FORT LAUDERDALE

FORT LAUDERDALE Nen& 0 OP Judge says he will approve deposition by Ponzi figure to Convicted Investment scam operator Scott Rothstein soon could be facing a lengthy interrogation under oath. BY PETER FRANCESCHINA Sun Sentinel Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein, the maestro who orchestrated Florida's largest investment fraud, may soon be sitting down across from a phalanx of lawyers to face a lengthy grilling under oath. No one knows what Rothstein might want to say, or whether he would invoke his Fifth Amend- ment right against self-incrimina- tion, but a federal judge on Mon- day said he will give the go-ahead for bank uptcy lawyers and attor- neys for Rothstein's bilked inves- tors to take the locked-up fraud- ster's deposition. If Rothstein wants any hope of freedom one day, it may be in his best interest to tell all ALREADY COOPERATING He already has been cooper- ating with federal agents and prosecutors investigating his $1.4 billion fraud, and helping creditors and investors could also go toward reducing his 50-year prison term. The move by attorneys repre- senting investors and those mar- shalling assets for his defunct Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler law firm to put Rothstein under oath comes a year and half after the fraud scheme imploded, and with a looming deadline to file bank- ruptcy clawback claims against those who profited. Rothstein, 48, is locked up ill an undisclosed location, after help- ing federal agents arrest a reputed Sicilian mobster. The attorneys said all indications are that Roth- stein is in the witness protection program, possibly under another name, and that it would likely take weeks of negotiations with feder- al prosecutors and the U.S. Bu- reau of Prisons to make him available. Federal prosecutors could ob- ject to Rothstein giving a deposi- tion, the attorneys said, if his co- operation is still required to bring criminal charges against other suspects in the Ponzi scheme. The prosecutors won't comment, and one attorney called them the "1,000-pound gorilla" that was not in the courtroom Monday. Bankruptcy attorney Chuck Lichtman, who would be first in line to conduct Rothstein's depo- sition, said he believes Rothstein has a strong motive to help credi- tors and investors. "I believe Scott would tell the truth," he said. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Raymond Ray, who presid- ed over Monday's hearing, told Lichtman he will approve Roth- stein's deposition so the bank- ruptcy attorneys can glean infor- mation that will be used to file ad- ditional clawback lawsuits. More than two dozen suits seeking to recover tens of millions of dollars have already been filed, and the two-year deadline for filing such claims expires in early November. Attorneys for victims of the fraud also want a crack at ques- tioning Rothstein, but the judge temporarily denied a motion by attorney Bill Scherer - who repre- sents investors who allegedly lost more than $100 million - to put Rothstein under oath. The judge, however, instructed Scherer to refile the motion under different bankruptcy rules and indicated he would then approve it LENGTHY TESTIMONY Ray said it could take a week to put all the questions to Rothstein, with different batches of attor- neys seeking information for the roughly two dozen federal and state lawsuits spawned by the fraud. Conceivably, Rothstein could sit for one long deposition or in separate sessions. Scherer told the judge he has been talking to prosecutors for a year about Rothstein's deposition and still doesn't know if they will fight it."They just listen." he said. The attorneys may have to seek approval of the federal judge, James Cohn, who retains jurisdic- tion in Rothstein's criminal case. At one point on Monday, Scherer joked that a football sta- dium might be necessary to ac- commodate all the lawyers who want to quiz Rothstein. EFTA00611093