We wonder what scheme Scott Rothstein will be able to come up with in prison to cover the $363 million in restitution he owes his victims?
A judge ordered the enormous restitution payment Monday, ruling Rothstein must pay for stealing money from clients who thought they were investing in a sure thing, but instead were part of a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme.
Rothstein is currently in prison, serving his 50-year sentence, but attorneys said he is working. We're not sure what he is doing - making license plates, prison barber, commissary accountant - but whatever he makes goes toward the big payback.
The judge actually ordered more than what the nearly 300 investors were looking for. They claimed they were owed about $320 million in restitution.
But it's unlikely bilked victims will ever fully be compensated for the money they lost. They'll be lucky to recover a tenth of that, an expert told the Sun-Sentinel.
"My guess is they have somewhere between $25 and $30 million. That would be my guess, if they retrieved the money from Morocco already," Fort Lauderdale attorney Michael Goldberg told the Sun-Sentinel.
That Morocco money is the $16 million in cash that Rothstein is believed to have wired to the country shortly before he hopped on a private plane and made his escape there.
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Rothstein came back of course, plead guilty and was sentenced to 50 years behind bars.
Authorities have spent months liquidating his properties, sold his cars and boats and jewelry and sports memorabilia and basically everything else worth a dime, but it's still not enough to pay back all the folks who've lined up for their piece.
U.S. District Judge James Cohn, who is overseeing the Rothstein criminal case, is now tasked with seeing who gets what -- and it won't be easy.
In addition to the 294 investors who claim they're out $317 million, there are another 17 claims for $74 million which prosecutors are disputing and 15 others for $12.5 million that are partially in dispute.
Cohn is expected to divide the money between investors equally. Investors who aren't seeking restitution in the criminal case are filing bankruptcy lawsuits.
The number of people bilked by Rothstein is extensive, making untangling the complicated mess quite a task.
"There are a lot of moving parts. You just have to get through the process," Goldberg told the Sun-Sentinel.
