EFTA01130768.pdf

OM n/A4 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27, 2012 I 3B LOCAL & STATE • • t SCOTT ROTHSTEIN CASE Letter sent Rothstein into panic ■ In testimony this month, investors they were buying confi- Rothstein said he acted quickly to never mentioned anything about a Scott Rothstein recalled dential legal settlements in whis- reimburse the Brausers with other banking report to Rothstein. feeling his Ponzi scheme was tieblower and sexual harassment investors' money and to have them In other testimony, Rothstein 'going to explode' after he cases from plaintiffs who pre- sign a confidential settlement. acknowledged he allowed a group got a letter from a family ferred quick lamp-sum payments "We didn't want them to go to of investors togo through files in- demanding $4.25 million rather than waiting for all the authorities," Rothstein said. volving sex abuse suits against Ep- back. money;The settlements were pho- The bankruptcy trustee for stein. One of Rothstein's law part- ny; Rothstein and his office staff Rothstein's law firm has since ners, Bradley Edwards, had sued BY JON BURSTEIN made up the backup.paperworit. sued the Brausers to recover the Epstein on behalf of three under- Sertmei The fraud unraveled in October $4.25 million. age girls who alleged they had sex The letter sent Scott Rothstein 2009 with Rothstein, a now-dis- A lawyer for the with him while he was staying at into a panic. He feared his colossal barred Fort Lauderdale attorney, Brausers told the his Palm Beach mansion. crimes were about to be exposed. briefly fleeing to Morocco, then Sun Sentinel that 'In 2008, Epstein reached a plea It was February 2009, eight returning to secretly cooperate Rothstein's allega- deal with prosecutors on two sex- months before his $1A billion Pon- with the FBI until his arrest a tion he bought the related chargesand spent about a zi scheme collapsed. A family of month later. He is serving a Brausers' silence is year in Palm Beach County JaiL investors had sent him the letter 50-year prison sentence, his •"n0nsene.P " Rothstein said he lied to the in- demanding their $4.25 million whereabouts unknown because ROTHSTEIN 'They asked for vestors about being able to buy back immediately, and Rothstein he's in a witness protection pro- their principal hefty confidential legal settle- was certain they had uncovered gram behind bars. back bo•sme they were led to be- ments in the Epstein cases. He said his secret While he may be in hiding, he lieve they could withdraw the Edwards knew nothing about the "Holy s—, this is going to ex- still has a lotto sayi giving a two- money at any time and one of the Ponzi scheme and had no idea the plode," Rothstein recalled think- week deposition in December fol- Brausers had the need for the in- files were being shared with inves- ing. 'They figured out the P011Z1 lowed by the 15-day session this vestment back to pay off the mort- tors. "I took advantage of some scheme. They know there's no month. So far, more than 5,000 gage on a completely unrelated good, innocent people for my own money in the.accounts. We are all pages of Rothstein's testimony property," said Allan Joseph, an- and my co-conspirator's illegal going to jail." have been'made public with at other attorney for the Brausers. purposes," Rothstein said."Mr. Ed- The imprisoned Rothstein of- least another 1,000 pages set to be "My clients are victims and now wards is one of them, and for that I fered fresh details into his final, released in the next few wet they have to defend against a law- am sorry, Brad." paranoid-filled months. of free- Testifying via videoconferenc- suit solely on Scott Rothstein's Epstein is suing Edwards in dom in more transcripts released ing in the most recent deposition. testimony." Palm Beach Circuit Court, alleging this week from his three weeks of Rothstein said he believed his Pon- Joseph said that it makes no the lawyer knew Rothstein was us- closed-door testimony earlier this zi 'theme was at risk of being ex- sense that if the Brausers had be- ing the cases to solicit investors. month. In addition to testifying posed when Gerald Brauser and lieved Rothstein was a crook why Edwards filed a countersuit accus- how he kept the largest fmancial his family demanded back $4.25 one of them retained him as an at- ing Epstein of malicious prosecu- fraud in South Florida history million they'd invested with him. torney in another matter. In addi- tion and abuse of the legal process. alive, Rothstein explained how he Bothstein said the Brausers' at- tion, another family member, put One of Epstein's attorneys, lbn- hooked a group of investors by us-. torney, Frank Graziadei, claimed $900,000 of his own money into a ja Haddad, said Tuesday that it's ing real civil cases accusing bil- he had obtained a banking report different Rothstein investment ve- clear her client's cases were used lionaire money-manager Jeffrey showing the Rothstein Rosenfeldt hicle two days before the letter to solicit investors. .Epstein of having sex with under- Adler law firm's trust accounts was sent, Joseph said. Jack Scarola. Edwards' attorney, age girls. didn'thave nearly as much money Joseph said Graziadei, who said there are no facts to back up Rothstein, 50, told prospective in ihemss Rothstein was Halt-fling wrote the letter, has testified he Epstein's allegations. EFTA01130768