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The law firm suing Trump University was founded by a wealthy San Diego lawyer with close ties to the Clintons who served a two-year sentence in federal prison for his role in a kickback scheme to mobilize plaintiffs for class-action lawsuits. William Lerach, best known for winning more than $7 billion in legal settlements of a class action suit he brought against Enron, was found guilty in 2007 of a kickback scheme in which he his firm used intermediaries to pay clients with large stock portfolios a percentage of the law firm’s $11.3 million profits for agreeing to be plaintiffs...

A New York state judge has joined a notorious plaintiff class action law firm that was indicted on federal racketeering charges and seen several of its former name partners sent to jail after their felony convictions. The judge, Herman Cahn, joined Milberg LLP only months after issuing a ruling that was favorable to the indicted law firm and its jailed standard bearer Mel Weiss.

Weiss pleads guilty; Clinton silentMar 21, 2008 3:00 AM (2 days ago) by Quin Hillyer, The Examiner WASHINGTON- Pioneering securities class-action lawyer Melvyn Weiss agreed yesterday to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy in the Justice Department’s prosecution of the New York firm that carried his name for many years. Weiss thus became the fourth named partner in the firm to plead guilty in the past year to participating in an $11.7 million kickback scheme government prosecutors said began in 1979 and resulted in more than $200 million in tainted legal fees in an estimated 150 cases filed by...

Lerach claims kickbacks were commonplace among class-action litigators when he was practicing. "Everybody was paying plaintiffs," he said in a letter inadvertently made public by his own attorneys last week. This should trigger a wider-ranging federal investigation of the plaintiffs bar, if indeed such a probe is not already being conducted. Senate and House Democrats, many of whom in years past received multiple campaign contributions from Lerach and others at Milberg Weiss, could demonstrate a laudable independence by opening a congressional inquiry.

William S. Lerach, who won billions of dollars for defrauded investors in class-action cases, was sentenced yesterday to two years in prison, ending up on the wrong end of the justice system after a legendary legal career. The prominent California plaintiff lawyer recovered more than $7 billion for Enron shareholders before pleading guilty to a conspiracy charge last October. He will serve his time in a facility to be determined by prison officials. The sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge John F. Walter in Los Angeles yesterday was far higher than the six months in prison and six months' home...

LOS ANGELES – Famed San Diego class-action attorney William Lerach, a former partner at a prestigious New York law firm, was sentenced Monday to two years in federal prison for his role in a lucrative kickback scheme involving class-action lawsuits against some of the nation's biggest corporations. Lerach, 61, was also sentenced to two years probation, fined $250,000 and ordered to complete 1,000 hours of community service. “This whole conspiracy corrupted the law firm and it corrupted it in the most evil way,” U.S. District Judge John Walter said during the hearing. Authorities said Lerach's former firm, now known as...

The barons of the tort bar must have thought 2007 would be a very good year: Some of their biggest cases (Katrina, Enron) were set to pay out, and a Democratic Congress meant no more worries about legal reform. Talk about reversal of fortune: As the year ends, we are witnessing nothing short of the dismantling of what are alleged to be major tort criminal enterprises. Bill Lerach, the king of class actions, stands disgraced as an admitted felon. His former partners at Milberg Weiss face trial for being part of the same kickback scheme as Lerach. Federal prosecutors continue...

Lawyer Pleads Guilty in Kickback Case By GREG RISLING LOS ANGELES (AP) — William Lerach, a former partner at a prestigious New York law firm, pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy for his role in a scheme to bribe people to become plaintiffs in lucrative class-action lawsuits. Asked by U.S. District Judge John Walter how he would plead to the charge, Lerach answered, "Guilty, your honor." Lerach, 61, pleaded to one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements. The plea deal also calls for him to forfeit $7.75 million to the government and accept a sentence of one...

Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign is raking in so much dough that it's hard for her staff to keep tabs on all the donors. Consequently, some embarrassing checks have been cashed. A bunch of them came courtesy of Norman Hsu, the natty schmoozer of high-level Democrats who was recently busted on fraud charges. Hsu raised about $800,000 for Mrs. Clinton, who has said she'll give back that money to the individual donors. Now comes the revelation that Mrs. Clinton and several other Democrats, including presidential candidates John Edwards and Joe Biden, accepted contributions from trial lawyers implicated in a sleazy kickback...

Over the years, as it became Exhibit A for critics of shareholders’ class-action lawsuits, the law firm of Milberg Weiss often enjoyed the support of Democrats who called the suits an invaluable weapon in the universal conflict between big business and the little guy. The Democrats, in turn, enjoyed the support of Milberg Weiss and its partners, who together contributed more than $7 million to the party’s candidates since the 1980s. Last year, the firm was indicted on federal charges of fraud and bribery. But the political partnership has not been entirely severed. Since the indictment, 26 Democrats around the...

Norman Hsu, Peter Paul, William Lerach.. all big criminal donors to Democratic candidates. In the case of Lerach's cash at least, the DNC has decided not to return his contributions: A spokesman for the Democratic National Committee said more than $1 million in donations from attorneys who pleaded guilty or have been indicted on federal charges for an alleged $11.8 million kickback scheme will not be returned. The donations, according to Federal Election Commission and state campaign finance databases, come from William S. Lerach, totaling $600,000 between 1998 and 2002, and from Melvyn Weiss, for a total of $25,000 in...

FOR YEARS, few things terrified a Silicon Valley executive more than trial lawyer Bill Lerach. "Being Lerached" meant a courtroom showdown with the wily, ferocious lawyer, who usually extracted fat settlements from companies accused of stock manipulations. He moved mountains, collecting $7 billion for Enron shareholders. His law firm had a lineup of clients that included the UC Board of Regents and public pension funds in New York and Ohio. When a high-flying stock fell to earth, he was the go-to guy that investors used to get even. Companies caved, knowing insurance would cover much of it. Except his methods...

A list of the donors who have "bundled" large sums from dozens of individuals to give to Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign includes several figures who were involved in the 1990s Democratic Party fundraising scandal that tarnished her husband's record. Among them is an Oklahoma oilman who testified in the mid-1990s that the firm he worked for, owned by Democratic fundraisers, sought to curry favor with Bill Clinton's administration by providing payments and a golf club membership to a Cabinet secretary's son. Democrat John Edwards's list of bundlers includes well-known fellow trial lawyer William S. Lerach, who raised $80,000 from...

Though his former law firm came under indictment more than a year ago and he himself appeared likely to face criminal charges, prominent trial lawyer William S. Lerach slipped past the vetting of John Edwards' presidential campaign and was permitted to raise large amounts of money for the Democrat's 2008 bid. Lerach, his family and members of his new law Lerach Coughlin law firm accounted for nearly $78,000 in donations to Edwards' campaign in the first half of this year, making the trial lawyer one of the North Carolina Democrat's leading "bundlers" of contributions. In the midst of that fundraising,...

Though his former law firm came under indictment more than a year ago and he himself appeared likely to face criminal charges, prominent trial lawyer William S. Lerach slipped past the vetting of John Edwards' presidential campaign and was permitted to raise large amounts of money for the Democrat's 2008 bid. Lerach, his family and members of his new law Lerach Coughlin law firm accounted for nearly $78,000 in donations to Edwards' campaign in the first half of this year, making the trial lawyer one of the North Carolina Democrat's leading "bundlers" of contributions. *** Through it all, Edwards stood...

The fall of San Diego trial lawyer William S. Lerach may end his reign as Wall Street's king of pain, but the class-action lawsuit industry he helped create has become an established reality for corporate America. William S. Lerach: "I ... crossed a line and pushed too far.” Lerach, 61, admitted in a plea agreement that prosecutors filed yesterday that he participated in a scheme that secretly paid kickbacks to recruit plaintiffs for more than 150 class-action lawsuits brought against U.S. companies. As part of the deal, Lerach agreed to forfeit $7.75 million in unlawful gains, pay a $250,000 fine...

The Washington Post, reports that California lawyer William Lerach is pleading guilty to criminal conspiracy respecting the origins of plaintiffs' suits in which he made a fortune. William S. Lerach, one of the nation's best known and wealthiest plaintiff lawyers, is preparing to plead guilty as early as today to a single criminal conspiracy charge that could send him to prison for up to two years, according to sources familiar with the case. Lerach, 61, resigned from his California law firm last month after intense speculation about his personal exposure in a lengthy federal criminal investigation. At the time, he...

William S. Lerach, one of the nation's best known and wealthiest plaintiff lawyers, is preparing to plead guilty as early as today to a single criminal conspiracy charge that could send him to prison for up to two years, according to sources familiar with the case. Lerach, 61, resigned from his California law firm last month after intense speculation about his personal exposure in a lengthy federal criminal investigation. At the time, he said he wanted "to focus single-mindedly on putting the matter behind me once and for all." During his heyday, Lerach won settlements worth billions of dollars from...

For decades, few things have inspired as much fear and loathing in the executive suites of corporate America as the law firm of Milberg Weiss and the two outsized personalities who ruled the place, Mel Weiss and Bill Lerach. Through creativity and ruthlessness, they transformed the humble securities class-action lawsuit into a deadly weapon.Always, Milberg Weiss cast itself as the champion of the little guy. In media interviews Lerach has spoken evocatively about fighting for the honest, struggling blue-collar worker who, through no fault of his own, had lost his hard-earned savings to corporate perfidy. The firm boasts of having...

Barney Frank is a busy guy, so we suppose it's no great surprise that he used a ghost writer for his recent Supreme Court amicus brief in a big securities tort case. Imagine our surprise, however, to learn that the ghost is none other than tort kingpin Bill Lerach's favorite lobbying outfit.