"Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated," Fort Lauderdale attorney Scott Rothstein told the Miami Herald Sunday in a brief interview.

Rothstein, who has been accused of orchestrating a fraud that cost investors as much as hundreds of millions of dollars, spoke to the newspaper from an undisclosed location in south Florida, his first public comments since returning from Morocco last week.

Despite the fact that law firm Rothstein, Rosenfeldt and Adler, is now in receivership, that Rothstein's friends in public office have hastily distanced themselves, that FBI and IRS agents have swarmed his old office, that "disgraced" and "embattled" have become regular epithets attached to his name, the high-flying Rothstein appears unbowed.

He claimed to the Herald, "I am sitting here smoking cigars with Marc," his attorney. This from a man who just 10 days ago sent a text message to his partners in which he seemed to be contemplating suicide.

The Herald goes on:

Rothstein then handed the telephone to his lawyer, Nurik, who said that, in fact, they had not been smoking cigars.

``He is under a lot of pressure,'' said Nurik, who had worked at Rothstein's law firm but stepped down to represent him. ``I don't want anybody to think he is having a good time.''

During the brief interview with Nurik, Rothstein could be heard heartily laughing in the background.

Read the whole interview.