Attorneys investigate prominent Fla. lawyer
FORT LAUDERDALE (AP) – A prominent and politically connected South Florida attorney was being investigated by his own firm for financial irregularities in an investment business that led his law partner to seek dissolution Monday.
The attorney, Scott Rothstein, and partner Stuart Rosenfeldt founded the firm Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler in 2002. Now Rosenfeldt is seeking to dissolve their partnership and have the 70-lawyer firm placed into court-supervised receivership “to minimize any further damage caused by Mr. Rothstein,” according to court documents.
“A review of the firm’s records undertaken this past weekend indicates that various funds unrelated to the direct practice of law cannot be accounted for, circumstances suggesting that investor money may have been misused by Mr. Rothstein who controlled all such accounts,” Rosenfeldt said in the court papers.
A lawyer for some investors, Jeff Sonn, said initial estimates of the missing cash range from $100 million to $185 million.
“Nobody knows for sure,” Sonn said.