Local News

MIAMI BEACH (CBS4) ― Federal agents spent hours Monday seizing the property of a prominent South Florida attorney who is at the center of a federal fraud investigation.

Agents descended on the posh home of embattled attorney Scott Rothstein on Isla Bahia Drive in Fort Lauderdale. Among the items seized: a fire engine red 2006 Ferrari Spider convertible, according to CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald.

Other pricey possessions that federal agents seized included a Bentley and a Rolls Royce.

While all this was happening, Rothstein was spotted with his attorney Marc Nurik at the Capital Grille restaurant in Fort Lauderdale. Bob Norman, a reporter with the Broward New Times, happened to be there and shot a video of him. Click here to watch the minute-long video.

In the video, Rothstein appears to express remorse, and he is heard saying, "I'm alive. I'm doing well and I'm doing the right thing. People make mistakes in life."

Norman asked him, "How do you make it right, Scott?"

Rothstein replies, "I'm not answering any questions Bob. I'm going to make it right."

Norman ends the interview by saying, "I will respect your request not to speak on camera."

Earlier in the day, neighbors brought out their lawn chairs to watch the agents at work.

"I think it's a shame that it happened to begin with," neighbor Vicki Fellows told CBS4's Tiffani Helberg.

Another neighbor Dick Walters wasn't quick to judge.

"It's quite a dog and pony show I see a helicopter up there," Walters said. "I think he's probably a pretty nice guy. He just got caught up in being something that he dreamed about being and he tried to take the short cut and it didn't work."

Walters walked over to Rothstein's house to check out his cars.

"I want to buy them," he said.

Late Monday morning, Chopper 4 was over the home where federal agents could be seen manning the front door and inspecting his boat in the backyard named "Princess Kimberly" after his wife.

Rothstein -- who has not been officially charged with anything -- recently told CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald that he was "doing pretty good."

That's in spite of Broward Circuit Judge Jeffrey Streitfeld's order to have Toronto Dominion Bank provide financial information for dozens of his investors' accounts by noon Monday.

Those records would also be provided to retired Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Herbert Stettin, the new receiver of the firm

The attorney representing several investors claims Rothstein defrauded his clients out of $98 million by allegedly creating false lawsuit settlements and then selling them. Rothstein, suspected of running a Ponzi scheme, apparently drained vast sums of money from the firm, his partners say.

But that number may be higher. Rothstein's investors had $500 million deposited in a Canadian bank on Oct. 23 and that money was gone seven days later, said William Scherer, an attorney representing investors. Some investors said they intend to sue Rothstein and the law firm.

Scherer filed a motion Monday to help his clients recover some of their money by arguing that they are creditors in order to block the law firm from receiving any money.

"My concern is that when I read in the paper that the Democratic Party sent back $200,000 to the firm and they were going to use it to stay in operation, I filed a motion to intervene to keep that from happening because we need to know where that money came from," Scherer said. "We suspect it came from the investor victims so it's not the firm's to spend."

Scherer also filed a lawsuit on behalf of a group of South Florida investors, D3 Capital Club, on Monday. The lawsuit claims D3 Capital paid $13.5 million dollars into Rothstein's investment business involving structured legal settlements.

The lawsuit alleges Rothstein took D3 Capital's money and emptied law firm trust accounts before leaving the country at the end of October.

Scherer also said TD Bank bears responsibility. He said investors agreed to invest with Rothstein because they were told their money would be protected in trust accounts at the bank. Scherer does believe there are substantial assets for the government and the courts to recover.

"Here's the thing," Scherer said, "this is a Ponzi scheme but it's pretty local in nature, number one. Number two, the good thing is there's gonna be a lot of money returned back. Number 3, TD Bank was involved in this fraud with Mr. Rothstein.

"It's my view that TD bank is gonna make these people whole."

But in a statement, a TD Bank spokesperson told CBS 4's Carey Codd the bank did nothing wrong.

"TD Bank has not acted unlawfully in regard to the Rothstein Rosenfeldt & Adler accounts," wrote spokesperson Rebecca Acevedo. "We have been cooperating fully with the investigating authorities and the receiver since this inquiry began and will continue to do so. We cannot comment further in order not to jeopardize the investigation."

TD Bank did confirm that Regional Vice President Frank Spinosa has been placed on leave while the bank investigates the matter.

Rothstein, who returned from Morocco on last Tuesday, is reportedly cooperating with federal investigators.

Sunday afternoon he said he was doing well.

``I am sitting here smoking cigars with Marc,'' Rothstein told the newspaper. He was referring to his attorney Marc Nurik. `Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. I'm doing pretty good.''

His attorney denied his claim that they were having cigars. He also told the newspaper he was at an undisclosed location of his choosing and not by federal investigators.

``He is under a lot of pressure,'' Nurik added. ``I don't want anybody to think he is having a good time.''

CBS4'S Jasmine Kripalani, and Tiffani Helberg contributed to this report. The Miami Herald also contributed to this report.

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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