Rothstein’s Top Aide To Jail

Remember the Ponzi scheme perpetrated by Florida lawyer Scott Rothstein? Now, his firm’s former chief operating officer, Debra Villegas, has been sentenced in connection with that financial fraud to 120 months’ incarceration. In addition, the court found her jointly liable for $363 million in restitution, and ordered the forfeiture of certain assets. 

Villegas had earlier pleaded guilty to a criminal information charging that she and co-conspirators participated in a Ponzi scheme that involved the sale of purported confidential settlement agreements in sexual harassment and/or whistleblower cases that were purportedly handled by attorneys at Rothstein’s firm, Rothstein, Rosenfeldt and Adler, PA.
 
According to the charges and statements made in court during her plea, Villegas participated in the scheme by assisting with the fabrication of names for fictitious plaintiffs and defendants who were purportedly parties in the confidential settlements. In addition, Villegas assisted in the preparation of documents relating to the purported confidential settlements. Pursuant to the scheme, funds would be sent from investors by interstate wire transfer to financial institutions.
 
There may be more prosecutions stemming from this scheme. U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer stated, “One by one, the dominos in this billion dollar Ponzi scheme are falling. This is not the last to fall.”