{"id":2136,"date":"2014-04-03T11:41:04","date_gmt":"2014-04-03T18:41:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=2136"},"modified":"2014-04-03T11:42:12","modified_gmt":"2014-04-03T18:42:12","slug":"fort-lauderdale-lawyer-sentenced-10-years-prison-role-1-billion-dollar-investment-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=2136","title":{"rendered":"Fort Lauderdale Lawyer Sentenced to 10 Years for His Role in $1 Billion-Dollar Investment Scam"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIAMI<\/strong> – A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced \u00a0a longtime Fort Lauderdale lawyer to 10 years in prison and ordered him to pay $800 million as restitution to 30,000 victims who invested in Mutual Benefits Corp.<\/p>\n

After a three-month trial, Anthony Livoti, Jr<\/strong>., 65, was convicted by a Miami jury of conspiracy to commit wire, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and mail fraud, according to the U.S. Justice Department.<\/p>\n

According to a federal indictment, Livoti and others, including Joel Steinger, a\/k\/a \u201cJoel Steiner,\u201d Steven Steiner a\/k\/a Steven Steinger, and Michael McNerney, raised more than $1.25 billion from these investor-victims before being shut down by federal regulators in May 2004.<\/p>\n

Steven Steiner received a fifteen-year sentence and Joel Steinger, who recently pled guilty, is scheduled to be sentenced in June.<\/span><\/p>\n

The investment scam was one of the largest in Florida where Livoti was entrusted with millions of investor dollars that he put into \u00a0bank accounts he controlled, \u00a0according to authorities.<\/p>\n

According to the evidence at Livoti’s trial, officials said that from about 1994 to May 2004, Mutual Benefits bought life insurance policies from the elderly as well as persons suffering from AIDS and other chronic illnesses.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Mutual Benefits sold a fraction of the interests in insurance policy death benefits, known as \u201cviatical settlements,\u201d to approximately 30,000 investor-victims, federal officials said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Investors were told by Mutual Benefits that viatical settlements offered a fixed rate of return with low risk, and that investors\u2019 principal and returns were paid by the insurance companies.<\/p>\n

In Ponzi-like fashion, \u00a0officials said Livoti and his co-conspirators were using new investor money to pay for earlier investor obligations. Investors lost more than $800 million, federal officials said.<\/p>\n

Federal prosecutors were able to show to jurors during the trial that Mutual Benefits officials misrepresented many important facts, for example, the estimated life expectancy of insured persons; the fraudulent ways that Mutual Benefits used to get the life insurance policies; the risks involved with some policies, the payment of the premiums and the source of funds used to pay investors, the trial evidence indicated.<\/span><\/p>\n

U.S. District Judge Robert Scola opted not to give the 65-year-old Livoti an effective \u201clife sentence,\u201d saying that his role in the Ponzi scheme was not like that of the mastermind, Joel Steinger, the head of Fort Lauderdale-based Mutual Benefits, who pleaded guilty on Friday rather than go to trial this week, \u00a0the\u00a0Miami Herald<\/a>\u00a0reported.<\/p>\n

The Miami Herald reported that Scola credited Livoti, who had practiced law for more than 40 years in South Florida, with extensive pro bono legal work, charity services in the gay community and mentoring of young lawyers over his career.<\/p>\n

Livoti, who apologized profusely to the judge after admitting he \u201clost his way,\u201d asked for a \u201csecond chance\u201d and \u201chope\u201d as his lawyers sought a sentence of 6 years rather than at least 30 years recommended by prosecutors. After Scola gave him a 10-year prison term, Livoti asked him to reconsider, the Miami Herald reported.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was hoping for less,\u201d Livoti told the judge, noting how other members of his family died at relatively young ages. \u201cIt\u2019s basically my life, your honor.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MIAMI – A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced \u00a0a longtime Fort Lauderdale lawyer to 10 years in prison and ordered him to pay $800 million as restitution to 30,000 victims who invested…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1499,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,16],"tags":[392,394,395,393,396,189],"class_list":["post-2136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-courts","category-home-main-slider","tag-anthony-livoti","tag-federal-judge","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-jr","tag-mutual-benefits-corp","tag-u-s-district-court"],"yoast_head":"\nFort Lauderdale Lawyer Sentenced to 10 Years for His Role in $1 Billion-Dollar Investment Scam<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"MIAMI - A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced \u00a0a longtime Fort Lauderdale lawyer to 10 years in prison and ordered him to pay $800 million as restitution\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=2136\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fort Lauderdale Lawyer Sentenced to 10 Years for His Role in $1 Billion-Dollar Investment Scam\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"MIAMI - 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