FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Former NFL star Warren Sapp, some of America’s biggest banks and tax collectors from Florida to Rhode Island are laying claim to a piece of the collapsed empire of disbarred attorney Scott Rothstein, who is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to operating a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme.
U.S. District Judge James Cohn began sorting through the claims Friday, including one from the bankruptcy trustee for Rothstein’s defunct law firm who says more than $469 million is being sought by investors and creditors. Cohn said he hoped to settle the claims — a list of 46 expected to grow larger — by the end of August.
“I intend to put these claims on the front burner,” Cohn said.
The question involves which of Rothstein’s former assets — including dozens of pieces of real estate and homes, business interests, luxury vehicles, yachts, jewelry and bank accounts — should be forfeited to the U.S. government and which should go to individuals, banks or companies who claim they are the true owners.
For example, Wachovia bank contends that it owns a $2.75 million commercial property in Pompano Beach. Rothstein’s former law partner, Russell Adler, says a downtown New York condominium is “100 percent” his and has no link to the Ponzi scheme. Tax collectors in Miami- Dade and Palm Beach counties in Florida and the town of Narragansett, R.I., are demanding taxes owed on several Rothstein-related properties.
Sapp, a seven-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman, is seeking return of more than $102,000 from an unspecified legal settlement that was held in the law firm’s trust accounts.
