FBI says alleged scheme by lawyer Scott Rothstein could top $1 billion

Rothstein is under federal investigation for allegedly running a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors and his law clients of hundreds of millions of dollars since 2005. Some investors filed suit Tuesday seeking to force his law firm, Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler, into involuntary bankruptcy.

Rothstein, 47, has not yet been charged. But in a civil forfeiture of his Fort Lauderdale waterfront home and other properties, prosecutors accused him of concocting the fraudulent investment scheme, including fabricating employment-discrimination settlements sold to investors.