the scheme.
Scherer was hired to recover approximately $80 million that his 12 clients lost.
The Scherer clients were investors who Rothstein enticed to buy legal settlements. The big problem —the legal settlements didn’t exist!
Rothstein is alleged to have used money from new investors to pay old investors — a classic Ponzi scheme.
He also is accused of siphoning off investors’ money to live a lavish lifestyle and donate millions to charities and politicians. And it is suspected he used the money to keep his law firm operating.
Scherer’s victims only lost a fraction of the money allegedly stolen. Published reports say $500 million or more can’t be found.
There has been court rulings that would allow fraud victims to seize its called “clawback in the legal profession fraud money that was given to politicians and charities, Scherer said.
Democrats gave back $200,000 to RRA this week after it was learned that Rothstein had been running a multi-million dollar fraud. The money was from a Rothstein-run fund raiser at his east Fort Lauderdale compound earlier this year for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink.
Note to any RRA employee who was depending on that $200,000 to keep the doors open a little while longer: I’d be emptying my desk out first thing Monday.
I’m not a lawyer, but Scherer’s argument makes sense to me. It might make sense to the judge as early as Monday.
November 7th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
Fuk you sherer
November 7th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
$200,000 is a drop in the bucket. Scherer is just laying the legal groundwork for freezing all the money this firm and Rothstein have given away over the years.
November 8th, 2009 at 6:14 am
It’s not the amount, it’s the point. If it’s not the firms money (i.e. client’s trust money), why would they be able to convert it to their own use. Lawyers cannot use any trust funds to pay for their firms use. Its only for their clients use. That’s why it is held IN TRUST for them.
If the firm had previously converted trust money to use for running the firm, and gave it away, it needs to be put back to their clients when refunded.
Thats a bar violation, and a lot of attorneys have lost their license when they forgot this. Sherer has a good point and Rosenfeltd better be careful on this.
November 8th, 2009 at 7:00 am
Buddy, you and I both know that Scherer will become Scottie’s, RRA’s, Adler’s and Kimmie’s biggest nightmare. Bill would gut his mother for a dime – just ask any of his past or present law partners.
Stu, I hope you have accounts in Israel becuase if you any money in the law abiding world it is gone.
November 8th, 2009 at 11:50 am
Gee whiz.
I wonder who was the contributor to the above comment.
Does “Sherer has a good point…” give any clue?
November 8th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
I was wondering when someone would figure that one out!
November 8th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
Scherer? RRA was representing his firm!!
Michael Mayo column before the scandal broke
“Whatever he’s doing, it’s working,” said Fort Lauderdale lawyer Bill Scherer, longtime alpha dog in local Republican circles. “I chose his firm as my lawyers, to represent me in some attorney-fee litigation cases. That should tell you something.”
Scherer has his own set of problems.
From Bob Norman:
Another man on the FBI cruise was Skip Aniekwu, then a project manager at Gulf Building Corp. Aniekwu seems to be a major thread in this investigation. He was involved in illegal activity in Miramar and then was involved with the corruption at the School Board. Aniekwu’s company, Gulf, is owned by John Scherer, son of prominent attorney, landowner, and former North Broward Hospital District General Counsel Bill Scherer. Sources say Papa Scherer, who serves as registered agent for Gulf, is deeply involved with the company. Interestingly, School Board records show that John Scherer and Aniekwu were both present at the QSEC meeting during which committee members voted Pirtle as contractor for the Hollywood Hills job.