Rothstein ally gets punishment cut; ex-partner Rosenfeldt nears freedom – Sun Sentinel

ABroward Countyman who admitted he fed more than $20 million toScott Rothstein'smassive Ponzi scheme had his prison term reduced last weekat the request of prosecutors.

Frank Prev, 73, of Coral Springs, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in 2014.

Senior U.S. District Judge James Cohn agreed on Friday to cut Prev's federal prison term from 3 1/2 years to two years and two months. Federal prosecutors recommended the sentence reduction because of information and help Prev provided in related prosecutions in Pennsylvania.

In a related matter, former Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler law firm partner Stuart Rosenfeldt, 61, of Boca Raton, is serving the last few months of his federal prison sentence at a halfway house in South Florida, prison records show. He was moved from the federal prison camp at MaxwellAir Force Base in Alabamato South Florida to begin his transition back to freedom, prison officials said.

Rosenfeldt was a partner in the now-defunct Fort Lauderdale law firm, which was the center of operations for the $1.4 billion Ponzi scheme orchestrated byRothstein. Rothsteinis serving a 50-year prison sentence for his crimes.

Rosenfeldt, who pleaded guilty to a single charge of conspiringto commit campaign finance fraud, to defraud the United States, to commit bank fraud and to deny civil rights, surrendered to prison in early 2015. He will be placed onprobation for two years after he is released from the halfway house.

Prev, who worked with a hedge fund group, fed more than $20 million from investors into the fraud in the four months before it collapsed in 2009.

Prev was initiallysentenced to 3 1/2 years in federal prison in February 2015 but was allowed to remain free on bond because of poor health and so he could testify in one of the related cases, according to court records.

Prosecutors said he didn't know it was a Ponzi scheme but failed to report obvious red flags to investors, including that Rothstein skipped making payments, paperwork was missing and the underlying deals couldn't be verified.

Prev was also credited with helping authorities to investigatethe Rothstein fraud.

Prev, who served in the military and worked in a CIA cryptology station in the 1960s, was once a successful bank president in South Florida. Prosecutors said he was paid about $4 million linked to the Rothstein fraud.

pmcmahon@sunsentinel.com, 954-356-4533 or Twitter @SentinelPaula

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Rothstein ally gets punishment cut; ex-partner Rosenfeldt nears freedom - Sun Sentinel