The federal government moved in Monday to seize property that belonged to ousted Fort Lauderdale, Fla., law firm Chairman Scott Rothstein, who is under federal investigation for allegedly running a Ponzi scheme that investors say cost them $500 million or more. The government took charge of a chunk of Gibraltar Private Bank & Trust stock and cars that Rothstein owned or gave as gifts to his former law partners.
FBI and Internal Revenue Service agents spent much of the day taking inventory at Rothstein’s $6.4 million Fort Lauderdale home, where several of his luxury cars and boats were kept. News photographers captured images of a Ferrari being towed away. Rothstein faces no criminal charges, but assets typically are seized in fraud investigations to be available for sale later to repay wronged investors.
