Former Law Partner of Scott Rothstein, 3 Others Face Wire Fraud Conspiracy Charges
A former partner in convicted Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein’s law firm has been charged in an alleged wire fraud conspiracy, along with three other individuals.
Ex-partner Howard Kusnick worked on a civil case in which client car dealer Ed Morse and his wife sued a kitchen designer. Rothstein, who operated an apparently unrelated $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme from his Ft. Lauderdale law firm, admittedly used fictional court orders in the Palm Beach County case to defraud Morse out of $57 million, reports the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Also charged are two technology specialists who allegedly helped Rothstein create fake websites supporting his claims to duped “investors” in purported structured settlements that he had hundreds of millions of dollars deposited in the bank in trust accounts under his control and Rothstein’s former partner in a nightclub investment. The nightclub partner allegedly posed as either a banker or a plaintiff in the lawsuits being settled, to help dupe investors into paying for a future income stream that didn’t exist, according to the newspaper.
The case is being pursued in federal court in Ft. Lauderdale, not by indictment but by information, the Sun-Sentinel says, indicating that the four may be cooperating with prosecutors in a prelude to potential charges against other individuals.
