March 28, 2024

Dubious Achievers - Florida Newsmakers of the Year

Mike Vogel | 1/1/2011

• DAVID BROOKS
Founder, Point Blank Solutions
Pompano Beach

David Brooks
[Photo: Howard Schnapp]
Raiding the Company

David H. Brooks, 55, who led what's now Point Blank Solutions, was convicted in 2010 of looting his company to pay for luxury cars, racehorses, family trips, his wife's plastic surgery and hookers for employees. (If the prostitutes made workers more productive, it was argued, they were a legitimate expense.) The formal charges included insider trading and fraud. Brooks and his chief operating officer, Sandra Hatfield, 56, were convicted after an eight-month New York trial that was a spectacle with allegations of shenanigans in the jury room and the anxiety-suffering Brooks being smuggled pills in a pen in court. "The trial of the century in the United States — hands down, don't even try to compare it with anything else," said The Atlantic.


Business
Mark Wilson
Wilbur Ross Jr.
Lola Gonzalez
John Textor
Robert Clements
Thomas Gaffney
Hugh Green
R.J. Scaringe
Foreclosure Fighters
Julian MacQueen

Politics
Mel Martinez & The Dominoes

Military
Florida's Fallen Soldiers

Education
Frank Brogan
Maryellen Elia

Science/Innovation
Win Phillips & David Day
Ian MacDonald & William Hogarth

Environment
Extreme Temperatures

CRITTERS
Mystery Monkey

Sports
Tampa Bay Rays' Top Brass
Pat Riley

Volunteer/Non-Profit
Barth Green

Arts/Entertainment
New World Symphony
Pitbull
Pamela Tuscany

Dubious Achievers
Scott Rothstein
David Brooks

Jim Greer
Wayne McLeod
Lewis Freeman
Pawl Hawks
Lee Farkas

Florida Business News

Florida News Releases

Florida Trend Video Pick

Bitter-to-swallow cocoa costs force chocolate shops to raise prices
Bitter-to-swallow cocoa costs force chocolate shops to raise prices

Central Floirda chocolate shops are left with a bitter taste as cocoa prices hit an all-time high earlier this week.

Video Picks | Viewpoints@FloridaTrend

Ballot Box

Should Congress ban the popular social media app TikTok in the U.S.?

  • Yes
  • No
  • Need more details
  • What is TikTok?
  • Other (Comment below)

See Results

Florida Trend Media Company
490 1st Ave S
St Petersburg, FL 33701
727.821.5800

© Copyright 2024 Trend Magazines Inc. All rights reserved.