MIAMI (AP) — A federal jury decided Wednesday that Toronto-based TD Bank owes an
investment group $67 million due to it’s role in a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme which was
operated by a now disbarred attorney, Scott Rothstein.The decision came in a lawsuit filed
by Coquina Investments, operating out of Corpus Christi, Texas. It was the first to go to trial
of several pending lawsuits filed by wronged investors against the bank among others.
Coquina attorney David S. Mandel said the jury “sent exactly the right message to TD
Bank.”Once a prominent South Florida attorney, Rothstein is serving a 50-year prison
sentence after pleading guilty to running a massive scam involving investments in phony
legal settlements that imploded in 2009 The 49-year-old lawyer has been cooperating
extensively with federal prosecutors, and more people are expected to face criminal
charges; seven besides Rothstein have already been charged.The scheme wasone of the
largest frauds in South Florida history and triggered the failure of the once high-flying Fort
Lauderdale law firm Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler. Rothstein has boasted about paying bribes
to unnamed politicians, judges and law enforcement for the campaigns of many state and
national politicians.Testimony and court documents show that Rothstein used an account at
a TD Bank branch as an integral part of the scheme. Conspirators in his scheme allegedly
posed as TD Bank employees, and one of Rothstein’s associates devised a fake TD Bank
website on which fake account balances were posted for investors. “This bank was integral to
the fraud,and fact is that it could not have succeeded without their active participation in the
Ponzi scheme,” Mandel said. “TD Bank was Rothstein’s partner in crime.”Spokeswoman
Rebecca Acevedo said TD Bank would explore its legal options and insisted the massive
fraud should be blamed squarely on Rothstein.”We will continue to defend the bank against
claims of wrongdoing,” Acevedo said.TD Bank, a subsidiary of Toronto-Dominion Bank of
Canada, operates 1,280 branches in 15 states and Washington, D.C., according to the bank’s
website. It had $160 billion in total deposits and $202 billion in assets as of Oct. 31.
Mandel said key TD Bank employees knew of the fraud and assisted Rothstein in assuring
investors their money was sound. In a lengthy sworn deposition in December, Rothstein
claimed he gave former TD Bank vice president Frank Spinosa more than $50,000 to ignore
obvious signs of illegal activity .Called to testify in the Coquina trial, Spinosa invoked his
Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. His attorney has repeatedly denied
Rothstein’s accusations, contending that Rothstein is falsely implicating other people in
hopes of winning a sentence reduction recommendation from federal prosecutors.Rothstein,
however, insisted during the 10-day deposition that his only hope of eventual freedom was
to tell the full truth.”I would be a fool to lie,” he stated, according to testimony transcripts.
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