November 4, 2012

When I first saw the name Scott Rothstein in the headline of a Florida news item it instantly rang a bell with me.

My memory went hunting for it. “Rothstein” I said, slowly. “RAH - TH – STEEN”. 

Where have I heard that name? I wondered.

By the dates on the news item, it was pretty clear this Rothstein character had been around the Florida media for quite a while. However, I’m from Minnesota, so I wouldn’t have been reading about him every day.

“RAH –TH – STEEN.” I stared at the word and repeated it.

For any who don’t know - this Scott Rothstein guy is a disbarred lawyer from Fort Lauderdale, Florida that was busted by the FBI for running the largest Ponzi scheme in the history of the State. He is presently serving a 50 year prison sentence.

His admitted activities illuminate the bitter reality of how things work in Florida. Rothstein admitted to buying off judges, police, politicians, you name it. He even informed on a Sicilian Mafioso, which requires the feds keep him hidden.

I had been interviewing people from Florida since the spring of 2009 regarding the HaLeigh Cummings case. I decided I must have seen his name published somewhere along the way – I then dismissed it.

But it kept bugging me.

“Rothstein, Rosenfeldt & Adler,” I said, slowly. The name of the law firm rang a bell with me too.

“Rothstein, Rosenfeldt & Adler.”

I used my computer mouse to follow some abstract hunch I was having. I navigated through some folder sequences until I was back into some old interviews I had done in May of 2009. I was hoping I was going in the right direction so my curiosity would be satisfied. I played a few sound files, and then suddenly, there it was.

“Rothstein.”

The whole HaLeigh Cummings mystery was going to lead back to a man named “Rothstein” and a biofuel company.

Damn.

The voice was that of William Staubs, a Bail Bondsman from South Florida that was working as a private investigator for HaLeigh’s mother, Crystal Sheffield, HaLeigh’s grandfather, Johnny Sheffield, and an online preacher named Richard Grund.

I continued to listen as my memory began to catch fire – I was remembering. I recalled Staubs telling me something about Governor Charlie Crist, the most powerful lawyer in Florida, a government contract, and $231 Million.

Staubs had intimate knowledge of an entire biofuel deal that was supposedly taking place. He said a Fort Lauderdale attorney owned fifty percent of the company and he was trying to get in on the deal.

There was no doubt a biofuel company was on the minds of many during that time. I interviewed scores of players in the HaLeigh Cummings case and many of them talked about a biofuel company. It was weird, because a little girl was (supposedly) missing but the people looking for her were talking about biofuels.

During my journalistic work I communicated with a great deal of attorneys. In some cases I would be directed to an attorney and instructed to talk to that person if I wanted information.  I decided to run a search for lawyers - and there it was.

Pedro E. Dijols – Rothstein, Rosenfeldt, & Adler.

Attorney Dijols was assigned to the HaLeigh Cummings matter – I know that because I wrote him and asked and he replied in the affirmative.

But the presence of a Rothstein attorney wasn’t the only thing I found interesting. Equally interesting was the names of the people that had been copied on the communication along with Attorney Dijols.

See for yourself.

Among them was Crystal Sheffield, HaLeigh’s mother, Marie Griffis, HaLeigh’s grandmother. William Staubs, private investigator, and Art Harris, tabloid writer.

It’s interesting that during this time period in 2009, Art Harris began contacting the police in Minnesota, requesting they arrest me for unfounded and bizarrely imagined reasons.

I decided to do a little research on the biofuel company Staubs told me about. I knew it was called “Alternative Biofuels” something or another.

I recall Staubs laughing on one occasion that the biofuel company was probably just one of those fly-by-night operations where they dump water in one end, and fuel magically comes out the other - while nobody can see the guy standing around the corner with a gas can.

If it’s a rip-off, why do you want stock in it? I recall thinking.

At this point, the government was trying to sort out the colossal Rothstein Ponzi scheme and had released a great deal of information and court papers. The Sun-Sentinel is a Florida publication that has really stayed on top of the Rothstein story.

I located an article published by the Sun-Sentinel and there it was. “The government is also going after Rothstein’s interest in several local restaurants and other businesses including … Alternative Biofuel Company…” 

So, according to the government paperwork, Scott Rothstein was involved in a biofuel company.

In 2011 I received a telephone call from a man named Eddie Boyle – a.k.a Greaseman Eddie. He owns a facility in Broward County – yep – a biofuels plant.

Eddie told me his sister and her husband, John and Maria Burgun, were very angry because their money was used to finance the ill-fated HaLeigh Cummings endeavor.

I decided to run a check through the State’s website to see what came up for the name John Burgun, and there it was right there in the Articles of Incorporation.

Alternative Biofuels Technologies, Inc. The Company had been incorporated in October of 2008 – but not by John Burgun.

However…a few months later…

On January 29, 2009 an additional officer was added to the Company in the annual report.

The person added was John Burgun.

Twelve days later HaLeigh Cummings was reported missing.

Eddie told me many times that his sister wanted to go to the FBI and tell them what she knew about the disappearance of HaLeigh Cummings. He said his sister had information about a Photoshopped picture of HaLeigh Cummings and a car that was rented in 2009, used and then quickly hidden.

According to Boyle, his sister’s attorney, Douglass Reynolds, Tripp-Scott Law Firm, told her not to go to the FBI. Eddie told me a lawyer named David Di Pietro had been communicating with Reynolds and the two were keeping everything quiet.

I recognized Attorney Di Pietro’s name from an email exchange I’d been copied on between him and another attorney, Doug Roberts. Roberts was the lawyer for William Staubs and Richard Grund.

In February of 2012 somebody telephoned Maria Burgun and suggested she was going to be taking a trip to the “Hoover Dam” if she didn’t give the caller a certain amount of money.

Maria Burgun promptly telephoned the police an investigation into extortion began. The FBI was brought in and the organized crime task force began to interview people.

Eddie Boyle told me he received the same type of threatening telephone call. He said the caller told him that he was going to need at least “a thousand stitches” to put his face back together if he didn’t come up with the demanded money.

Eddie called me one day and said the Broward County Sheriff’s Office and FBI were all over his plant because somebody shot his yard man. He said he believed the bullet was intended for him.

As for Maria Burgun – well – she went in and sat down with the FBI and told them everything she knew about what happened to HaLeigh Cummings.

As for me…

When I start trying to work through this maze of attorneys, one word keeps going through my mind.

“Rothstein”.