Guilty Plea Entered by One of Five Individuals Charged in Plot to Conceal and Dispose of Assets in Connection with Rothstein Case

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and José A. Gonzalez, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CID), announced that Scott F. Saidel, 45, pled guilty today to conspiracy to commit money laundering in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, before the Honorable Judge Robin S. Rosenbaum. Sentencing has been scheduled for June 7, 2013 at 9:00 a.m.

Saidel was charged, along with Kimberly Wendell Rothstein, 38, and Stacie Weisman, 49, in September 2012 in connection with certain crimes committed in furtherance of a plot to conceal and dispose of assets that were forfeitable as proceeds of a Ponzi scheme orchestrated by Scott W. Rothstein. At the same time, in September, Eddy Marin, 50, and Patrick Daoud, 54, were also charged in a separate, but related, matter with obstruction of justice and perjury, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1512(k) and 1621.

According to the documents filed with the court, former Ft. Lauderdale attorney Scott W. Rothstein, who was the chief executive officer and chairman of the law firm of Rothstein, Rosenfeldt and Adler P.A. (RRA), used the funds obtained from the operation of a Ponzi scheme to purchase tens of millions of dollars of real estate, vehicles, vessels, business interests, luxury watches, jewelry, and sports memorabilia for himself, his wife Kimberly Rothstein, and others. As part of his plea agreement, Scott W. Rothstein agreed to forfeit to the government all assets acquired with funds derived through the aforesaid Ponzi scheme. On November 9, 2009, agents of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations went to the Rothstein residence, where Kimberly Rothstein assisted the agents in retrieving what was believed to be all the available cash, jewelry, and luxury watches that had previously been purchased by Scott W. Rothstein with proceeds derived from the Ponzi scheme. However, according to Ccourt documents, before, during, and after the aforesaid seizure by federal agents on November 9, 2009, Kimberly Rothstein, Stacie Weisman, and Scott F. Saidel knowingly took action to conceal certain items of jewelry, valued in excess of one million dollars, for the purpose of preventing the government from exercising its authority to take such property into its lawful custody and control. Thereafter, Kimberly Rothstein and Stacie Weisman sold and attempted to sell a portion of this jewelry to and through various persons, including Eddy Marin and Patrick Daoud.

The documents further allege that, in connection with civil proceedings instituted by the trustee in bankruptcy for RRA, all the defendants took steps to obstruct justice by concealing the true location of certain items of jewelry in order to prevent its availability for use in the bankruptcy proceedings. It is further alleged that Marin and Daoud committed perjury during depositions in connection with the bankruptcy proceedings and that Kimberly Rothstein, Stacie Weisman and Scott F. Saidel sought to have Scott W. Rothstein testify falsely in connection with those proceedings.

Defendants Eddy Marin and Patrick Daoud are set to commence trial on April 8, 2013.

U.S. Attorney Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of IRS-CID and FBI. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lawrence LaVecchio, Jeffrey Kaplan, Paul Schwartz and Evelyn Sheehan.