Even before finding out if a federal judge will revoke his bail and lock him up, Roger Stone has decided to move out of his $9,500-a-month home in a luxury neighborhood in Fort Lauderdale.
A “For Rent By Owner” sign has gone up outside Stone’s rental house in the Las Olas Isles, which is in the finger islands between downtown Fort Lauderdale and the beach.
The home was the site of the dramatic, pre-dawn raid at which Stone was arrested on Jan. 25. Stone said the 29 agents arrived at his house with 17 vehicles plus a helicopter and an amphibious craft in the canal behind his home.
He confirmed by email Wednesday afternoon that he and his wife, Nydia, are leaving the house. “We are moving to an apartment both to save money and for security reasons.”
They plan to stay in Fort Lauderdale.
Stone has lived in Miami Beach and kept a residence in New York. Since at least 2014 he’s been a resident of Fort Lauderdale, and lived in the Coral Ridge community before moving to his current home in the Coral Isles subdivision off Las Olas Boulevard.
The three-bedroom, three-bath house is two stories with a pool. It has space to dock a boat in the canal. Its rent in the multiple listing service used by real estate brokers is $9,500 a month.
The Broward County Property Assessor’s Office shows the property has a market value of $1.6 million and is owned by someone who lives in Gainesville, Ga.
Stone may not have much time to pack.
He is charged with witness tampering, obstruction of justice and making false statements in a case brought by Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating issues connected with Russian attempts to meddle in the 2016 presidential election.
He has pleaded not guilty — and pleaded his case in the court of public opinion, describing the charges as “process” crimes that have nothing to do with Russian collusion.
On Monday, he posted a picture of the federal judge presiding over his case on Instagram with an image that to many looks like the crosshairs of a gun next to her head. He later took it down and apologized in a filing with the court. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered Stone to appear in her Washington, D.C., courtroom on Thursday for a hearing on whether the conditions of his bail should be changed.
The judge could admonish Stone, or revoke his bail.
Stone said last week that the investigation and the indictments have been a financial strain. “It has had a negative financial impact on my family,” he said during an appearance west of Boca Raton.
He said he lost his health and life insurance in December, had to sell his car, and has been “eating a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.”
At the same time, Stone has been raising money for his legal defense fund. The goal is $2 million; he declined last week to say how much he’s taken in.
Stone has long been a well-known figure, and self-proclaimed dirty trickster, in political circles for decades.
Stone worked to get Richard Nixon elected president, later worked in the Nixon administration, and has a giant tattoo of Nixon on his back.
On the day of his first court appearance last month on the day he was indicted, Stone conjured up Nixon at a news conference outside the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale. As he arrived and as he left, he spread his arms wide and spread his fingers on both hands to make a V, for victory, gesture — similar to the displays made famous by Nixon.
aman@sunsentinel.com, 954-356-4550 or Twitter @browardpolitics