<http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,1516246,00.html>
Californian 'earned $2.4m by joining Wall St lawsuits' David Teather in New York Tuesday June 28, 2005 Guardian For three decades the New York law firm of Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman has been filing shareholder lawsuits against such internationally known companies as Walt Disney and Shell. Now it is being forced to defend itself from allegations that it paid kickbacks to at least one investor to join its class action suits. A three-year federal investigation has ended at the doorstep of arguably the most aggressive Wall Street law firm in the United States. A Californian man has been charged with taking at least $2.4m (£1.3m) in illegal payments to act as a plaintiff in dozens of corporate class-action lawsuits filed by the firm. The defendant, Seymour Lazar, 78, a former entertainment lawyer, has been charged with fraud, money laundering and conspiracy. The indictment, filed at the end of last week, names only "a New York law firm" as the source of the alleged kickbacks. But Milberg Weiss filed the suits in question and the firm has confirmed that it was subpoenaed. "The firm and everyone involved intends to vigorously defend this case," said a spokeswoman. According to its own website, Milberg Weiss has recovered $30bn for investors, consumers and workers against corporations including Apple Computer, Intel, Cisco, Enron, Halliburton and Tyco. The firm has become a thorn in the side of corporate America and been cited in Washington as an example of abuse of the legal system and the need to curb class action suits. In a statement, the firm said that although the indictment against Mr Lazar did not name the firm it "unfairly implicates the firm in the wrongdoing alleged against Lazar." "We are outraged that these allegations have been made against the firm and reject them as baseless," it said. Mr Lazar appeared in suits against companies including United Airlines, Hertz Rent-a-Car and Genentech. The indictment claims he was illegally offered a share in the legal fees from the cases. Further changes to the law in 1995 limited plaintiffs to no more than five class actions in three years. Mr Lazar's lawyer, Thomas Biernert, called the government prosecution "misguided". He told the Wall Street Journal that it was a "a heavy handed attempt" to pressure him into acting as a witness in the broader investigation into Milberg Weiss.
