Time For A Blogger Ethics Panel!

With all the crazy and sometimes illegal doings in Broward lately, I can't believe the Broward County Bar Association has decided to devote time and effort to investigating a blog:

A Broward County Bar Association committee will meet to determine whether the legal blog JAABlog — the premiere place for courthouse gossip — meets its professional standards.

The professionalism committee plans to hold a closed-door meeting April 1 at the behest of association president Carlos Llorente.

JAABlog, run by criminal defense attorney Bill Gelin, posts quick takes on courthouse flaps, urges lawyers to run for election against incumbents, rails against a planned courthouse and calls for reform in a system that imprisons a disproportionate number of black people.

Since the blog’s launch in 2006, Gelin has become a fixture at high-profile hearings and meetings. He said he has not been told whether he will be allowed to attend the committee meeting.

Llorente said he did not really pay attention to the blog until he learned its comment section was populated by anonymous posts, ostensibly from the site’s heaviest readership: lawyers and judges.

The association’s rules of professional standards state lawyers are not allowed to criticize judges, opposing counsel, parties or witnesses because it could cast the justice system in a bad light.

Does this strike anyone else as slightly bone-headed?

Here's the proferred explanation:

“I have no problem with him being a journalist,” Llorente said. “If he wants to be an expose-type journalist, so be it. But do it as a journalist. Don’t pose as a lawyer with an inside knowledge.”

When asked what is specifically offensive about the blog, Llorente said he would withhold comment until he hears from the professionalism committee.

Oy.

Let me offer a prediction: by convening such a panel the BCBA likely will do more to discredit and denigrate their own organization than anything some goofball could ever post anonymously on a blog.

Who Are "The Others"?

Jordana Mishory lays out the forfeiture complaint filed against Scott Rothstein in today's DBR:

Prosecutors said they had probable cause to believe the properties “were acquired in connection with a Ponzi scheme conducted by attorney Scott Rothstein ... and others,” the complaint said. It was filed at the end of a day after federal agents seized Rothstein’s yacht, cars and other possessions.

In the first court document laying out the direction prosecutors are heading, the complaint said Rothstein solicited investors for falsified structured settlements. The civil complaint lays out federal authority by alleging wire transfers crossed state lines and the investment vehicles were offered nationally.

Reading the complaint, it seems implausible Rothstein could generate false wire transfer receipts and other documents all by himself:

"Further, as a fraudulent inducement to investors, Rothstein and co-conspirators falsified documents which were present to investors as proof that certain some of money were contained in those bank accounts when, in fact, the bank accounts did not contain the funds."

Indeed, at several times the complaint makes reference to Rothstein "and others" who executed the alleged Ponzi scheme. Notably, the complaint alleges that the victims were instructed to wire monies to the RRA trust account.

The complaint seems at odds with Marc's comments to the SFBJ yesterday, where he asserted that the seizures were just a routine effort to preserve assets:

He said seizures of Rothstein’s cars and boats were only done to preserve the assets, and do not mean the government has a strong case.

The Herald story David links to is not even a Ponzi scheme, it's just a straight-out alleged lawyer fraud, again difficult in my mind to execute without assistance:

Ed and Carol Morse -- who were family friends with Rothstein -- sued Boca Raton decorator Jan Jones in 2006 claiming he botched their job. Rothstein told the Morses earlier this year that they had won the breach-of-contract case and that the decorator owed them $23 million, sources said.

It wasn't true. In fact, the Morses lost the case.

Rothstein also produced purported federal court orders signed by a judge, saying the Morses could claim the judgment by seizing a Cayman Islands bank account belonging to the decorator, sources said.

There were no such court orders, nor any fat bank account, court records show.

To confiscate the money, the Fort Lauderdale lawyer allegedly told the Morses they had to post a bond 2 ½ times larger than the judgment, or $57 million, the sources said. The large amount was required as a guarantee in case bank officials confiscated the judgment from the wrong account, Rothstein told them.

So the couple wired the $57 million to Rothstein in installments earlier this year, the sources said. It is not clear whether Rothstein paid any of that money back.

Forged federal court orders? Is Scott that good with Wordperfect?

On top of everything else, after allegedly taking $57 million from the Morses, Rothstein apparently settled the suit and obligated the Morses to pay the decorator $800k(!), which naturally has not yet been satisfied either.

You know, by my count Scott has already given three interviews -- to the Herald, to Bob Norman, and to WSVN. He also briefly spoke with the DBR.

So I feel it's my turn.

Scott, if you are reading this, I'd like to conduct an interview.

Huh? Don't be such a narcissist.

It doesn't have to be an interview with you.

UPDATE: Bob Norman is reporting that -- solely according to Scott -- Judge Zloch's brother Chuck is one of Scott's three "best friends."

Not sure if that is good or bad (Ted Morse was another one).