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06/04/2010

A new kind of payback was on display this week in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., as many still holding a grudge against Ponzi-scheme operator Scott Rothstein bid for the chance to take home his toys.

A Thursday auction for Rothstein’s luxury vehicles and yachts played host to several attendees who “said they felt betrayed or cheated by Rothstein,” the South Florida Business Journal reported, and considered their offers “a small way to recover something they lost in the disbarred attorney’s $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme.”

A businessman from Fort Lauderdale recounted how Rothstein - a founder of law firm Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler PA, which is now being liquidated in bankruptcy - failed to follow through with a promise to provide a local anticrime organization with a $100,000 reward. With the betrayal still fresh in his mind, the businessman, Alan Winter, was now turning his attention to a 1967 Corvette convertible, the publication said.

In total, the auction brought in $5.8 million, including the $2.51 million price tag for an 87-foot yacht named “Princess Kimberly” in honor of Rothstein’s wife. One rare car, a 2008 Bugatti Veyron, sold for $858,000, while a 2010 Lamborghini was purchased for $382,000. The latter car was still a steal, according to figures from Car and Buyer, which estimated it cost $457,500 new, according to the South Florida Business Journal.

Rothstein, whose estate is being liquidated in bankruptcy, was arrested last year on charges of using his law firm to run a Ponzi scheme. Since then, Rothstein has pleaded guilty to such felony charges as wire fraud and racketeering. He is slated to be sentenced June 9.

Rachel Feintzeig, Wall Street Journal

http://blogs.wsj.com/bankruptcy/2010/06/04/getting-even-at-a-bankruptcy-auction/?KEYWORDS=rothstein+auction

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