Buster

Roger Stone Is Still On The Hunt For Suckers Dumb Enough To Pay His Living Expenses

With his criminal trial scheduled to open next week, Roger Stone is again casting about for suckers willing to reach into their pockets to pay for his living expenses.

In an October 25 e-mail blast to subscribers on his mailing lists, the 67-year-old cuck whines that his criminal entanglements have been a “difficult and exhausting” ordeal, adding that the “pressure and stress is nearly unbearable.”

Stone’s email solicitation--which includes four separate red “DONATE NOW” buttons--claims that the oily GOP operative and his wife Nydia “have lost our home, our savings” and “we're struggling to stay afloat.” The woe-is-me pitch from Stone assures prospective marks that his situation is “dire.” “I do not exaggerate in the slightest,” the inveterate liar added.

Donations to the Stone Family Support Fund are not tax deductible and are considered “personal gifts to Roger and Nydia Stone for their unrestricted use,” according to an online donation page. Stone is also soliciting contributions to the Roger Stone Legal Defense Fund, gifts to which are also not deductible.

While claiming to be broke, Stone has hired private defense counsel, instead of opting for representation by the Federal Defender Program, which handles cases for indigent clients. But to secure such free counsel, a defendant has to file sworn financial statements attesting to their destitution.

Which would be difficult for Stone, who makes it seem that he had to apply for Section 8 vouchers when he recently “lost” his home.

In fact, Stone’s former waterfront residence in Fort Lauderdale--where he was arrested by the FBI in January--was a rental. As were his prior two homes.

Stone and his wife have recently relocated from the Coral Way property--which has a swimming pool and boat dock--to a brand new residence three miles away. But instead of renting at the Galleria Lofts development, the Stones bought an 1800-square-foot, three-bedroom townhome.

According to Broward County property records, the condominium residence was purchased in late-March for $525,000 by the Bertran Family Revocable Trust (Bertran is Nydia Stone’s maiden name). Nydia Stone, records shows, is a trustee of the trust (and its sole creator).

A quarter of the home’s purchase price--or $131,250--was in cash, with the balance being covered by a $393,750 mortgage secured by the Bertran trust and Roger and Nydia Stone individually.

The loan was provided to the Stones by Russell Harris, 73, whose home address is listed on mortgage records as a small property in Sonoma County, California. Harris, however, is registered to vote from a Fort Lauderdale residence that he owns.

The mortgage’s length and interest rate are not disclosed in property filings which reference a “Balloon Payment Promissory Note” entered into by Harris and the Stones.

A further search of Broward County records show that the Stones have still not satisfied a series of Internal Revenue Service liens covering nearly $1.5 million in unpaid federal taxes.