1 February 2010, 6:58 am
By Dan Christensen, BrowardBulldog.org
John Zumwalt
The boss of one of Florida’s biggest government contractors has announced he’s stepping down. The news comes weeks after embarrassing disclosures about his personal involvement in a corporate pay to play scandal, and disclosures about possible corrupt payoffs overseas by company officials.
“After a decade of my executive leadership through the best of times and through difficult times it is now time to plan an orderly transition to a new CEO,” PBS&J chief executive John Zumwalt, 58, said in a prepared statement last week. Zumwalt will continue as chairman of PBS&J’s board of directors. Continue reading ‘CEO of engineering firm for Broward’s $810 million runway expansion to step down amid scandals’ »
29 January 2010, 6:46 am
Sun Village developer Frederick Elliott
By Dan Christensen, BrowardBulldog.org
Federal prosecutors and FBI agents in South Florida are investigating allegations of yet another massive investment fraud in which thousands of investors across the U.S. and Canada are said to have lost $170 million, Broward Bulldog has learned.
The investigation began last month after a 50-page preliminary report about the “Ponzi-style” scam was sent to a Miami federal judge by a court-appointed special master. The report called for sweeping criminal probes by U.S. and Canadian law enforcement.
“The unassailable fact (is) that thousands of investors/owners, and by extension their families in the U.S. and Canada, as well as other countries, have been financially destroyed,” says the report by Miami lawyer Thomas Scott, a former federal judge and U.S. Attorney. Continue reading ‘FBI probes huge “Ponzi-style” scheme; thousands in U.S., Canada “financially destroyed”’ »
21 January 2010, 6:00 am
Jamie Solow
UPDATE: At 2 p.m. today, Jan. 22, U.S. District Judge Middlebrooks denied ex-stockbroker Jamie Solow’s request that he stay his order sending Solow to jail on Monday. The judge did, however, delay Solow’s surrender date one week to allow Solow time to appeal. Solow’s new surrender date is Feb. 1.
By Dan Christensen, browardbulldog.org
A globetrotting former stock broker who’s been living a life of luxury in Fort Lauderdale since a jury found that he defrauded hundreds of small investors who bought his risky, mortgage-backed securities has been ordered to prison indefinitely.
The unusual federal civil contempt order says Jamie Solow, 48, orchestrated a complex scheme to stash millions of dollars offshore and out of the reach of his victims and the government.
A judge last year ordered Solow to pay nearly $6 million in ill-gotten gains and civil penalties after a nine week civil trial.
The money trail that regulators have followed to collect stretches across the world – from a bank in the tiny South Pacific nation of The Cook Islands where Solow’s wife, Gina, has a $5.2 million certificate of deposit, to Swiss safe deposit boxes stuffed with cash and jewelry.
Continue reading ‘High-living stockbroker who defrauded investors won’t pay, ordered to jail’ »
14 January 2010, 11:23 pm
By Dan Christensen, browardbulldog.org
Michael Satz
Howard Finkelstein
In what’s shaping up as an extraordinary clash of legal titans, Broward Public Defender Howard Finkelstein has accused Broward State Attorney Michael Satz of routinely violating defendants’ rights and applying a double standard of justice in the county.
For years, the state attorney has given favorable treatment to police officers and “influential or wealthy” citizens facing prosecution, Finkelstein alleged in a six-page letter sent to Satz on Tuesday. The letter asks Satz to provide better training for prosecutors and to establish new office procedures.
“It is imperative that the Broward State Attorney’s Office treat all persons it considers for criminal prosecution equally. The two systems of justice in Broward County must end,” said Finkelstein, an assistant public defender in Broward since the 1980s. Continue reading ‘Finkelstein says Satz favors bigshots, police over “everyday citizens”’ »
11 January 2010, 6:50 am
Gabrielle Shaink Trudeau
By Dan Christensen, browardbulldog.org
A 78-year-old Hallandale Beach grandmother ticketed for driving on a suspended driver’s license spent 15 days in jail before authorities announced her license wasn’t suspended and an outraged judge set her free.
County Court Judge Lee J. Seidman ordered Gabrielle Shaink Trudeau’s release in December at her arraignment.
“She’s handcuffed like Houdini, for the record. She’s got chains around her waist, and she’s got handcuffs in front around her hands as if she was some kind of a violent criminal,” said Seidman, according to a transcript. “I want her released. I think she’s suffered enough at our system’s mistakes.”
Safeguards built into Broward’s judicial system are designed to prevent what happened to Shaink Trudeau. But the prolonged jailing of an elderly woman with no previous criminal record over a traffic ticket has left red-faced authorities admitting they botched her case. Continue reading ‘Traffic ticket, screw-ups land Broward grandma in jail for 15 days’ »
8 January 2010, 6:45 am
By Dan Christensen, browardbulldog.org
PBS&J, the giant Florida-based government contractor already rocked by a pay to play scandal that led to guilty pleas by two of its former chairmen, has informed the Justice Department and federal securities regulators that it is investigating other possible crimes involving its overseas construction projects.
“The purpose of the internal investigation is to determine whether any laws have been violated, including the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act [FCPA], in connection with certain projects undertaken by PBS&J International Inc., one of the company’s subsidiaries, in certain foreign countries,” chief financial officer Donald J. Vrana wrote in Dec. 30 filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C.
The FCPA prohibits corrupt payments to foreign officials for the purpose of obtaining or keeping business. Continue reading ‘More woes for PBS&J as it probes possible corrupt payments to foreign officials’ »
29 December 2009, 7:00 am
Robert Wexler
By Dan Christensen, browardbulldog.org
South Florida U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler’s 13-year sojourn in Congress is almost over, but his campaign – or rather his campaign’s fat bank account – will run on indefinitely.
But the Wexler campaign’s final takeaway is likely to be lighter than the congressman expects. The reason: the apparent total loss of Wexler’s unusual and secretive investment of $150,000 in campaign funds in a business associate’s real estate company.
Records show that Wexler’s campaign had nearly $1 million cash on hand at the end of September. And by the time the congressman finishes paying bills, handing out staff bonuses and contributing to fellow Democrats his campaign will finish with about $700,000, his chief of staff said.
“He hasn’t decided what to do with the rest of it and wants to keep his options open. It will be there for him if he wants the option of returning to public service,” said Eric Johnson. Continue reading ‘As Rep. Wexler departs, his curious $150,000 campaign bet goes bust’ »
21 December 2009, 6:59 am
Zachariah Zachariah
Mammen Zachariah
By Dan Christensen, browardbulldog.org
The former chairman of the Florida Board of Medicine and another Fort Lauderdale physician have agreed to pay substantial sums to settle federal civil charges of insider stock trading.
Dr. Mammen P. Zachariah, appointed to the board of medicine by Gov. Jeb Bush in 2004, and Dr. Sheldon Nassberg allegedly reaped illegal windfalls by acting on stock tips supplied by Mammen Zachariah’s brother, prominent Broward heart specialist and major Republican fundraiser, Dr. Zachariah P. Zachariah.
Zach Zachariah, who has raised millions of dollars for Republican causes and candidates – including both Presidents Bush, faces similar charges, but has declined to settle his case. A federal magistrate has set trial for Aug. 23, 2010. Continue reading ‘Two doctors fined, another to trial in top Republican fundraiser’s insider trading case’ »
18 December 2009, 7:00 am
John Zumwalt, PBS&J chairman and chief executive
By Dan Christensen, browardbulldog.org
Political gridlock in Washington has let one of Broward’s biggest government contractors off the hook for any liability in a decades-long scheme to win contracts by shoveling out illegal campaign contributions.
PBS&J was not charged with a crime two years ago when its two immediate past chairmen pleaded guilty in federal court in Miami to running the fraud and trying to conceal it from authorities. Instead, prosecutors sent the case to the Federal Election Commission for civil enforcement.
The case was high-profile. A crew of influential politicians received illegal contributions from PBS&J executives, including former U.S. Senators Mel Martinez, a Florida Republican, and Max Cleland, a Georgia Democrat – and PBS&J had projects with cities and government agencies throughout the state. Continue reading ‘Executives talk, but PBS&J walks in campaign scheme’ »
8 December 2009, 7:01 am
By Dan Christensen, browardbulldog.org
An obscure Fort Lauderdale businessman with international connections and a history of helping the FBI was a paid informant in the U.S. government’s case against suspended Broward commissioner Josephus Eggelletion, court records show.
How much the government paid Patrick J. Lochrie, and what he did to earn that money, was not disclosed and prosecutors would not comment.
Josephus Eggelletion
“Prospective government witness Pat Lochrie received payments for his work in this case from the FBI. The dates and amounts of the payments will be set forth in a separate correspondence,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Karadbil told the court in a document filed last week.
Eggelletion, a Democrat, is set to plead guilty in federal court in West Palm Beach on Thursday morning to conspiracy to launder $900,000 that a federal information says he knew was the proceeds of an investment fraud. He will become the first elected county official convicted in the FBI’s ongoing undercover probe of public corruption in Broward. Continue reading ‘FBI used paid informant against Eggelletion’ »
