Florida

Police Search for Missing Florida International Law Student

Campus police are searching for a law student from Florida International University who wasn’t reported missing until he had been gone for nine days. The third-year student, Tom Daniels, was last seen storming out of a CiCi’s Pizza restaurant nearly two weeks ago, according to the Miami Herald and NBCMiami.com.…

Nov 16, 2009 12:09 PM CST

FBI: Rothstein Scheme Could Top $1B; Filing: Firm Spent $1.4M in Escrow Funds

In an apparent death blow for Rothstein Rosenfeld Adler’s reported plan to reconfigure its law practice without co-founding partner and accused Ponzi scheme operator Scott Rothstein, a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition filed by several investors claims that the law firm improperly transferred $1.4 million of client funds from an escrow…

Nov 12, 2009 10:49 PM CST

Did Reporter Drop Hints of Rothstein Suspicions in ‘Puff Piece’ Article?

A columnist for the Sun-Sentinel says he had had heard “speculation and whispers” last year about Scott Rothstein, the South Florida lawyer suspected of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars in a Ponzi scheme involving the sale of phony legal settlements. Critics say any suspicions were nowhere evident in Michael…

Nov 12, 2009 4:47 PM CST

Investors Sue to Force Rothstein Law Firm Into Involuntary Bankruptcy

Three investors who say they lost a total of more than $850,000 in a claimed Ponzi scheme allegedly operated by attorney Scott Rothstein filed a petition today to force his South Florida law firm into involuntary bankruptcy. Their federal court filing, which was made by attorney Jeffrey Sonn, seeks to…

Nov 10, 2009 11:32 PM CST

Shill Bids for Domain Names Made by Auction Company Exec, Suit Alleges

Shill bids for tens of thousands of domain names were secretly made by a former executive of the company that auctioned the domain names, a lawsuit alleges. An unidentified former vice-president of SnapNames.com, which is a subsidiary of Oversee.Net, Inc., manipulated the auction and drove up prices for domain name…

Nov 9, 2009 5:57 PM CST

Miller South Lawyers Back to Work After Going on Lockdown on Friday

Updated: The mood is somber today at the Orlando law firm Miller, South & Milhausen. One Friday, the firm went on lockdown while police sought a man who shot six people in its office building, four floors below. The suspect, Jason Rodriguez, had been fired from the engineering firm located…

Nov 9, 2009 3:42 PM CST

Rothstein Firm Is Running on Fumes, Newspaper Says

Despite an effort by partner and president Stuart Rosenfeldt to create a new law firm out of the apparent ashes of Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler, the well-known Fort Lauderdale, Fla., law firm is running on fumes. After stunning revelations of alleged misconduct by a top partner, the departure of some other…

Nov 6, 2009 10:07 PM CST

Agents Seize Ferrari Key, 44 Boxes of Documents in Raid of Lawyer’s Offices

In a raid that lasted throughout the night, federal agents seized 44 boxes of documents and a key to a Ferrari owned by a Florida lawyer suspected in an investment fraud that could involve hundreds of millions of dollars. The Miami Herald (reg. req.) tallied the items taken from the…

Nov 5, 2009 6:00 PM CST

Feds Visit Rothstein Law Firm; Ex-Judge Is Appointed as Receiver

Federal agents descended tonight on a well-known South Florida law firm that has been much in the news lately after one name partner said another name partner may have misappropriated some $500 million in outside investor funds from a side business. An FBI spokeswoman said it and the Internal Revenue…

Nov 5, 2009 2:01 AM CST

Law Prof Drops Privacy Suit Against Above the Law; Blog Offers Prof Guest Spot

A law professor at the University of Miami has seemingly changed his mind about the federal invasion of privacy suit he filed only last week against the publisher of Above the Law over a 2007 post on the self-described tabloid law blog. Plaintiff Donald Marvin Jones today voluntarily dismissed the…

Nov 4, 2009 10:20 PM CST

Bailiff Suspended After Handcuffing Well-Known Defense Lawyer

Asked to move—twice—by an Ocala court bailiff when he sat down in two separate areas reserved for inmates, a well-known Florida defense attorney apparently became a bit cranky. Henry Ferro uttered what the Star-Banner describes as “a curse word” and left the courtroom. But the bailiff followed him out, telling…

Nov 4, 2009 6:52 PM CST

Miami Lawyer Says He Pointed Feds to Rothstein in Claimed $500M Scheme

Updated: An investment opportunity offered by managing partner Scott Rothstein of Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler seemed too good to be true, a Miami lawyer and developer thought. So, Alan Sakowitz tells the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, he called the feds and put them on Rothstein’s trail. After meeting with Rothstein three times,…

Nov 3, 2009 6:59 PM CST

Law Prof Sues Above the Law, Claims ‘Racist Series of Rants’ About His Arrest

Updated: A University of Miami law professor arrested but never prosecuted on a charge of trying to solicit an undercover police officer has sued the Above the Law blog for its posts on his predicament. But, in a startling development only days later, Donald Marvin Jones then voluntarily dismissed the…

Nov 3, 2009 2:53 PM CST

Rothstein Firm Seeks Allegedly Missing $100M to $185M; Is He in Morocco?

Updated: Between $100 million and $185 million in is allegedly missing from investor trust accounts that made use of the Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler name, the law firm’s president told the South Florida Business Journal today after a court hearing. Meanwhile, five lawyers have already left the more than 70-attorney Fort…

Nov 3, 2009 12:05 AM CST

Rothstein Rosenfeldt Seeks to Dissolve, Says MP Suspected of Wrongdoing Won’t Go

A complaint filed on behalf of Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler says its high-profile managing partner and CEO, Scott Rothstein, won’t leave the law firm, despite “asserted and substantial irregularities” regarding his handling of investor money. The legal document, filed in Broward County court by the lawyer hired to represent the law…

Nov 2, 2009 7:01 PM CST