William Lerach Reportedly Will Plead Guilty

In a story based almost entirely on unnamed sources, the Washington Post reports today that former Milberg Weiss law firm partner William Lerach is planning to plead guilty to conspiracy charges and has agreed to serve at least one year in prison.  As readers may recall, federal prosecutors have been investigating whether Lerach and some of his former partners at Milberg Weiss recruited people to purchase shares in large companies and then paid those people to serve as plaintiffs in lawsuits, without disclosure to the courts or other class members.  An earlier blog entry in July discussed the guilty plea of another former named Milberg Weiss partner, David Bershad.  Milberg Weiss is probably the most famous plaintiffs'-side securities fraud law firm.  It also handles a range of plaintiffs' consumer class actions outside of the securities area.   

Comments

[Scott Nelson]

It should probably be noted that Lerach and others left Milberg, Weiss in 2004 to form a new firm headquartered in California, Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP. On August 28, 2007, the firm announced that Lerach was retiring because of the pressure of the investigation. The press release quoted him as saying that his "success has made me a target," and that he intended "to focus single-mindedly on putting the matter behind me once and for all." I suppose a guilty plea is one way of doing that.

The firm is now known as Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP.