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A federal judge in Los Angeles yesterday sentenced Mel Weiss to 30 months in prison and ordered him to pay nearly $10 million in restitution and fines. The sentence was only three months short of the maximum allowable in a case that has previously seen guilty pleas by three of Weiss’ former senior partners at the Milberg Weiss law firm. The four confessed to paying more than $11.7 million in bribes to lead plaintiffs in at least 150 class-action lawsuits that generated an estimated $250 million in tainted legal fees, beginning in 1979, according to federal prosecutors. Earlier this year, former Weiss partner William Lerach was sentenced to two years in federal prison and two years of probation, plus fines and restitution totaling almost $8 million. Former senior partners David Bershad and Steven Schulman also pleaded guilty but have not yet been sentenced, as they continue to cooperate with prosecutors in the Justice Department investigation that began in 2000.

http://www.examiner.com/a-1421301~Weiss_sentencing_clears_wa y_for_congressional_action.html

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