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Dubious Achievers - Florida Newsmakers of the Year
• LEWIS FREEMAN
Attorney/forensic accountant
Miami
A guy usually called in to fix such messes wound up creating one himself. Lewis B. Freeman, whom Florida Trend called "Cleanup Man" in a 2001 piece, specialized in fiduciary assignments and receiverships. "I'm either a physician or a mortician," he told us. He also had regular clients including coaches Jimmy Johnson and Butch Davis and employed for a time the former head of the SEC in Miami. In 2010, Freeman was charged with stealing $2.6 million from clients. He would have recognized the pattern: An upright guy — University of Miami donor, supporter of charitable causes — who finds his business short and "borrows" from accounts to make ends meet. Miami's elite wrote letters in the hundreds to beg the judge to have mercy. Freeman was sentenced to almost 8½ years.
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