Two years before Scott Rothstein’s epic fall from legal heavyweight to federal inmate, the wheeler-dealer attorney’s free-spending ways had become legendary.

Among Rothstein’s nouveau riche trappings was an eye-popping watch collection, the best of which he proudly flashed for a Miami Herald photographer at a Plantation jeweler in June 2007. The seven prized pieces, he claimed at the time, alone were worth well over $1 million.

It wasn’t until late 2009 that the truth emerged: The 87-foot boat, the million-dollar sports cars, the cigars, the restaurants, the houses, and yes, the scores of Rolex and Patek Philippe timepieces were all the fruits of a massive $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme.

Rothstein went to jail for 50 years, and the federal government went about scooping up the accoutrements of his wealth.

And now, thanks to the feds, you too can flash wristwear like a fast-talking swindler. On Wednesday, Rothstein’s collection will be made available to the highest bidder in a Treasury Department auction of his estate, held at the Broward County Convention Center, with the proceeds going to the people he bilked. The auction follows last year’s sell-off of Rothstein’s cars and boats that raised $5.6 million. There is also an ongoing effort to sell his various homes.

Read the full story at MiamiHerald.com