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To: Jim McMannis who wrote (83004)	8/2/2007 5:54:48 PM
From: ChanceIs	Respond to of 306849

Law Firm Milberg Weiss Sued Over Alleged Kickbacks To Clients >>>Some of the denizens here (but mostly in the Boom Boom Room) have heard me whine about Calpine. On of their difficulties is that Milberg-Weiss lobed a few class action lawsuits against them after their stock crashed. Three or four of the top partners at MW have been indicted and copped pleas. It seems that they were finding street people (one of them was a convicted ophthalmologist who stole his own Monets and filed fraudulent insurance claims) and paying them to file suits against corporation post haste so MW could be lead plaintiff. They also paid stockbrokers for lists of names of clients with large losses. The criminal prosecutions of MW aren't finished, but the civil suits have just started. God I love it when the chickens come home to roost.<<< DOW JONES NEWSWIRES August 2, 2007 5:17 p.m. By Chad Bray Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Class-action law firm Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman LLP was sued on Thursday over allegations it engaged in a scheme to secure the lead position in large lawsuits by making secret payments to people to serve as plaintiffs. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, also named as defendants top Milberg partner Melvyn I. Weiss, former Milberg partners David J. Bershad and Steven G. Schulman, and class-action firm Lerach Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins LLP. "Beginning at least as early as 1981, defendants engaged in an illegal scheme to obtain appointments as lead counsel and awards of attorneys fees by secretly making illegal payments to their clients to serve as plaintiffs, lead plaintiffs and/or class representatives in class actions and/or derivative lawsuits and by misrepresenting their clients' losses and shareholdings," the lawsuit said. Milberg Weiss was indicted last year on charges it paid millions in kickbacks to induce clients to serve as lead plaintiffs in class-action cases. Bershad, a former senior Milberg partner, pleaded guilty last month to a conspiracy count in federal court in Los Angeles. Schulman, another former Milberg partner, also has been indicted in the case. Weiss and William Lerach, who left Milberg in 2004 to form his own firm, Lerach Coughlin, haven't been charged criminally in the matter. However, The Wall Street Journal previously has reported the two were offered plea deals in the matter, which they rejected. The civil lawsuit on Thursday was filed on behalf of six individuals who were class members in a number of lawsuits where Milberg Weiss served as lead counsel. The new lawsuit is seeking class-action status. Spokespeople for Milberg Weiss and Lerach Coughlin didn't immediately have a comment late Thursday. Alain Leibman, a lawyer for Schulman, declined to comment late Thursday, while a lawyer for Bershad didn't immediately return a phone call seeking comment.