All three leading candidates in the crucial race to replace Andrew Cuomo are pulling in big bucks. But wait til you see who's giving--and how much--to the former Bernstein Litowitz partner.

Paul Ceglia—who claims that an old contract with Mark Zuckerberg entitles him to half of Facebook—has failed to have Facebook's counsel at Gibson Dunn disqualified because of a supposed conflict of interest. On Thursday a judge not only found the disqualification motion to be frivolous, but also indicated that he will impose sanctions on Ceglia's lawyer for filing it. Perhaps more importantly, the judge ordered Ceglia to produce a document that, according to Gibson Dunn, proves definitively that he's a fraud.

The shareholder suits started pouring in just one day after Deutsche Boerse AG announced its proposed $9.53 billion buyout of NYSE Euronext on Feb. 15. And with NYSE shareholders poised to vote on the deal July 7, the defendants agreed to pay out more than $900 million in dividends to make the litigation go away.

District Judge Shira A. Scheindlin U.S. DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK For Plaintiffs' Executive Committee: Stanley D. Bernstein, Esq., Rebecc

Dean Boland, one of the few lawyers who hasn't already fled Paul Ceglia's case against Facebook amid allegations of fraud, is going to have to stick around even longer. Meanwhile Ceglia says a new "highly respected, nationally recognized law firm" is about to join his side.

Thanks to Bear Stearns's lawyers at Paul Weiss, the identities of seven confidential witnesses cited in a securities class action complaint against the defunct investment bank aren't going to be confidential for much longer.