Boca restaurateur Tony Bova lands in Scott Rothstein storm
Tags: Boca Raton, Bova Ristorante, Scott Israel, Scott Rothstein, Tony Bova
| Thursday 5 November 2009 11:34 am
Bova received the Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce's Small Business Leader of the Year award in 2004 (Palm Beach Post archives)
The scandal that engulfed the well-known Fort Lauderdale law firm of Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler has spilled into the Boca Raton restaurant biz.
Tony Bova, 58, a Boca resident and the high-profile owner of a string of area restaurants, counts disgraced attorney and political power broker Scott Rothstein among his partners in at least a half-dozen ventures.
And chief among those are Bova Ristorante, Bova’s pride and joy on Boca’s Federal Highway, and the chain Bova Restaurant Group.
Bova Ristorante, where older guys with slicked-back hair loved to hook up with women too young for them, mysteriously closed its doors shortly before Rothstein took off for North Africa last month.
And no one’s talking.
“Tony Bova has no comment at this point,” a spokeswoman said.
Bova’s association with Rothstein, who’s believed to be the principal in a $500 million Ponzi scheme and just returned to Florida to face the music, surprised observers.
“Tony was a very successful restaurant owner in his own right,” said Tom Prakas, a hospitality-business broker. “I don’t know why he needed Scott Rothstein.”
One strange thing regarding Bova and Rothstein is that their businesses last year spent more than $200,000 on political causes, mostly in a heated race across the Palm Beach County line.
For more, please look below or click
Bova (middle) with Miami Dolphins running back Ronnie Brown (left) last year at Bova Cucina in Boca Raton (Courtesy www.haute100.com)
TLKRJ LLC, a Bova-based company with no apparent purpose and co-owned by Bova and Rothstein, according to state records, poured close to $200,000 into the coffers of Broward Sheriff contender Scott Israel’s opponents. Incumbent Al Lamberti won the tight race.
Lamberti, by the way, had been named sheriff a year earlier by Gov. Charlie Crist after the then-Sheriff Ken Jenne was convicted in a corruption scandal. So happens Lamberti supporter Crist and Rothstein are thisclose, and soon after Jenne was released from a federal prison, he found work with — you guessed it — Rothstein’s firm. (And you thought politicians in Palm Beach County weave a tangled web!)
“All of the sudden, we had a guy named Bova from Boca dropping all this money on the race, and no one knew why,” said Israel. “Then we figured out Rothstein was involved and that they wanted Lamberti to win.”
The Feds are all over Rothstein’s books this week. There’s no word if they’re interested in Bova’s, whose Bova Cucina in Boca and Bova Prime in Fort Lauderdale are humming along just fine.
Meanwhile, the owners of the new Park Avenue BBQ, at the corner of Glades and Dixie in Boca, are wondering what’s next. They’re about to open the brand new restaurant, but the building, which briefly housed a restaurant fronted by Miami Heat superstar Dwyane Wade, is owned by Rothstein.
Greed. Pure and simple.
Blogs on line are a abuzz with speculation about who really murdered a female attorney at Rothstein (Self Named Jewish Avenger)at his office.
See allegations/comments below from Online Blog:
No idea at all if they are true or false:
+++
“….The guy gets away with murder last year…literally…and his accountant Debra Villegas gets a new home and Maserati after Melissa Brett Lewis is murdered in Plantation. Melissa is supposed to be good friends with Debra and they worked together…I think Melissa found out about the 500 million scheme and Debra had to do something so she wouldn’t tell…and Tony Villegas (Debra’s ex husband) is accused of murdering Melissa ….What motive would he have again??? Plantation PD investigate…hey guess what law firm represents Plantation PD…this is all a bunch of crap and cover ups and garbage. These people should all be in jail!! Oh its all unraveling now! Although I don’t know all the facts, this is starting to look more and more like Tony Villegas was set up for murder by his ex-wife and Rothstein. (all those millions can buy you alot of silence and cover ups and people looking the other way and evidence that fits exactly how you want it!!) Debra claims (and she’s the financial manager at Rothstein’s firm) that she has no comment when asked how did she not know this was going on..ha! She knew…how could she not…lets see…500 million in account the end of October…Rothstein goes to Morocco and ah there’s now only $500,000 in account…hmmmm how heavy was his suitcase when he left for some time away to think?? Maybe some smart cop will put it all together! FBI?.”
Seraphim1524
They were planning to open a cigar bar on Las Olas
Ronnie brown looks happy
I am sick that Bova is closed. IT was my very favorite restaurant - goreous, fabulous food - everything exceptional. How sad.
shit i died my hair black for this weekend to get some talent now i have to go to trapeze!
all the partners of that firm are on the hook for this theft.
He shut the place down because it was known as a “douchebag and douchebagette” hangout. Nobody like hanging out with the “D & D’s”, except for them. As for the contributions to the race, I don’t know of one resturant owner in the state of Florida who is not interested in the Broward Sheriff’s race and would not want to dump in thousands of dollars into getting Lamberti to win. Come on folks, can’t you see that??
about time to get these dirty scums
Let me refresh your memory if you haven’t lived in Florida for more than a day……… The 3 biggest SCUM BAG Countries in the World are as follows….. Brooklyn, Long Island and Boca Raton !! CROOKED SCAM MONEY RUINED FLORIDA !
Now where do I go to pick up young woman?
You forgot The Bronx on your list.
S=Hole of the Planet…..
I think Madoff, Picower and Rothstein “The Self-Declared Jewish Avenger” all went to Hebrew school together in the bronx….
…have not been able to confirm this yet.
a sunny place for shady people
Nice try- scumbag Scott Israel. In fact Rothstein funneled $170,000 thru his law partners Stu Rosenfeldt and Dave Boden to a committee supporting….SCOTT ISRAEL for Sheriff just days before the election.
This is why Republican hit man Roger Stone and Rothstein fell out…..Stone still won the race for Lamberti.
The Rosenfeldt and Boden contributions were both illegal and scumbag political consultant Judy ” the Douche” Stern, working for Israel, knew it.
They should ALL be jailed,
Where do I sign up for a role in the Madoff and Rothstein movies and will Scorsese direct it?
“…Fort Lauderdale lawyer Scott Rothstein… attorneys in Palm Beach County knew him as something else: A clown. A showoff. A mystery.
“His peers never considered him a legal genius, yet he attracted respected attorneys to his firm. Money, obviously, was the bait. Rothstein paid salaries large enough to lure a sitting Palm Beach County circuit court judge off his secure bench and snare a three-term mayor of Boca Raton to lead the firm’s push into Palm Beach County.
“Naturally, lawyers at Rothstein Rosenfeldt are all scrambling to say they had no inkling anything was amiss…among them is Rothstein’s only true partner, 50 percent firm owner Rosenfeldt. In an interview last Tuesday, Rosenfeldt acknowledged he never reviewed the firm’s trust accounts and said that when he tried, Rothstein denied him access. That admission could open the door to allegations that…Rosenfeldt was derelict in his duties…”‘I was denied access?’ You’re a 50 percent owner! Who has authority to prohibit you?”
“…many of Rothstein Rosenfeldt’s lawyers are seasoned litigators known for their ability to probe businesses entities and root out irresponsibility.
“Now that the shoe is on the other foot…it’ll be interesting to see if they take the opposite position and adopt the Nuremberg defense of, ‘I didn’t know anything. I was just following orders.””
Funny how the Martindale-Hubbell “a Premier Destination for Sophisticated Buyers of Legal Services” has both of these idiots Peer Review Rated “AV Preeminent 5.0 out of 5″ and “Meets Very High Criteria of General Ethical Standards”. “The General Ethical Standards Rating denotes adherence to professional standards of conduct and ethics, reliability, diligence and other criteria relevant to the discharge of professional responsibilities.”
This news story and the volume of facts/allegations surrounding this situation does not really support a Peer Review Rating of “AV Preeminent”, nor does it lend itself to Rosenfeldt resuming a title role in opening another firm if he is to be at the helm.
It will be interesting to see how slowly The Bar investigates the parties involved while the wheels of justice grind to a screeching halt. They’re not very swift, or thorough policing their own despite overwhelming evidence - talk about “justice being blind.” It will be even more interesting to see what, if any, consequences are meted out to each of them. With almost certainty, no more than a slap on the wrist - if that. It’ll be business as usual in the good ‘ole boys club.
As an aside, wasn’t is heart-warming to know that the rank and file staff (probably living paycheck to paycheck) have agreed to forego their salaries for two weeks without knowing whether they will get paid even then? It wasn’t reported if Rosenfeldt or any of the other 70+ Ahole attorneys offered to dip into their savings/checking accounts to pay their secretaries, paralegals and support staff during these difficult times.
It’s just the cynic in me, probably all is well in the legal community what with the wolves guarding the hen house so to speak.
it really is a shame how dan marino used this guy bova. bova was just a successful, hardworking business owner, who was impressed by the likes of marino, rothstein, and crist. overnight he goes from fried calamari to bi-weekly meetings with the pope. John Paul II was poisoned by bova so that marino’s people could get “a friend of their’s” into the vatican.
Tom,you should know some facts about Tony bova!hes greedy he had horrible food and treated people like garbage, he had no money and owed everyone. he could never keep his places out of the red zone either!!! he new exactly what he was getting involved in.
Tony Bova gets what he deserves , karma
what goes around comes around
good luck scum bag
INTERESTING…..KARMA IS RIGHT ON THE MONEY…so to speak…heh heh….I WORKED FOR TONY B. and HIS TWISTED WIFE A FEW YEARS BACK AND HE KEPT BOUNCIN MY CHECKS, 3 OF THEM…THAT WAS SIGN….DID’NT KNOW IT AT THE TIME….MAYBE A RED FLAG I DID SEE….THEN THEY WONDERED WHY I HAD AN ATTITUDE ABOUT IT….GO FIGURE…A SHORT WHILE AFTER THAT I WAS FIRED TELLING ME I WAS NOT DOING MY JOB….heck was with them almost a year….I MUST HAVE BEEN DOING SOMETHING RIGHT ….THEY ALSO FIRED A FEW OTHERS…LITTLE DID WE KNOW AFTER A LONG SPEECH FROM THEM, THEY WOULD BE CLOSING FOR RENOVATIONS …..A BIG SECRET…..THEY GOT RID OF MOST OF THE STAFF EXCEPT FOR CLOSE FAMIY FRIENDS THAT WORKED WITH THEM OF COURSE…THEY BASICALLY SHUT THE DOORS ON US….IT WAS SUCH BAD TIMING FOR THEM TO DO THAT TO ME, I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF MOVING AND I SUPPORT MYSELF….TONY B WAS A NICE GUY AND HIS WIFE…BUT NOW I READ ALL OF THIS AND WOW JUST BLOWS MY MIND !! REAL WISEGUYS HERE IN BOCA !
I knew Tony Bova from the beginning of his success, if he had only stuck to his business plan he might still be an amazing success, but greed set in around 1999 and things just went straight down hill. Coming from a long list of persons whom Tony owes money to, What goes around does come around BUDDY. It is a shame, the Federal Highway location housed some of the finest restaurants in Boca from Vic’s, Cha-Cha-Cha’s to Bova’s it has always been a favorite of mine.
[...] this year, Tony Bova watched his Boca Raton-based restaurant empire collapsed when his 50-50 business partner, Fort Lauderdale lawyer Scott Rothstein, was arrested for [...]
[...] believe he’s scum for partnering up with Fort Lauderdale lawyer and Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein then shutting down a chain of eateries while owing millions to vendors and employees when [...]