More Mutual Benefits news…

Found this great article in the Broward Palm Beach and took some tidbits and comments for you all to read.

The Miami Herald discovered Alan Mendelsohn, finally. The Sun-Sentinel still hasn’t caught on. Mendelsohn is the Hollywood ophthalmologist who worked as legislative director and chief fundraiser for the Florida Medical Association. He was also very close to Gov. Charlie Crist, serving as Crist’s health adviser on his transition team. They were so thick that Crist helped Mendelsohn’s kid into the med school at the University of Florida when he didn’t deserve it. (That led to the forced resignation of Bruce Kone, the med school’s dean.)

That was a tiny little scandal compared with what appears to be around the bend. Mendelsohn was also tight with the Mutual Benefits con man Joel Steinger. I reported back in February on Mendelsohn’s role in raising political money for Steinger. Not long after that, he resigned his post. Steinger was close with a lot of political people, including lobbyist Russell Klenet; Klenet’s wife, Broward Mayor Stacy Ritter; former state. Sen. Steve Geller; Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer… the list goes on and on.

Steinger, according to several sources, cooperated with a federal investigation into the public corruption angle of the Mutual Benefits Ponzi scheme. Specifically, he wore a wire and recorded damning conversations with Mendelsohn.

He brings up the name of Paul Huck Jr., which sort of pissed me off, because I’d been meaning to write about him but never got around to it. Huck worked for Crist not only in the AG’s office but also as his counsel in the governor’s office before he quit.

But there’s more twists and turns on this one. When Huck quit Crist’s employ last year, he joined the Coral Gables law firm Colson Hicks. Colson Hicks, interestingly, is the law firm where the federally appointed Mutual Benefits receiver, Roberto Martinez, works. Small world, eh? Well, it gets smaller. Huck’s dad is Paul Huck Sr., the federal judge who recused himself from the Mutual Benefits case, obviously because of his son, who is allegedly one of six public officials who has been cleared so far in the case.

Here are some interesting comments:

With Klenet, it’s more a question his deep involvement with Life Settlements International, a company Klenet purchased with Steinger money after Mutual Benefits collapsed. A lot of evidence has surfaced that Steinger was calling the shots and there’s a question as to whether the company was used to launder MB money.

With Ritter, it’s a question of “honest services” on the federal level. Klenet was lobbying for Steinger and receiving $20,000 a month from him. In the eyes of the state corruption law, that money may as well be going to Ritter. At the same time, Ritter voted on a bill in the state legislature that was engineered by her hubby and benefitted Steinger and his company. It’s a clear conflict of interest at the very least.

And with Mendelsohn … well, Mendelsohn’s the wild card, still largely a mystery. He was moving political money for Steinger. But he’s the one who sources say implicated himself in those recorded conversations with Steinger. We’ll see how that plays out.

and

Just curious, but why is it taking so long for Klenet, Ritter, Mendelsohn and Geller to get indicted on this Mutual Benefits ponzi scheme. If Steinger wore a wire and is cooperating, shouldn’t some of these people be getting arrested very soon? What’s taking so long?

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Alan Mendelsohn and Paul Huck Mutual Benefits