South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Lawyer imprisoned in Rothstein Ponzi scheme scandal dies at 66
Stuart Rosenfeldt, a Boca Raton lawyer who went to prison in one of the biggest legal and financial scandals in South Florida history, has died. He was 66.
The cause of death has not been released.
He had been a partner in the Fort Lauderdale law firm of Rothstein, Rosenfeldt and Adler, which collapsed in 2009 amid a federal investigation that exposed a giant Ponzi scheme run out of the firm’s Las Olas Boulevard offices. Scott Rothstein, the operation’s mastermind, was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Rosenfeldt, a highly regarded labor lawyer, founded the firm with Rothstein in 2002, with just seven lawyers. It grew to one of the biggest and most profitable law firms in South Florida, with top partners enjoying what Rothstein described as the “rock star lifestyle.”
But indication began to emerge that this was not a normal law firm. The firm’s offices were protected by an elaborate internal security system, and Rothstein employed off-duty police officers to provide him with 24-hour protection. As FBI and Treasury Department agents closed in, Rothstein flew by private jet to Morocco, where he contemplated suicide. Rosenfeldt, his partner from the early days, talked and texted with him, urging him to “choose life.”
Rosenfeldt, who received a gift of a Ferrari from Rothstein, claimed he never knew about the Ponzi operation, in which investors were lured into putting up money to buy legal settlements from plaintiffs who preferred a lump sum than waiting for payments over time. The legal settlements turned out to be fabricated, and Rothstein was using money from new investors to pay off old investors.
Rosenfeldt was accused of making illegal political campaign contributions, participating in bank fraud and using off-duty police officers to threaten a prostitute and her boyfriend who were threatening to expose
Rosenfeldt’s involvement with her. He acknowledged his crimes and pleaded guilty in 2014 to criminal conspiracy. He was sentenced to 33 months in prison.
Rosenfeldt testified that he ran up about $1 million in credit card charges, which lawsuits say he spent on jewelry, vacations, pursuing his hobby of collecting reptiles and other expenses.
“During his partnership with Scott, like so many others also involved, Stuart lost his way,” Rosenfeldt’s wife, Susanne Rosenfeldt, wrote in a pre-sentencing letter to the judge. “If I thought for one minute, however, that his essential character even approximated the person portrayed in various legal documents and articles, I wouldn’t be writing you a letter. He is not that person. He was, and is, the warm and loving person I married; this is why we remain married.”