FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., June 10 (UPI) -- U.S. authorities say they are preparing for another auction of property belonging to Scott Rothstein, now serving a 50-year prison term for fraud.
An auction in June 2010 brought in nearly $6 million and featured exotic super cars and yachts. The auction scheduled for July 13 at the Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale will sell diamond-encrusted jewelry, high-end watches, two late-model Corvettes and a 2009 Mercedes SL550 sports coupe, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported.
Proceeds from the sales go to victims of Rothstein's frauds.
Rothstein is serving a 50-year sentence in federal prison for bilking investors of an estimated $1.2 billion in a Ponzi scheme, but prosecutors said they would ask a judge to reduce the sentence because he is cooperating in a federal investigation of his suspected co-conspirators.
The disbarred former attorney spent lavishly on his wife, purchasing diamonds, rubies, sapphires and pearls mounted in gold, platinum and silver. He also spent lavishly on himself, accumulating more than 200 of the world's most prized watches by makers such as Rolex and Patek Philippe.
"Its high-end jewelry," said Rick Levin, who is conducting the auction for the government. "It's worth what someone is willing to pay for it. They can be people curious about the issues surrounding the items, or they could be interested in the items themselves."
On the auction block: a woman's platinum diamond bracelet with 41 diamonds weighing 24 carats (estimated value $30,000), a white and yellow gold necklace with a 10-carat heart-shaped diamond (estimated value $85,000) and a fancy yellow 12-carat diamond ring (estimated value $250,000).
