A South Florida attorney was disbarred and ordered to serve 366 days in a Florida prison after an investigation by the Florida Department of Financial Services' Division of Insurance Fraud (DFS) led to numerous felony charges for stealing insurance settlement payments from clients.

DFS lead detective Gary Schiaffo found that Anthony Scalese had received settlement monies from insurance carriers on behalf of his clients but never forwarded the funds to the clients that needed the money. Instead, Scalese deposited the funds into his personal account. Scalese was arrested on December 19, 2007, based on similar allegations. Detective Schiaffo later uncovered four more victims and advised Assistant State Attorney David Schulson, which led to additional charges.

Scalese was arrested in April 2008 on charges of organized fraud, grand theft, and uttering forged documents, and faced a possible sentence of up to 30 years in prison. Scalese pleaded no contest to two felony charges of organized scheme to defraud and forgery. On Nov. 7, Broward County Circuit Judge Pedro Dijols sentenced Scalese to serve a year in prison, as well as 15 years probation. In addition, Scalese must pay more than $113,500 in restitution to the identified victims, and pay more than $1,600 for investigative costs. If Scalese fails to surrender on November 7, 2008, he will be sentenced to 35 years in prison.