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Mel Weiss Sentenced to 30 Months for Kickback Scheme

By Mark H. Astarita, Esq.

Mel Weiss, the former king of the plaintiff's class action bar, was sentenced to 30 months in prison after plead guilty to charges that he and some of his partners obtained $251 million dollars in attorney fees, by paying $11 million in illegal kickbacks to lead plaintiffs. While that is a typical prosecutor's view of the world, there was a kickback scheme since Weiss plead guilty to a federal racketeering conspiracy charge, admitting he lied to judges and secretly paid kickbacks to plaintiffs, in cash or through intermediary law firms, as part of a criminal enterprise that lasted 25 years.Weiss also agreed to forfeit $9.75 million and to pay a $250,000 fine.The WSJ is reporting that Milberg is close to a $75 million dollar settlement with prosecutors, his trial is set to begin in August...continue to full post

Full post as published by SECLaw.com on June 03, 2008 (boomark / email).