Former Rothstein Employees Indicted In Ponzi Scheme
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Two former employees of convicted Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein were indicted Thursday in connection with his $1.4 billion Ponzi scheme.
William Boockvor, 66, of Deerfield Beach, was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Prosecutors say Boockvor was a bookkeeper at Rothstein's now defunct law firm and helped trick investors into believing the dummy bank accounts Rothstein set up were real.
Marybeth Feiss, 42, of Fort Lauderdale, was charged with conspiracy to violate the Federal Election Campaign Act and to defraud the United States. Feiss was Rothstein's administrative assistant. The feds say she helped coordinate illegal campaign contributions from Rothstein's law firm to a variety of political candidates, most notably, John McCain's presidential election campaign. As a result of the contributions, Rothstein was named a delegate to the 2008 Republican National Convention and was appointed as a member of the Judicial Nominating Committee for the State of Florida.
U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer stated, "The tentacles of Rothstein's billion dollar Ponzi scheme reached far and wide. Rothstein relied on many people to facilitate his fraud. Until today, we had charged six individuals for their roles in this massive scheme. Today's charges bring the tally to eight defendants, including federal campaign finance charges resulting from the illegal reimbursement of campaign contributions to RAA employees. But we are not done yet."
If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum statutory sentence of up to five years in prison.
"Scott Rothstein created the 4th largest Ponzi scheme, which William Boockvor and others helped perpetuate. But Rothstein's greed wasn't limited to the Ponzi scheme," said John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge for FBI's Miami Office. "Rothstein tried to buy political influence with the money he stole from the Ponzi scheme to contribute millions of dollars to political campaigns. He circumvented campaign finance laws by reimbursing various associates like Marybeth Feiss for donating the maximum allowed to select campaigns, thus concealing the true source of the funds."
Both Boockvor and Feiss are cooperating with authorities and are expected to surrender next week.
