MIAMI, Aug. 25 (UPI) -- An associate of Ponzi-scheme operator Scott Rothstein was sentenced in Florida to five years in prison for impersonating various professionals to dupe victims.
Stephen Caputi, former co-owner of Cafe Iguana, pretended, in scams, to be a banker, a Wall Street Journal reporter and a plaintiff in a fictitious lawsuit, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Thursday.
Caputi's lawyer, Hy Shapiro, said his client's association with Rothstein, a former attorney, "got him inside the velvet ropes."
Once there, "His vision was blurred and he made very, very big mistakes," Shapiro said.
Rothstein was sentenced to 50 years in prison for fraud, racketeering and money laundering. Debra Villegas, the chief operating officer of Rothstein's former law firm, was given a 10-year sentence. Two computer technicians who created fraudulent documents for Rothstein have pleaded guilty to related charges.
Rothstein reportedly duped investors out of $1.5 billion.
In one scam in which Caputi posed as a plaintiff in a lawsuit, a couple ended up wiring Rothstein $5 million, the newspaper said.
"I made some bad choices for the wrong reasons and I understand the consequences of that," Caputi said in court.
