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* Disbarred lawyer charged with racketeering conspiracy

* Rothstein pleads not guilty, is denied bail
(Updates with court appearance, plea, byline)

By Jane Sutton

MIAMI, Dec 1 (Reuters) – A disbarred Florida lawyer
surrendered to the FBI on Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to
charges he ran a complex Ponzi scheme that bilked investors out
of more than $1 billion.

Scott Rothstein, who fled to Morocco in late October but
returned to Florida in early November, was denied bond during a
brief appearance before a federal magistrate in Fort
Lauderdale.

He was charged with racketeering conspiracy under a statute
often used to prosecute organized crime chiefs and drug lords.

Rothstein, who was disbarred last week by the Florida
Supreme Court, also was charged with mail, wire and bank fraud,
and money laundering. He faces up to 20 years in prison on the
racketeering charge and up to 100 years if convicted on all
counts, plus forfeiture of tens of millions of dollars in
illegal profits.

The FBI said that Rothstein, 47, had been selling shares in
fabricated legal settlements to unsuspecting investors since at
least 2005, using new investor money to pay previous investors
in the classic Ponzi scheme model.

He claimed to have won lucrative awards in workplace
discrimination and whistle-blower lawsuits, when no such
settlements existed, federal investigators said.

Rothstein pleaded not guilty to all the charges. His
lawyer, Marc Nurik, said after the hearing that Rothstein was
“going to try to do the right thing” for his investors.

“My client wishes to see that legitimate investors get paid
their money back,” Nurik told journalists, without specifying
how that might be done.

FBI and IRS agents raided Rothstein’s Fort Lauderdale law
office in November and seized his waterfront home, yacht and
other properties in Florida, New York and Rhode Island.

Investors have already begun filing lawsuits saying they
were cheated and should get a share of the assets. Lawyers for
the alleged victims said the scheme was so massive and complex
that Rothstein could not have acted alone.

The Miami Herald said federal prosecutors would ask a grand
jury to consider criminal charges against his alleged
co-conspirators, possibly including former employees of his
now-defunct firm.

He was chief executive and managing partner in the firm of
Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler PA, which was placed in receivership
in November.

Rothstein, a frequent campaign contributor who was often
photographed with politicians, lived a lavish life with opulent
homes and a fleet of foreign sports cars. He used his
connections and charm to lure wealthy friends and patrons to
invest with him.

Early on Tuesday morning, television cameras showed him
being led into the FBI headquarters with his hands cuffed
behind his back.
(Reporting by Jane Sutton, editing by Jim Loney and Vicki
Allen)
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