What Do You Call Two Corrupt Lawyers in Jail? A Good Start.
March 20, 2008
Trial lawyer kingpin Melvin Weiss today admitted he engaged in a criminal conspiracy to pay kickbacks to frontmen who then agreed to serve as plaintiffs in class action lawsuits. Weiss will pay $10 million in fines and penalties and faces between 18 and 33 months in prison.
Said Weiss: “I deeply regret my conduct and apologize to all those who have been affected …” The Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog has the full statement. The New York Law Journal also has an extensive story.
Weiss joins his former partner Bill Lerach, who pleaded guilty last October and was sentenced to two years in prison and two years probation, ordered to complete 1,000 hours of community service and to repay $7.75 million in illegally gotten gains.
At Lerach’s sentencing hearing, Judge Walter said, “This whole conspiracy corrupted the law firm and it corrupted it in the most evil way.”
No word yet on whether they’ll be sharing the same cell.
Weiss and Lerach conspired to provide cash kickbacks to plaintiff/frontmen in an effort to seize control of mega class actions and win huge fees in 150 cases over 20 years.
Prosecutors say these illegal kickbacks helped the firm reap at least $216 million in legal fees. Milberg Weiss has taken in more than $1 billion in total legal fees by dragging American companies into court.
Companies have paid more than $45 billion in damages because of Milberg Weiss cases – including $600 million from Lucent Technologies and $460 million from Raytheon.
That’s $45 billion that did NOT go into medical research … $45 billion that did NOT go toward creating new jobs … $45 billion that did NOT build a single factory.
The only people that benefited were two corrupt trial lawyers and their frontmen.