Mark Tapscott: Firm gets dose of own medicine
Aug 20, 2007 2:00 AM
WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Not only do lawyers for Milberg Weiss lawfirm have to worry about a 20-count federal indictment, but now they also must defend against a class-action lawsuit much like those the firm specialized in filing against others for decades.
The suit was filed earlier this month in federal District Court in New York by six former shareholders represented in three major cases in which Milberg Weiss was lead counsel. Also named in the suit is the firm of Lerach Coughlin & Robbins LLP, a California offshoot of Milberg Weiss...
examiner.com
...Among the key allegations of the class-action suit against Milberg Weiss by these six individuals it formerly represented are that the alleged payments by the firm to individuals who became lead plaintiffs created illegal conflicts of interest:
“Because a Lead Plaintiff acts as a fiduciary for the absent class members or the absent shareholders and is required to remain free of any conflict of interest toward them, the Lead Plaintiff may not directly or indirectly receive any compensation that would conflict with his independence or his fiduciary obligations, specifically including any direct or indirect interest in any attorneys’ fees awarded to, or sought by, the Lead Counsel.”
The suit also notes that if such an agreement between a lead plaintiff and lead counsel to split fees were discovered, “the court should and likely would disqualify the lead plaintiff and him or her attorneys from representing the absent class members or shareholders and disallow fees requested by or awarded to the plaintiff’s attorney.”
The suit alleges that Milberg Weiss attorneys committed “commercial bribery, mail fraud and wire fraud,” which are defined by federal law as “racketeering activities and constitute predicate acts as defined under RICO,” the main anti-racketeering statute.”
Mark Tapscott: Spitzer kept more than $40,000 in Milberg Weiss contributions
Aug 20, 2007 2:00 AM
WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Shortly before he was elected New York’s governor last year, Eliot Spitzer made headlines by returning $124,445 worth of campaign contributions he had received since 2003 from lawyers associated with the then just-indicted Milberg Weiss law firm.
At the time, Spitzer’s spokesman claimed that he and his campaign strategists “held ourselves to a higher standard” regarding acceptance of contributions. The returned Milberg Weiss funds were hardly missed, however, as Spitzer raised more than $20 million in campaign cash on the way to a landslide victory last November running on a “Clean Up Albany” platform promising widespread reforms.
Milberg Weiss is the subject of an unprecedented federal investigation and 20-count indictment alleging that for two decades, senior members of the widely celebrated firm committed bribery, fraud, perjury, racketeering, filing false tax returns and obstructing justice while secretly paying off lead plaintiffs in class-action lawsuits. The firm denies all of the allegations...
examiner.com
...When The Examiner sought the list of individual donations that equaled the $124,445, Christine Anderson, Spitzer’s spokesman in the governor’s office, referred the request to officials with the 2006 campaign, saying, “I just don’t have access to that information from where I sit now. It would be in the campaign’s finance database.”
Allison Giard of the 2006 Spitzer campaign did not respond to The Examiner’s request.
Among the $42,555 Spitzer received from Milberg Weiss partners in 2001 and 2002 were $10,000 from Melvyn Weiss and $10,000 from David Bershad, the former managing partner who pleaded guilty July 10 of crimes in connection with his management of the firm’s kickback funds.
Bershad is expected to be the government’s chief witness against Weiss and former senior partner William Lerach, who left the firm three years ago, if the case goes to court.
Lerach and Weiss allegedly are the individuals listed in the indictment as “Partner A” and “Partner B.” Lerach reportedly rejected the government’s most recent offer of a plea deal.
Other apparently unreturned donations included $5,000 in 2002 and $3,000 in 2001 from then-senior partner Steven Schulman, who was named in the government’s 2006 indictment, $2,000 from Susan Bershad in 2001 and $3,000 from Barbara Weiss in 2001.
Whether Spitzer returned all of the money he got from Milberg Weiss attorneys — and if not, why not — are important questions now, thanks to his stance as an ethics-in-government champion and because he and Milberg Weiss are heroes to legions of consumer activists and plaintiff lawyers who like to portray themselves as defenders of the “little guy.”
details of politcal clout?
Milberg Weiss and the Investigation
milbergweissjustice.com
i read this stuff wondering about names like weiss and how they may or may not be related. take for example add a first name of gary and you can find info about bankrupt refco and the days of a Gary Weiss, Senior Vice. President, Refco Capital Markets Ltd. and also:
In June 1997, Anklesaria met with Gary Weiss, Refco's CEO, in Bermuda, and with Santo Maggio, Refco's Senior Vice President in charge of customer trading ...
www.courts.state.ny.us/comdiv/Law%20Report%20Files/March%202001/Genira.HTM
you can also find in my opinion an obsessed yellow journalist waging a smear campaign while hiding under the protection of the 1st ammendment, a big rock that could reveal many worms if lifted! ethical and balanced?
Yellow journalism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
...is a pejorative reference to journalism that features scandal-mongering, sensationalism, jingoism or other unethical or unprofessional practices by news media organizations or journalists. It has been loosely defined as "not quite libel"....
en.wikipedia.org
Journalism ethics and standards
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
...While various existing codes have some differences, most share common elements including the principles of — truthfulness, accuracy, objectivity, impartiality, fairness and public accountability — as these apply to the acquisition of newsworthy information and its subsequent reportage to the public.
Like many broader ethical systems, journalism ethics include the principle of "limitation of harm." This often involves the withholding of certain details from reports such as the names of minor children, crime victims' names or information not materially related to particular news reports release of which might, for example, harm someone's reputation....
en.wikipedia.org
Class Notes
Summer 2003
1970s ...
Gary Weiss (GJ76) of New York City, a senior writer for BusinessWeek, authored Born to Steal: When the Mafia Hit Wall Street (Warner Books, 2003), an analysis of the Mafia’s involvement in Wall Street.
northwestern.edu
Weiss Vs. Wall Street
David Whelan 08.21.06, 6:00 AM ET
forbes.com
...Eliot Spitzer, Grasso's nemesis, seems headed for the governor's mansion. Assuming his Wall Street muckraking days are behind him, how would you assess his legacy?
His legacy is that he took a sleepy backwater of an attorney general's office and turned it into a major source of meaty press releases. Eliot Spitzer sold more newspapers than Son of Sam, for heaven's sake. I don't think he did a thing to change in any meaningful way how Wall Street does business, and precious little to help investors. But he generated news and built himself a nice career. He is the Tom Dewey of his generation. He may be a vice presidential candidate some day. If that fails--well, there's always consulting. I see it now: "Spitzer Associates."
who does he write for now?
lma(zz)o
kickbacks and
business journalism,
investigative journalism,
yellow journalism?
the Baloney Brigade?
...Never one to mince words, Weiss wrote that "As I pointed out a few days ago, the SEC's meeting yesterday resembled a cheaply stocked delicatessen more than it did a regulatory agency, with half the agenda devoted to baloney -- the nonexistent "naked short selling" scandal, promoted by a handful of crackpots and corporate losers in the Baloney Brigade."...
moneyadvisory.blogspot.com
what gary doesn't mention is that
"important cases" set legal precedent!
a legal decision or form of proceeding serving as an authoritative rule or pattern in future similar or analogous cases.
garyweiss.blogspot.com
dose of own medicine,
the champion of the little guy,
the seedier side of wall street,
the forgotten sec subpoenas of journalists and the senate judiciary and finance committees jointly issued damning report about the SEC’s investigation of Pequot Capital Management, a Westport, Ct.-based hedge fund firm, and the subsequent firing of Gary Aguirre, the lead investigator on that case plus the regulator’s investigative practices were criticized!
Refusal to respond to a subpoena is a crime
First published: Saturday, August 25, 2007
Invoking executive privilege is one thing, but telling a person not to show up in response to a subpoena -- if only to actually invoke the privilege -- is quite another. It's not just worse, it's a felony. See for yourself:
18 USC Sec. 1505: "Whoever corruptly ... influences, obstructs, or impedes ... the due and proper exercise of the power of inquiry under which any inquiry or investigation is being had by either House, or any committee of either House or any joint committee of the Congress ... shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned not more than 5 years ... or both."
18 USC Sec. 1515(b): As used in section 1505, the term "corruptly" means acting with an improper purpose, personally or by influencing another, including ... withholding, or concealing ... information.
ERIC BEECHE
Slingerlands
timesunion.com |
