Disbarred Florida Lawyer Gets 50 Years for Ponzi Scheme

Scott Rothstein, the disbarred South Florida attorney who admitted to operating a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme, was sentenced to 50 years in prison by a Florida judge Wednesday.

The sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge James I. Cohn was actually longer than the 40 years prosecutors had been seeking. Rothstein, 48, was hoping for a 30-year sentence given the fact he offered extensive cooperation with investigators.

Reuters reports Rothstein’s scheme, which first began to disintegrate last fall, involved selling investors discounted stakes in fraudulent settlements of sexual-harassment and whistleblower lawsuits. He promised investors the full proceeds once the cases were settled, but instead Rothstein used money from new investors to pay back old ones.

The money Rothstein acquired from the scheme was used to fund his 70-attorney law firm, Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler , as well as a lavish lifestyle that included at least two dozen homes.

Rothstein admitted to the scheme in January.