Posted on 07/10/2007 7:27:54 PM PDT by radar101
A former senior partner of a pioneering law firm that won billions for clients in securities fraud cases pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy.
The plea agreement by Milberg Weiss ex-partner David Bershad in what the government has described as a kickback scheme ratchets up the pressure on William S. Lerach and co-founder Melvyn I. Weiss.
The New York-based firm made its name launching shareholder suits against major corporations and recovered more than $45 billion for investors in such cases.
Lerach left Milberg in 2004 to open a San Diego-based practice that quickly became one of the top securities class-action firms, recovering billions on behalf of shareholders at Enron Corp., WorldCom Inc., AT&T Corp., Apple Computer Inc. and many other companies. In the process, he won the admiration of shareholder groups and the enmity of corporate executives. He also became a generous Democratic Party contributor.
Bershad was indicted last year along with former Milberg partner Steven Schulman and the law firm itself. The 20-count indictment didn't name Weiss or Lerach, but they are widely believed to be the "Partner A" and "Partner B" referred to throughout the document.
The two reportedly have been in talks with prosecutors and rejected plea agreements that would have required them to serve as many as four years in prison.
Bershad's plea in Los Angeles federal court "makes it practically inevitable" that the prosecutors will indict Lerach and Weiss.
Lerach, 61, is planning to retire this year as head of his firm, Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins, according to reports published Monday. Dan Newman, a spokesman for the firm, said Lerach hadn't set a date for his departure, but "he's promised to retire before he will allow the Milberg Weiss matter to become a distraction to this firm."
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Power Suits: William S. Lerach (#2) After Bill Clinton dined with Lerach, who makes millions suing Silicon Valley companies, the president suddenly dropped tort reform.
William S. Lerach and wife Star Soltan, San Diego, Calif. Donated $480,043 since 1993. Party: D. They gave $320,000 in soft money to the Democrats, $53,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Fund, and $65,342 to 66 candidates, nearly all Democrat. View Lerach's itemized contributions according to the MoJo 400 searchable database.
By W. John Moore
Attendees at a private White House dinner on December 15 may have seen Bill Clinton and William Lerach speaking and shaking hands. What they probably didn't notice was Lerach twisting the president's arm.
Four days later, the president vetoed the Securities Litigation Reform Act. The bill, which makes it more difficult for shareholders to sue their own companies for securities fraud, enjoyed wide bipartisan support, but Clinton startled his party with a last-minute veto. (In late December, Congress overrode the veto handily.)
you said it.
It is an insult to pond scum to use that label on these thieves. The money they scored from these corporations cost the companies employee’s stockholders, and their customers all the while doing very little for their clients. But the lawyers got rich.
(( ping ))
It never ends. Pelosi said she would drain the swamp. With the Clintons, it is like draining the Pacific Ocean.
“Lawyer admits to kickbacks(Big Dem contributor)”
“Hey, that’s what we do!”
(we = lawyers and Democrats)
Fixed it with inverse_ABC/Reuters template.
Would that not translate into $15 billion for the law firm? Or, if you wish, "extortion concern".
And, of course, comparative pennies for the stockholders?
I can't imagine that anybody but the lawyers got any real satisfaction out of the exercise...
didn’t these lawyers use the same clients over and over.
Yes, and they recruit stockholders for possible future law suits. We ALL pay .
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