Now way, and there's a perfectly good explanation:

"Despite disclosures by the bankruptcy trustee, at no time did my client make anywhere near $6 million,'' Lehr said.

Lehr declined to specify the exact salary, but said it's likely closer to the figure the court record cited for this year.

"When Rosenfeldt questionned earnings on his tax statements, he was told by Rothstein that this was phantom income through profits the firm was making buying and selling businesses with a hedge fund,'' Lehr said. "It is my understanding that all taxes were paid.''

Let me make sure I have this right -- "phantom income through profits that the firm was making buying and selling businesses with a hedge fund."

Dear lawyers of South Florida, many of whom are equity partners in a law practice -- WTF???

Can someone explain that or is the Ambien kicking in again?

Wow, what a weekend.

Lots of quotes to chew on:

"I don't know."

That's prosecutor Richard Scruggs, under questioning before Judge Butchko on his handling of the Pastor Smith case we wrote about last week. (The Judge suppressed two tape recordings, ruled that the conduct was "unprofessional" and even referenced Bill Clinton!)

“I don’t think he made us all look bad. I think he made lawyers wearing $5,000 suits and driving $500,000 cars look bad,” said David Markus, a Miami criminal defense attorney.

Ouch. Inestimable blogger extraordinare David Markus on you know who.

"People are going to do what they're going to do.''

Stu Rosenfeldt on the impending civil suits.

"Guess what? I'd like to make that."

Marc Nurik, on his client's alleged 2008 compensation of $35 million.

The house it leaks it needs a new top
When it rains it wets everything we got
The chimney fell down just the other day
But we're still a livin' so everything's okay.

Hank Williams Sr. as Luke the Drifter.

Welcome to Monday!

Stet Tin Report

So I was interested in seeing Judge Stettin's latest filing in bankruptcy court that details the finances at RRA.

You know, it's been a while since I've had a bankruptcy matter but I had completely forgotten how antiquated the CM/ECF system is over there.

It's like you're in a time warp and it's 1997 all over again.

Anyway, on page 5 the good Judge sets forth the salary structure at RRA for 2008 and through October 09, which the Sun-Sentinel also summarizes here:

Rothstein, chairman and CEO, pulled in $35.7 million in 2008 and $10.5 million up to Oct. 31 of this year.

Rosenfeldt, president and 50 percent partner, received more than $6 million in 2008 and $847,599 in the first 10 months of this year.

Russell Adler, vice president and name partner, was paid $888,318 last year and $853,666 through Oct. 31 this year.

Grant Smith, assistant managing shareholder, received $335,210 last year and $331,712 through October.

David Boden, general counsel, received compensation of $637,874 last year and $380,404 this year.

Given the current state of the firm’s books and records, Stettin wrote that it was impossible to establish the firm’s gross income.

Question -- Stu earned $6+ million in 08 as a fifty/fifty partner with Scott, who the same year earned nearly $36 million.

Huh? What did Stu think the revenues of the firm were? What did he think his earnings were based on -- or Scott's for that matter?

Adler, also a named partner but with no equity, took in around $800k both years, which is about all Stu had been earning for 09 thus far.

None of this makes any sense to me at all.

BTW, at 5 p.m. today the bankruptcy court will make an effort to join the 21st Century by migrating to new(er) CM/ECF system hardware.

In other words, Ervin is already getting results!

Actually, since our report yesterday Ervin has created a genuine Twitter account, though his tweets are protected -- just like he'll protect all of us when he becomes our next Bar President.

Glad we could be of service.

So I see from this Notice of Appearance that Stuart Rosenfeldt and Shawn L. Birken have formed a new form:

ROSENFELDT & BIRKEN, P.A.
1220 Riverland Road
Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33312
Direct Dial: 954-990-4459
Fax: 954-990-4469

Congrats gentlemen!

Who else came with you? Details please.

This part of John Pacenti's DBR article this morning was interesting:

The government confirmed through its filing that RRA employees accepted large work-related bonuses shortly after being instructed to make large campaign contributions to political candidates.

“Such conduct was designed to conceal the true sources of the contribution and to illegally circumvent campaign finance laws,” according to the filing signed by Sloman and three assistant U.S. attorneys.

When asked about that yesterday, Stu (who still hasn't learned to keep his pupik shut) said the following:

Rothstein law partner Stuart Rosenfeldt gave $150,000 to political committees to support Republican Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti and Democratic challenger Scott Israel last year. On Tuesday, Rosenfeldt said that came from his money, but he declined to say whether Rothstein directed him to make the contributions.

``I'm not going to comment on that stuff,'' Rosenfeldt said. ``Scott ran the place like a rooster. I don't think it's prudent to answer. It was my money.''

Stu, if it's "not prudent to answer" than why are you talking to the press?

Also, why then answer with two potentially contradictory things -- Scott "ran the place like a rooster" but "[i]t was my money."

It's not hard to find out more about political contributions on these here tubes.

Here are Kim's 2008 federally-reported contributions (about $100k), and here are Russell Adler's contributions.

Hmm, Russ donated $124k to the McCain-Palin Victory 2008 (barf) on October 21, 2008, whereas Stu donated $57k to the McCain-Palin Victory 2008 a whole six days later, on October 28, 2008.

Earlier, Russ donated $80k to the McCain-Palin Victory 2008 on June 12, 2008, whereas Stu donated $140k to the McCain-Palin Victory 2008 a whole two weeks before that, on May 28, 2008.

(For those keeping a scorecard, big bad Scottie donated $37.5k to the McCain-Palin Victory 2008 on October 14, 2008, and another $70k back on May 2, 2008.)

It's nice when partners share the same political interests, right?

BTW, in the prior Presidential campaign cycle, back in 2004, Stu donated a sum total of $5k to all candidates and campaign committees (oy with this Friends of Connie Mack).

By comparison, Scott donated a whopping $7.5k back in 2004.

What a difference four years make.

Well I hope everyone had a warm, loving, and peaceful Thanksgiving, and is now fighting over deals at Walmart -- that HDTV screen will only be on sale for two more hours!

I wonder if any meaning can be derived by looking at who is representing who in the Rothstein saga.

We know Scottie has loyal Marc Nurik, who recently has been cracking jokes and alternately acting as Scott's public psychologist:

"He did something that, when you think about it, is kind of extraordinary. He goes away to a country that has no extradition treaty with the U.S., reportedly, allegedly has a lot of money at his disposal, and chooses to come back and deal with this … I think because beneath it all, and not withstanding all the things that have been said about him, I believe that he is truly a decent human being, not withstanding flaws. I really do believe he did it out of, a true decent emotion to try to deal with this.''

Again, I have no problem with a public rehabilitation strategy. I just think, in the absence of other positive facts, this strategy is way too premature.

Marc would have you believe at the same time he is denying that Scott is cooperating with the feds and singing like a bird, Rothstein nonetheless has returned to "make everything right." How does that square up?

Rothstein's bankruptcy lawyer is Hinshaw's Michael D. Seese.

I agree with Bob Norman that Bill Scherer's amended complaint is an interesting read but a bit of a mess.

It is 289 pages long and asserts 245 counts. To be honest it reads like a placeholder, an effort to "occupy the field" and get in front of the other civil suits coming down the pike. Somebody at some point definitely needs to edit that thing.

Let's see -- Bob Josefsberg is representing Banyon COO Frank J. Preve -- what could that mean?

Bruce Lehr is representing Big Stu, Fred Haddad has Russ Adler's back, and Neal Sonnett is representing Grant Smith.

Russ even recently appeared in court on behalf of former Judge Seidlin.

It's a small town, huh?

Hi kids, it's a short week and we have lots to do so let's see what is going on in the world:

Rothstein may have had extraordinarily bad taste but his partner in crime is worse:

The other was the late Stuart Rado, a consumer watchdog who died of cancer before the Classic Motor Carriages sentencing in 1999.

Rado’s estate attorney said in a statement that GGL’s tactics included “silencing” its critics and filing two lawsuits against Rado, even though the company knew Rado was dying of cancer.

Nice. Who was the lawyer who did what George Levin asked and sued a dying man for attorney's fees?

My favorite comment from the weekend was this Sarah Palin fan waiting in line at a book signing, who said this about President Obama:

“He isn’t governing, he’s still campaigning,” said Joe Miller, a lab technician who had taken a vacation day to wait in line Thursday at a Meijer superstore in Fort Wayne.

Joe, you realize that the person you have been waiting all day for actually quit governing in order to make a lot of money, go on a megabook tour, and campaign for 2012?

Sigh -- my head hurts.

What else -- the BigLaw biz sucks:

Among the top 75 law firms, 15 had reductions of more than 100 lawyers. Of the top 50, seven cut more than 200 attorneys. The firm with the largest percentage decrease was No. 95 Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson, which declined by 26.4 percent to 468 attorneys from 636 in 2008. Last year, the firm held the No. 58 slot in the rankings.

I've heard more unconfirmed reports, so anyone with more information please drop me a line.

Do you care that Judge Marra ruled on a motion to dismiss or that the 11th affirmed Judge Altonaga? No, you just want more and more Rothstein.

What about the fact that Stu Rosenfeldt, under investigation by the Florida Bar, was just named one of Broward's "leaders of the year":

Rosenfeldt formed a new firm with attorney Shawn Birken. He said he’d like to avoid being dragged into the legal morass his law partner created, but to some extent he knows he will be.

“I didn’t plan it this way,’’ he said. “ … I guess you just have to follow the path that life leads you. … God has a plan. Hopefully He’ll show it to me.’’

Oh boy.

I think I liked "Clueless Stu" better.

Happy Monday campers.

Sad news as retired Judge Leonard Rivkind passed away Saturday. I think it's fair to say everyone has a Judge Rivkind story, and they are all positive. He touched many of us by being a smart, caring, compassionate judge, who will be dearly missed. Services will be at 11 a.m this morning at Riverside on Alton.

It was interesting to see the architect of RRA's crisis management team, Charles Jones, hold forth on the media strategy he crafted (in today's SFBJ but for some reason I can't find a link):

The team opened "constant communications" between Rosenfeldt and the media -- from influential bloggers to The Wall Street Journal -- promising exclusives to no one, and saying nothing "off the record," Jones said. The goal was to nip rumors, and "present an atmosphere of transparency."

I previously described Stu's approach as one of transparency, but wasn't very sure it was working well.

Indeed, it appears it was Jones' idea to give the grand tour of Scott's lair:

"Many people asked how is it possible that the attorneys didn't know about Mr. Rothstein's alleged activities?'' said spokesman Charles Jones. "We attempted to describe how Mr. Rothstein walled himself off from the firm. We believed the only way to get that message through was to show the layout of the office and the security system.''

Many people -- including myself -- questioned this approach.

It's interesting that after Stu's muddled comments back on November 5, he has been quiet in terms of the media, and it appears the "transparency" strategy has been retired in favor of a "lawyer up and stay silent" approach.

And let me say this -- if I start writing emails like this or start behaving like this, you have full authority to remove me from any positions of authority:

His sartorial choices, for starters, drew attention: alligator shoes; hand-painted ties, including one that resembled a pepperoni pizza, and dyed-orange Ostrich-skinned boots, colleagues say.

Ronald Cacciatore, who used to work for Mr. Rothstein as a private investigator, says he bumped into the attorney this year wearing a dark suit "with bright gold pinstripes as thick as my pinkie." The attorney, he says, was flocked by a driver and security guards. "He grabbed me and kissed me on both cheeks," Mr. Cacciatore says.

The stocky, 5-foot-6-inch lawyer was routinely spotted at his Fort Lauderdale haunts such as Ultimate Cigars, where he smoked $40 Padron Aniversario Nicaraguan cigars, according to the shop's owner. He would pull up in anything from a Bentley to a Rolls Royce to a blue Bugatti Veyron, which retails for more than $1.5 million.

Colleagues say they alternately recoiled from and reveled in Mr. Rothstein's exploits. The attorney was often the life of the party, picking up the tab for elaborate bashes, and playing piano and singing for his guests, according to partygoers. At one party, Mr. Rothstein set up a 20-foot long ice bar at his house, with a giant ice sculpture of the law firm's "RRA" slogan, embedded with purple lighting, says Mr. Sharp, the former attorney at the firm. "Waiters were walking around with shrimp as big as your head," he says.

Depends on the head, right?

Let me tell you what -- if I have to write another post about Scott Rothstein I'm going to wire $16 million to Morocco, hop on a G-5, and drop a dime on Charlie Crist.

So now the circular firing squad is forming, led perhaps by Mark Raymond:

Mark F. Raymond, an attorney who specializes in securities litigation at Broad and Cassel, said one investor told him that Rosenfeldt was at an initial meeting in March 2009, at which Rothstein explained structured settlements.

Rosenfeldt disputed that account.

"I never met with any of the settlement funding investors where such business was discussed,'' he said in an e-mail.

Raymond also said that David Boden, an attorney who worked out of the law office on Rothstein's investment dealings, was at the March meeting. "He was the point person for Rothstein on structured settlements,'' he said.

Picking up on my comments from yesterday, Fred Grimm puts it more bluntly and (even throws in a Woody Allen joke):

"I'm no genius,'' he said. ``I'm just an ordinary guy.'' But Sakowitz recognized fundamental flaws that should have been obvious to the lawyers, investors and politicians hovering around Rothstein. But they were in the same fix as the fellow in the old Woody Allen joke whose brother thought he was a chicken. He knew his brother was insane but he needed the eggs.

I'm willing to believe Stu, but does anyone know who is representing him personally? I'm not sure he's coming off that good:

"I didn't know I had control over the distribution of the [investment] funds,'' he added. ``I don't know if that letter is real. I don't know if he communicated with [the bank] about my authority. I was a signatory on a host of accounts.''

I shot the clerk???

Stuart, stop talking so much. You need to cease making statements to the press and retain a very good lawyer to help sort this out -- someone like this guy.

How many news cycles can this story dominate?

Scott, this scandal has officially joined the list of Things That I Hate -- in no particular order:

1. Flatbread;
2. The Case That Dare Not Speak Its Name;
3. Any current or former lovers of Drew Barrymore;
4. Metadata;
5. Flavored vodka;
6. Jeremy Piven and/or Brett Ratner;
7. Pesto wraps;
8. Certain Herald TV critics (Glenn was right about V however -- it rocked).

Oh the melodrama:

Rothstein mused that he had three options -- kill himself, live life "on the lam as a fugitive'' or go to prison and risk being killed there because he had made enemies, said the law firm's co-founder, Stuart Rosenfeldt, according to the website. Rosenfeldt talked to Rothstein, urging him to "choose life.''

I bet that's the first time a George Michael T shirt saved a high-powered lawyer from suicide.

Scott seems to possess a perfect storm of characteristics -- talented yet narcissistic, delusions of grandeur, persecution complex, excessive displays of wealth even by South Florida standards, megalomania and a sense that the entire world revolves around him -- in other words, your typical successful South Florida trial lawyer.

Consider the stories coming out -- private elevators, a car fetish, carrying a gun in an ankle holster, blowing $10 million a month.

Indeed, look at the comments section of Bob Norman's "Jewish Avenger" story -- there is definitely something not right about the way Scott engages Norman.

Are there some chemical or other disorders at work here?

Now that he's down, it seems everyone has a negative Rothstein story -- yet some of these folks sat on their feelings or refused to act on them, no?

Roger Stone now says Scott "never added up"; Bill Scherer says "[w]e all wondered where the money came from"; Michael Goldberg says Scott's spending "made no sense." Sunshine Charlie says "I think everybody heard rumors."

My friend Brian Tannebaum wonders how in this recession a firm can go from seven lawyers to seventy and no one questions why or how?

He relates a story of how he drove 40 minutes to meet with Scott for lunch, only to be totally stiffed:

I never met Scott Rothstein. He ducked out a few minutes before our lunch a few years ago. His secretary telling me and his colleague, who set up the lunch: "he went to lunch." There was no further inquiry as we were not entitled to even be standing by his office, an "off-limits" area of the firm. Instead I went to lunch with some other lawyers in the firm who felt they needed to take pity on me for my wasted 40 minute drive, all of them telling me in response to the unprofessional behavior of their king: "I'm not surprised." "That's Scott."

These out-of-control legal types, of which I know many, all have enablers -- those who justify, excuse, or clean up the mess left by the large lives of the bosses they serve, and who not coincidentally benefit from being near to the flame.

Now we know that a seventy lawyer firm, with only two equity partners, really only had one -- as Stuart Rosenfeldt apparently had no signatory authority on certain firm accounts and there is suddenly only $500k left in the firm's operating account.

Judge Streitfeld called Rosenfeldt "clueless" about the firm's finances at a hearing yesterday. Stuart has since invested a large chunk of his own money to keep salaries paid and the firm afloat.

There are lots of victims here, including many many fine lawyers at RRA, but a few of us in the South Florida legal and business communities should probably step up and acknowledge we could have been a bit more proactive on what some apparently suspected all along.

Sheesh, media coverage of our friend Scott Rothstein is reaching almost canoodling beach priest levels -- but without the sexy bikini photos.

Raise your hand if you think Scott is returning today from his sojourn in exotic Morocco.

(tumbleweed blows slowly across vacant western town.....)

Ok, me neither, but this one is far from over.

It's interesting to see Rothstein's 50 percent equity partner Stuart Rosenfelt's public statements about this mess. I like this one from the WSJ:

"Scott was good at spending money, but he wasn't that good," Mr. Rosenfeldt said, alluding to Mr. Rothstein's flamboyant lifestyle.

And this one:

"When I met Scott he was already rich," Mr. Rosenfeldt said. "He told me he made a killing on stock." But, Mr. Rosenfeldt adds, "I now have to examine everything [Mr. Rothstein] told me."

Yep, I would say that's a pretty good idea.

BTW, the photo above is of Scott in his $5k suit.

Is it just me or did he way overpay?

Jim DeFede has more here.

Plus, if you want to see the kind of work product Kendall can put together in a weekend, you can read Coffey's short but (bitter)sweet complaint on behalf of the firm here.