Rothstein Associate Sentenced on Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud in Connection with Fraudulent Investment Scheme

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; John V. Gillies, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office; and Jose A. Gonzalez, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CID), announce that Howard Kusnick, 59, of Tamarac, was sentenced by Judge Kenneth A. Marra this morning to 24 months in prison, to be followed by a two-year term of supervised release.

Kusnick pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, on June 14, 2011. According to the documents filed with the court and statements made in court, Kusnick, while an attorney at Rothstein, Rosenfeldt and Adler, P.A. (RRA), engaged in a scheme to defraud two clients of RRA by authoring a letter purporting to settle pending litigation in the clients’ favor. In fact, however, no such litigation had been instituted and no such settlement existed. Rather, the purpose of the letter was to lull the clients into believing that RRA was pursuing litigation on their behalf.

In addition to the 24-month prison sentence, Kusnick was ordered to pay $310,000.00 in restitution payable to Ed and Carol Morse. Kusnick was ordered to appear to begin serving his sentence on November 4, 2011.

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

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.