Just weeks before his $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme unraveled, schemer Scott Rothstein was angling for the open Florida Senate seat.
This according to political consultant Roger Stone, who gave a deposition yesterday as lawyers are seeking any money from Rothstein's scheme to pay back creditors.
"I think that there was a very brief time in which Scott himself considered whether this was something that he wanted," Stone said, according to the Sun-Sentinel. "I think he was more interested in being mentioned, which as you know has a value in the political and legal community."
Rothstein and Stone had formed a political consulting company in 2005 but it wasn't until last August, when Mel Martinez announced his resignation, that Rothstein began to entertain the notion of getting into politics himself.
Stone said Rothstein was considering asking close friend Gov. Charlie Crist to appoint him to the seat, which Crist himself is looking to grab this year.
Instead, the seat went to Crist confidante George LeMieux, and two months later, Rothstein was returning from Morocco to face the music.
The main point of yesterday's deposition was about the source of Rothstein's money, which Stone said puzzled even him. Stone said he went to far as to hire a private eye to look into Rothstein's funding.
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"I had my own suspicions that everything was not on the up and up. If you like a red Lamborghini, that's fine, but why must you also buy it in yellow?" Stone said. "Scott's spending became so profligate and so over the top and you had no discernible track record of business success.
"I'm speaking of a larger tendency of Scott to act like Rodney Dangerfield in ‘Caddyshack,' and just throw money around. The volume of it got to the point where it made no sense."
Stone was questioned about thousands of dollars he was paid for political consulting, as well as a $60,000 "loan" from the Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler law firm.
Stone said whenever he asked Rothstein about his funding, he got vague answers.
"He would say, ‘hedge funds,'" Stone said.
Rothstein, 47, pleaded guilty to racketeering, money laundering and fraud. He'll be facing a maximum of 100 years behind bars when he's sentenced on May 6.
Stone said Rothstein, who owned multiple homes and businesses and loved flashy cars and jewelry craved the spotlight.
"He had an amazing ability to become the center of attention no matter where he was," Stone said. "If it involved, yelling, waving his arms and making animal noises, that's what he would do. He would often call you, make animal noises and hang up. That was his idea of a joke."
