Scott Rothstein Gets 50 Years in Federal Prison for Orchestrating Florida Ponzi Scheme

Scott Rothstein, a lawyer in Fort Lauderdale, who purportedly was running a powerhouse law firm that, at one time, was seemingly expanding offices faster than any law firm in Florida, was sentenced today to 50 years in federal prison for coordinating one of Florida’s largest Ponzi frauds ever. United District Judge James Cohn, somewhat surprisingly, imposed a decade longer sentence than prosecutors and the defense had requested for the $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme. Here, the judge was clearly sending a message that white-collar crime will not be tolerated and ruins the lives of many investors when such a fraud is perpetrated.