Legal News

Paul Selzer and The Milberg Grand Finale

By Nathan Koppel

And then there were none. Paul Selzer, the last defendant in the Milberg kickback case, has pleaded guilty to tax obstruction charges. Here’s the AP account. (Our apologies, LB readers, on the reprised Mel Weiss photo, but after a lengthy search, we’ve concluded that Mr. Selzer has, through all this, managed to elude the long arm of the paparazzi.)

After Milberg entered a nonprosecution agreement with the government in June, it seemed only inevitable that prosecutors would also cut a deal with Selzer.

Prosecutors alleged that Selzer, an attorney, helped launder kickbacks to Seymour Lazar, a former Milberg client who has also pleaded guilty in the case. Selzer, according to the government, accepted nearly $50,000 from Milberg but did not tell the IRS that he had transferred $19,000 of that amount to Lazar.

Selzer has agreed to pay a $250,000 fine and is due to be sentenced Nov. 3. He faces up to three years in prison.

In addition to Selzer, of all the Milberg defendants, only David Bershad and Steven Schulman have yet to be sentenced. They are slated to be sentenced this fall.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on July 14, 2008 (boomark / email).