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Lerach Gets Maximum Term
The Recorder
February 11, 2008
William Lerach
image: Shelley Eades/The Recorder
After criticizing a plea deal, Los Angeles federal Judge John Walter accepted it, but sentenced star plaintiff attorney William Lerach to the highest term under the agreement -- 24 months in federal prison.
Walter hammered prosecutors in court Monday about why they cut the deal with Lerach, who pleaded guilty in connection with kickbacks to lead plaintiffs of his former law firm, now known as Milberg Weiss. Lerach pleaded guilty to a single count of giving an improper payment to a plaintiff.
Checking his famous bravado at the courtroom door, the former securities class action king expressed humble regret as Walter reluctantly accepted the deal hashed out between Lerach and federal prosecutors.
Lerach's lawyer, John Keker of San Francisco's Keker & Van Nest, had asked that Lerach serve six months in prison and six months' home confinement, while the government wanted 24 months behind bars.
The plea deal that drew Walter's ire, and Lerach's retirement from the San Diego firm he spun off from Milberg Weiss, was announced in September.
Milberg Weiss has been dogged by a criminal probe into allegations that the firm paid kickbacks to lead plaintiffs in major class actions. Lerach and other former top partners have pleaded guilty, though the Milberg Weiss firm and name partner Melvyn Weiss have pleaded not guilty and are fighting the charges.
In 2004, Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach split into two firms, then known as Lerach Coughlin Stoia & Robbins in San Diego and Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman in New York.
Check back for updates this afternoon. The full story will appear in Tuesday's Recorder.
