Securities Law Firm Indicted

The high-profile securities law firm of Milberg Weiss, and two of its top attorneys were indicted on Thursday on charges of conspiracy, money laundering and racketeering, following a six-year investigation regarding whether the law firm made illegal payments to clients who agreed to act as plaintiffs in the firm's lawsuits against publicly traded companies. U.S. Attorneys office of Los Angeles alleges that the 120-lawyer, New York City-based law firm and two of its partners, David Bershad and Steven Schulman, bribed clients to get them to agree to act as plaintiffs in their lawsuits. Court documents claim the law firm gave $11.3 million in illegal kickbacks to clients from 1981 through 2004. "This case is about protecting the integrity of the justice system in America," said Debra Wong Yang, U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, in a press release. "Class-action attorneys and named plaintiffs occupy positions of trust in which they assume responsibility to tell the truth and to disclose relevant information to the court. This indictment alleges a wholesale violation of this responsibility."