Florida Criminal Lawyer Blog

The South Florida legal world, including our own Miami-Dade criminal defense attorneys, was served with a surprise Nov. 1. According to a Nov. 2 story in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, a prominent Fort Lauderdale law firm is investigating one of its founders for alleged financial fraud. The law firm of Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler has hired a former federal prosecutor, Kendall Coffey, to investigate whether Scott Rothstein, the firm’s managing partner and CEO, stole money from investment accounts connected to the firm. It, and name partner Stuart Rosenfeldt, also filed a lawsuit Nov. 2 asking a court to put the firm into receivership, to preserve its assets while it sorts out the financial allegations. Rothstein has not resigned from the firm, but another attorney, Marc Nurik, resigned so he could represent Rothstein in the case.

According to the article, the allegations center on non-legal funds related to the firm’s investment business. Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler offers investors a chance to buy out existing structured settlements. Rothstein allegedly controlled all accounts related to that business. Over the weekend, an investment group contacted the U.S. Attorney’s office about “suspicious activity” in the investment business. The lawsuit’s complaint said investors allege that Rothstein fabricated nonexistent settlements and misused the investment money they attracted. Coffey said the firm did not have evidence that any money related to its legal work had been stolen, but Broward County’s chief judge told colleagues that the firm may no longer be able to pay its employees. Rothstein was out of town (possibly in Morocco) “to clear his head,” Nurik said, and not available for comment.

Rothstein is well known in Broward County as a philanthropist and political donor with a high-priced lifestyle. He and his firm have given to several candidates of both parties, and he has held fundraisers at his home for John McCain, Charlie Crist and Arnold Schwarzenegger. He has also given to local and national health-related causes and invested in several businesses. According to the Sun-Sentinel, Rothstein has bought three multimillion-dollar homes in the past year and also owns a collection of exotic cars. Until Monday, he had full-time protection from off-duty Fort Lauderdale police officers, for which he paid about $400,000 a year. And his law firm grew to ten times its original size in the past seven years, an unusual rate of growth that surprised and impressed bystanders.

Our Fort Lauderdale federal crimes defense lawyers would like to take this opportunity to remind readers that we defend people accused of complex financial or “white collar” crimes like this, as well as more ordinary charges. While we do not in any way condone the behavior of attorneys who steal from legal or non-legal clients, we have the skills and experience to defend all types of financial crimes. In the past, we have posted at length about our tax evasion and tax fraud practices related to the IRS voluntary disclosure program for UBS accountholders and other U.S. taxpayers with foreign accounts. The deadline for voluntary disclosures has passed, but we continue to offer aggressive criminal defense for people accused of all kinds of financial wrongdoing, including complex and hard-to-unravel embezzlement and fraud schemes.

Continue reading "South Florida Attorney Accused of Fraud and Embezzlement From Investment Business" »

More South Florida residents are being pulled into the legal battle Swiss bank UBS is having with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, the Palm Beach Post reported July 11. Earlier this year, the IRS accused UBS of intentionally and knowingly helping American customers hide income to avoid paying taxes, by routing it through false companies overseas. The two organizations reached a plea deal in which UBS agreed to pay $780 million in exchange for no indictment. The next day, the IRS sued UBS in Miami for the names of 52,000 American accountholders suspected of tax fraud. The criminal settlement gives UBS the right to contest the lawsuit, but the IRS the right to indict the bank after all if it exhausts its appeals and still declines to turn over the names.

Individuals are increasingly drawn in to this international legal mess because of a “voluntary disclosure” program the IRS launched in March and ending in September. In anticipation of receiving the accountholder names, the agency announced that it would allow individuals to come forward and admit to their previously undeclared overseas accounts. In exchange for their honesty, back taxes and a one-time fine, the IRS has promised not to prosecute these people or levy the full amount of fines they owe. This is considerably more lenient than the penalties they face if prosecuted, which could include prison time and confiscation of the entire foreign bank account. One tax attorney interviewed by the Post said there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of people with offshore accounts in Palm Beach County alone.

Balliro, Galasso, Leskovich & Seltzer is proud to represent accountholders at UBS and other offshore banks who need to negotiate with the IRS to maintain a clean record. The Post quoted several West Palm Beach tax evasion defense attorneys for a reason -- these accountholders typically need legal representation to make sure they are not risking further prosecution, and getting a fair deal, when they come forward. While some accountholders probably knew they were failing to pay taxes they legally owed, published reports and our own experience as Miami tax fraud criminal defense lawyers suggest that others had no idea they owed taxes on the money. We do not believe people should go to federal prison because they mistakenly trusted UBS and other financial professionals to do the right thing.

Continue reading "South Floridians Taking Advantage of IRS Voluntary Disclosure Program to Avoid Prosecution in UBS Case" »

Miami was hit with a double whammy last week -- multiple arrests in two separate investigations into alleged Medicare fraud. In the larger case, the Miami Herald said, 53 people in Miami, Detroit and Denver were indicted June 24 for conspiring to defraud Medicare. The alleged fraud ring included doctors, clinics and patients who were accused of billing the federal government for care not needed or not received. Later that week, on June 26, the Herald reported that eight Miamians were arrested by the FBI for a similar scam, involving home health care aides sent to “treat” people who said they were homebound. Authorities say the two schemes cost taxpayers $78 million.

The alleged Medicare fraud schemes used similar models. Health care businesses and health care providers would pay “patients” cash kickbacks to say they received expensive services such as in-home assistance for diabetics, HIV infusion therapy, medical equipment and physical therapy. The providers would then submit claims to Medicare for the phony care and pocket the eventual payments. In the larger case, the Herald also said providers used stolen Medicare and physician ID numbers to submit their claims. The problem is not limited to Miami, but according to the Herald, federal investigators focused on Miami because it has some of the highest Medicare costs in the nation, making it attractive to people willing to exploit Medicare’s “notoriously lax oversight.”

The articles also note that Medicare fraud is a concern for the Obama Administration, which is cracking down on fraud and waste in Medicare as part of its push for health care reform. At Balliro, Galasso, Leskovich & Seltzer, we read that to suggest that more arrests could be coming soon. While our Naples fraud criminal defense attorneys absolutely support efforts to find and eliminate fraud against the government, we are concerned, as always, that a politically motivated crackdown could catch up innocent health care providers -- and patients -- in its net. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes, and serious mistakes could be especially likely when investigators are rushed or under pressure to find fraud -- or seeking to build their own political popularity.

BGL&S defends people throughout South Florida who have been charged with all types of fraud crimes, including Medicare fraud. Medicare fraud is a federal crime carrying up to five years in prison, plus hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, for each false Medicare claim. Florida’s fraud laws can provide even greater penalties, depending on the circumstances. Penalties can add up very quickly for people facing multiple alleged false health care claims -- and those are just the criminal penalties. Doctors, nurses and other licensed health care professionals also face the devastating loss of their licenses and careers. If you’re facing these severe penalties for health care fraud, or believe you will be, you should call our Punta Gorda Medicare fraud criminal defense lawyers as soon as you can.

Founded by a group of former public defenders and prosecutors, BGL&S is committed to providing a complete and thorough defense to every case against our clients, no matter how big. If appropriate in your case, our Fort Lauderdale fraud criminal defense attorneys can help you defend your career and license as well as your criminal charges, or recommend someone who can. Unlike some South Florida criminal defense law firms, we aren’t afraid of going to trial to protect our clients’ rights, if appropriate -- we have taken hundreds of cases to trial. And because we know criminal charges can happen anytime, that’s when we’re available -- 24 hours a day and seven days a week. To learn more at a free, confidential consultation, please contact our West Palm Beach health care fraud criminal defense attorneys via email or call toll-free from anywhere within Florida at 1-866-ARRESTED.