Litigation

The Okie Pokey

By John Darer

His admiration for the "grace" of Bill Lerach is STILLthe lead story at "Super Settlement Planning", the pulpit of Structured Settlement Services' Robert Risk II, a structured settlement broker and "tough issues tackler" out of Tulsa, OK. But what in the Bill Lerach "plea copping" arouses Risk that fellow "plea coppers", Dickie Scruggs and Melvyn Weiss (Lerach's former partner) DO NOT?

According to the Wall Street Journal, Melvyn Weiss, the onetime powerhouse shareholders lawyer, struck a deal to agree to plead guilty in a case alleging improper kickbacks (same as Lerach). Terms of the deal, which could be announced as early as Wednesday, weren't known.

Weiss, 72, was indicted in connection with an alleged scheme at his law firm, now known as Milberg Weiss LLP, to pay millions of dollars in kickbacks to clients in exchange for their being ready to serve as name plaintiffs in lucrative shareholder class-action cases. He was charged with four counts and could have faced 40 years in federal prison if convicted on all of them in a trial.

The cat seems to have got Risk's tongue.

Full post as published by Structured Settlements 4Real on March 20, 2008 (boomark / email).