Dec.21, 2009, 4:28 PM

Federal prosecutors are looking into whether disgraced former attorney Scott Rothstein may have given large bonuses to employees, from the proceeds of his illegal Ponzi scheme, requiring them to use the bonuses to donate to various political campaigns.

According to the Miami Herald, federal prosecutors have been interviewing former RRA attorneys and staff, asking about Rothstein’s bonuses to RRA employees. Their investigation has revealed that RRA employees donated over $2.2 million in campaign donations between 2005 and 2009.

In examining Rothstein’s use of the proceeds of his illegal Ponzi scheme to pay employees of the law firm, investigators seem to believe that Rothstein gave large bonuses to certain attorneys and staff, with instructions to donate heavily to political campaigns. Nearly 40% of these contributions seem to have benefited the McCain-Palin campaign, most other funds going to GOP candidates, although some Democrats also received smaller donations.

Gov. Charlie Crist has announced that he will return over $76,000 to 35 RRA employees that he received as campaign contributions, while Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink announced that she will return nearly $7,000. Donations went toward many local races, including the Sheriff’s race in 2008.

These contributions made Rothstein into somewhat of a star bundler – as it was through his efforts that these funds were sent to the respective candidates. Holding fundraisers and even bundling through events is not an unusual event, particularly for high profile individuals, such as Rothstein. He, however, not only used the illegal proceeds of his scam to himself give large sums of money to campaigns, but further drew the spotlight by reportedly forcing his employees to contribute or else lose their handsome bonuses. Either way, his popularity among campaign staff and candidates themselves skyrocketed, giving Rothstein instant and exclusive access to key political figures like the Governor himself.

While there is no allegation that the firm’s employees knew that their bonus checks were derived from a fraudulent scam run by their boss, the issue being raised is whether at least the attorneys should have realized that Rothstein was essentially hiding the source of the political contributions, making it appear that it was the employee making the donation, when in fact the money was really from their employer – a clear violation of campaign financing laws. The fact that the money was the revenue from an illegal enterprise may also make it money laundering, as giving the money to employees in a manner that appears legitimate, but then requiring them to use the money to benefit RRA and Rothstein through political connections.

Rothstein is currently being held in federal detention without bond on charges of fraud, racketeering and mail/wire fraud.