Lerach Pleads Guilty to Criminal Conspiracy Charge
Plaintiffs' attorney William Lerach agreed to plead guilty to a federal conspiracy charge Sept. 18 in an ongoing investigation into Milberg Weiss' alleged kickback scheme.
September 18, 2007 at 12:30 PM
2 minute read
The original version of this story was published on Law.com
Plaintiffs' attorney William Lerach agreed to plead guilty to a federal conspiracy charge Sept. 18 in an ongoing investigation into Milberg Weiss' alleged kickback scheme. Lerach, a former name partner in the law firm, agreed to forfeit $7.75 million to the government, pay a $250,000 fine and face a sentencing of one to two years in federal prison.
Lerach is perhaps best known for representing defrauded investors in class actions against Enron, Qwest, Dynegy, AOL/Time Warner and WorldCom.
He is the second Milberg Weiss partner to plead guilty to the scheme. The terms of Lerach's plea agreement are similar to that of David Bershad, another former Milberg Weiss partner who pleaded guilty in July. The law firm and former partner Steven Schulman were also charged last May in a 105-page indictment. Current Milberg Weiss partner Melvyn Weiss was not indicted at the time, but is under federal investigation.
Federal prosecutors say from the 1970s until at least 2002, Milberg Weiss partners agreed to give payouts in order to recruit and retain plaintiffs for class actions. Prosecutors allege the firm paid out more than $11 million and brought in more than $200 million thanks to the scheme.
Lerach, who joined the firm in 1976, left Milberg Weiss to found Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins in 2004. He retired from that firm Aug. 31.
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