Feds pursuing more lawyers, campaign violation links in Rothstein Ponzi case

[Scurrilous]

Source: Miami Herald

Federal investigators are scrutinizing the records of Scott Rothstein's former employees -- who gave about $2.2 million to political candidates -- for potential campaign finance and other violations.

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"Lawyer Steven Lippman and his homemaker wife, Marcy, hadn't donated much to politicians before 2006 -- just $500 to former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, the Florida Democrat. But their generosity exploded after Lippman joined Scott Rothstein's law firm in Fort Lauderdale.

Over the next four years, the Plantation couple contributed about $247,000 to Gov. Charlie Crist's campaign for the U.S. Senate, the McCain-Palin presidential ticket and other politicians. The GOP redistributed some of the Lippmans' donations to Republican political committees in 2008 battleground states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio and Colorado.

Lippmann is among 30 lawyers in Rothstein's now-defunct firm -- along with 15 other employees, spouses and relatives -- who made about $2.2 million in state and federal campaign contributions as Rothstein executed his Ponzi scheme from 2005 to 2009, public records show.

Nearly 40 percent of that money went to the McCain-Palin 2008 campaign, which then passed along some of it to GOP political committees around the nation.

Now Lippman and others in Rothstein's 70-lawyer firm -- Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler -- have come under the scrutiny of federal investigators, according to sources familiar with the probe. They're examining Rothstein's use of money from his $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme to pay firm salaries and give huge bonuses to senior attorneys on the condition that they donate generously to his favorite politicians."

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/southflorida/story/1390992.html