Word: rothstein
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...Rothstein, his attorney and prosecutors won't discuss the terms of his plea deal. But if Rothstein does sing, says Zelden, he's "likely to name more Republicans" than Democrats because Rothstein gave the GOP the lion's share of his political donations - more than $600,000 from Rothstein and his law firm in the past five years. (Florida's Democratic Party got about $200,000.) "Republicans are the ones running the state today," Zelden notes...
...becomes the country's in at least one respect. The state's GOP Senate primary contest between Crist and former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio is widely considered a focal point of this year's internecine war between moderates and conservatives for control of the Republican Party. Should the Rothstein scandal leak into that powder keg, it could exacerbate what already promises to be a particularly nasty campaign on both sides before the August primary. (See the 25 crimes of the century...
...Rubio and his conservative backers have fixed political floodlights on a photo of Crist sharing a hug with President Obama last year as the governor welcomed federal stimulus money into Florida. But they probably won't be so eager to exploit the support Crist received from Rothstein (who, by the way, helped Crist blow out the candles on that $52,000 birthday cake), because some of those conservative boosters may well be shown to have received Rothstein's dirty largesse themselves. They could include GOP legislators in Tallahassee, where federal agents last month came calling to question politicians from both...
...feds thus far have only been able to recover assets valued at about a tenth of the Ponzi scheme's take. But Rothstein's alleged investor victims are hoping his guilty plea will mean improved chances of retrieving more of their lost money. "It helps because it means he can testify in civil trials now, and he's said he wants to help make things right," says Scherer. He has filed suit on behalf of victims against Rothstein and Toronto Dominion Bank, which handled the accounts Rothstein used to conduct the alleged Ponzi scheme. (TD Bank insists it exercised proper...
Many South Floridians, meanwhile, are hoping the Rothstein tragedy will wake the state up before it becomes a tropical Illinois. Sensing the growing outrage, Crist last month won approval to empower a special statewide grand jury focused on public corruption. Fort Lauderdale has been especially hard-hit recently by major scandals involving figures from sheriffs to school-board members. "I love Fort Lauderdale," Scherer says. "It's the biggest small town in America. But it's still got to learn that all that glitters is not gold." And that wannabes who glitter are often big trouble...