Major East Coast Securities Plaintiffs' Firm Faces Criminal Indictment
Milberg, Weiss, Bershad, & Schulman, a New York securities litigation heavyweight, along with two of its name partners, were indicted last month by a federal grand jury on several criminal charges, including racketeering, conspiracy and money laundering. The firm is accused of making $11.3 million in illegal secret payments to three people who served as plaintiffs in more than 150 lawsuits.
Howard J. Vogel, a real estate mortgage broker from Englewood, N.J., is a central figure in the government's case against the firm. Mr. Vogel says, according to a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, that he and members of his family were linchpins in a long-running arrangement that helped Milberg Weiss snare the lucrative lead counsel position in many securities lawsuits, reaping hundreds of millions of dollars in legal fees.
The firm contends it has done nothing wrong and has vowed to fight the charges against it. According to a recent New York Times article, however, Milberg Weiss is struggling to keep its lawyers and clients from walking away. Several lawyers have left the firm and a number of institutional investors, including the New York state employee pension fund, have removed it as counsel in high-profile lawsuits.
