Legal News

Lerach gets a (temporary) reprieve from jail

By Jason Siegel

LOS ANGELES ? Securities class action plaintiff's lawyer William Lerach, who was originally scheduled to report to federal prison on Monday, has received an extension until May 19.

Lerach, a former partner at Milberg, was sentenced earlier this year to two years in federal prison after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy as part of an investigation alleging that the firm and several of its partners, including Lerach, obtained $250 million in attorney fees by paying kickbacks to name plaintiffs.

But the Federal Bureau of Prisons has not yet designated a federal institution where Lerach would serve that sentence, according to court papers filed this month by Lerach's lawyer, John Keker, of San Francisco's Keker & Van Nest, and federal prosecutors, who did not oppose a one-time extension.

U.S. District Judge John Walter of the Central District of California granted the extension.

-- Amanda Bronstad

Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on April 24, 2008 (boomark / email).