Two More Rothstein Associates Charged

Employees of defunct law firm face conspiracy charges in $1.2 billion scheme

Two more employees of convicted Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein's defunct law firm are facing charges related to the $1.2 billion scam, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Thursday.

William Boockvor, 66, and Marybeth Feiss, 42, both former employee of Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler, are facing conspiracy charges related to the massive scheme.

Boockvor, of Deerfield Beach, who performed various administrative functions including bookkeeping at RRA, is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Feiss, of Fort Lauderdale, who was Rothstein's administrative assistant, is charged with conspiracy to violate the Federal Election Campaign Act and to defraud the United States.

Prosecutors say Boockvor gave TD Bank employees "falsely inflated bank statements of RRA's trust accounts" and provided those statements to a co-conspirator who posed a TD Bank employee who met with investors.

Feiss is accused of helping Rothstein circumvent federal campaign finance laws, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Prosecutors say Rothstein had Feiss and others at the firm make political contributions, then reimbursed the employees with checks that were disguised as bonuses or miscellaneous expenses.

"Rothstein bundled these contributions to contribute more than $1 million on behalf of RRA to various political committees associated with John McCain’s presidential election campaign," the U.S. Attorney's Office said, resulting in Rothstein's being named a delegate to the 2008 Republican National Convention and getting appointed to the Judicial Nominating Committee for the State of Florida.

Both Boockvor and Feiss face a maximum of five years in prison. It was unknown whether either has an attorney.

Rothstein pleaded guilty in January 2010 to five charges stemming from the scheme, which was used to fund his lavish lifestyle, which included several businesses, large homes and luxury sports cars.
 
He is currently serving a 50-year prison sentence at an undisclosed location.  

Five other associates of Rothstein have pleaded guilty in the scheme, including RRA's chief operating officer Debra Villegas, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison last October. Former partner Howard Kusnick received a two-year sentence and associate Stephen Caputi received a five-year sentence.

In September, Curtis Renie and William Corte, computer technicians who helped Rothstein set up a fake bank website to dupe investors, were sentenced to 37 months in federal prison.

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