Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Donnell Young, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), and George L. Piro, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office, announce the filing of charges against David Boden, 52, of Hallandale Beach, and Richard L. Pearson, 57, of Miami, for conspiring to commit wire fraud in connection with the operation of the former Fort Lauderdale law firm of Rothstein, Rosenfeldt and Adler, P.A. (RRA). In 2009, it was discovered that RRA was being utilized by its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Scott W. Rothstein, to commit a massive Ponzi scheme stemming from the sale of fictitious confidential settlements.

According to the information which was filed earlier today, Boden was an attorney who, in April 2008, began employment at RRA as a non-equity shareholder. Pearson agreed to act as a broker for Rothstein’s settlements. In February 2009, Boden began assisting Pearson in the sale of the settlements. Pearson would receive a sales commission from Rothstein derived from the money paid by the investor, and would pay a portion of that sales commission to Boden for his services. Beginning in September 2009, a group of investors (hereinafter referred to as “the Investor Group”) began investing in the confidential settlement agreements following a meeting with Rothstein. Boden and Pearson agreed that the Investor Group would pay a sales commission directly to Pearson. The Investor Group was not informed by Boden or Pearson that they were also receiving an additional undisclosed sales commission from the money paid by the Investor Group to Rothstein. The information further charges that Boden and Pearson, through material misstatements and omissions made to the Investor Group, caused it to incur a loss of approximately $2,400,000.

If convicted, the defendants face a maximum statutory sentence of up to five years in prison.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the IRS-CI and FBI. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lawrence D. LaVecchio, Paul F. Schwartz, and Jeffrey N. Kaplan.

An information is only an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.