EFTA00793954.pdf

Sanctions Bid Advances Against Fla. Finn. Billionaire - Law360 LAWS) Portfolio Media. Inc. 1111 west 19th Street, 9th floor I New Vat, NY 10011 I wmvIaw360.com Phone: eustoMerserveealaw360.com Sanctions Bid Advances Against Fla. Firm, Billionaire By Nathan Hale Law360 (April 20, 2018, 10:23 PM EDT) -- A bankruptcy judge on Friday ordered Florida law firm Fowler White Burnett PA and convicted billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to show cause why they should not be held in contempt of court for allegedly retaining copies of another firm's confidential documents in violation of the court's order. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Raymond B. Ray said in his eight-page ruling that the recently disbanded South Florida firm of Farmer Jaffe Weissing Edwards FiStOS & Lehrman PL had made sufficient allegations to advance its sanctions bid and scheduled a two-day evidentiary hearing Aug. 23-24 to consider civil contempt. 'The court will refrain from considering criminal contempt, punitive sanctions, or incarceration because of the requisite due process protections, i.e. a possible jury trial," Judge Ray said. He added that if he makes a finding of civil contempt, he will consider imposing l'compensatory sanctions for actual damages," which he said must serve to either coerce compliance with the court's order or compensate the complainants for losses. "These compensatory sanctions may include, but are not limited to, professional fees or, considering the sensitive nature of the allegations, damages for emotional distress," Judge Ray said. Friday's ruling followed an April 13 hearing in Fort Lauderdale, during which Judge Ray granted motions from former Farmer Jaffe partner Bradley J. Edwards, who represented nine of Epstein's victims, and three of those victims to join Farmer Jaffe's sanctions bid. He also ordered them to file a summary of their alleged damages with the court. The judge also decided during the hearing to order Epstein and Fowler White's corporate representative to sit for depositions on the limited scope of how Epstein and his current counsel came to possess a compact disc allegedly containing copies of confidential information that he had ordered Fowler White not to retain — against threat of sanctions — in a 2010 order. "The court's [show cause] order provides exactly what we hoped to achieve — the opportunity to thoroughly investigate all the circumstances concerning the theft of privileged documents that found their way into the hands of a convicted billionaire child abuser," Edwards' counsel Jack Scarola of Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley PA said Friday. Farmer Jaffe said In Its March 19 sanctions motion that recent developments in ongoing state court litigation between Epstein and Edwards revealed that Fowler White retained a copy of the confidential documents and that they had been passed along to Epstein's current counsel and to Epstein himself. of 3 4/20.2018, II:48 PM EFTA00793954 Sanctions Bid Advances Against Fia. Firm, Billionaire • Law360 hups://www.law360.convanicles/I035864/print?section-florida To prevail on its contempt request, Farmer Jaffe has to establish by "clear and convincing proof" that the underlying court order was violated, but now that the court has found it made a prima facie showing of a violation, Fowler White and Epstein must show "a present inability to comply that goes beyond a mere assertion of inability," the order said. "The court will not consider the 'subjective beliefs or Intent of the alleged contemnors in complying with the order,' but the court will consider substantial compliance made in good faith," Judge Ray said. The sanctions matter is before the bankruptcy court in the liquidation case of law firm Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler PA, where Edwards had been practicing when he represented several of Epstein's child sex-abuse victims. During the bankruptcy of RRA, which collapsed following the revelation of founder Scott Rothstein's $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme in 2010, Epstein subpoenaed thousands of Edwards' attorney communications from Farmer Jaffe in connection with claims he brought against Edwards, Rothstein and a victim client, according to the sanctions motion. Farmer )affe asked that Epstein bear the costs of copying and organizing the documents. That could be performed without reading them, but Farmer Jaffe still expressed concern about Epstein and his counsel at Fowler White possibly misappropriating them. The bankruptcy court granted the copying request in the Nov. 30, 2010, order at issue here, and Included an enforcement provision that it was retaining jurisdiction to award sanctions if it was determined Fowler White or Epstein retained images or copies of the documents. Epstein has dropped his claims against Edwards, but Edwards, who recently formed Edwards Pottinger MC, is pursuing a malicious-prosecution claim against Epstein in Florida state court in Palm Beach County. Epstein pled guilty to felony charges involving solicitation of prostitution and procurement of minors for prostitution. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison and is registered as a sex offender. Reached Friday, his current counsel, Scott Link of Link and Rockenbach PA, told Law360, "Mr. Epstein has never had the disc In question. Brad Edwards has already admitted that fact In court. Why is Edwards afraid to make the emails public?" Link told the court that he found the CD In one of 36 boxes of Epstein materials Fowler White delivered to his firm in January and that he had filed 47 emails under seal in the state court case and gave Epstein copies of them. The disc is being held under seal by the state court, he added. Fowler White has said it concluded after an internal review that it followed the court's instructions and does not know how the CD ended up in its files. It suggested that maybe the special master in the RRA bankruptcy returned the CD to the firm by mistake after completing his work or that it was accidentally included In five boxes of nonprivileged documents Farmer Jaffe sent to the firm later in the proceedings. Fowler White's outside counsel did not immediately have comment when reached Friday. Farmer Jaffe Weissing Edwards Fistos & Lehrman PL Is represented by Bradley J. Edwards and Brittany N. Henderson of Edwards Pottinger LLC. Epstein is represented by Scott J. Link and Kern Rockenbach of Link & Rockenbach PA and Chad P. Pugatch of Rice Pugatch Robinson Storfer & Cohen PLLC. Fowler White Burnett PA is represented by Niall T. MacLachlan of Carlton Fields. 2 of) 4/20/2018. II:48 PM EFTA00793955 Sanctions Bid Advances Against Fla. Firm. Billionaire - Law360 Imps://vAvw.law360.com/anicles/I035864/print?section-florida Edwards is represented by Jack Scarola and David P. Vitale of Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley PA. The case is In re: Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler PA, case number 0:09-bk-34791, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida. The state court case is Epstein v. Rothstein et al., case number 50-2009CA04800XXXX MB AG, In the 15th Judicial Circuit Court of the State of Florida. --Additional reporting by Carolina Bolado. Editing by Bruce Goldman. AI Content 6 2003.2018, Portfolio Mole, Inc. 3 or 3 4/202018. 11:48 PM EFTA00793956