23Dec

    South Florida Law Firm Convicted Of Fraud

    Derek ByrdThis month, six attorneys were convicted in a case that included a billion dollar fraud from partners and lawyers at a South Florida firm. The organization’s ex administrator helped prosecutors pin down the attorneys involved in the scheme, in exchange for cutting down her prison stay from ten to five years. 

    The administrator, Debra Villagas, is now working with prosecutors in order to appeal her plea bargain to the U.S. District Judge William Zloch.  However, if Villagas and her lawyers succeed, that would mean that the firm’s CFO would also be released sooner than expected  in the upcoming year. 

    The former partner of Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler, is scheduled to serve a 50 year sentence in the federal prison system, but insiders are saying that his time might also be cut short if he chooses to cooperate with federal agents. 

    Villagas has helped convict a total of six lawyers from RRA, one from another firm in South Florida and civilians who are not involved in the justice system. Villaga’s scheduled court date in relation to the Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler  case interfered with her appearance in court for her husband’s murder case.

    In a report by the Sun Sentinel, a former county sheriff lieutenant was also placed under arrest for acting as one of Rothstein’s “enforcers.” In a claim, the lieutenant was accused of falsely arresting the ex- spouse of one of Rothstein’s lawyers in order for him to gain full custody of his son. This all came into light after Villegas was placed under questioning from federal agents. 

    After RRA’s case became public in 2008, the firm went through a great deal of financial difficulties, until it  declared bankruptcy in early 2009. The investors who were deceived by the law firm, were awarded close to $67 million on behalf of disbarred attorney Scott Rothstein. 

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