Last Friday saw the first guilty plea in the long-running kickback investigation of noted securities plaintiff firms Milberg Weiss and Lerach Coughlin. Howard Vogel, a former Milberg plaintiff has attested that he took $2.5 million in kickback money in exchange for acting as lead plantiff in a Milberg-run lawsuit.

Vogel has named several current and former Milberg partners as his points of contact, and while none are specifically named in the current indictment, they have been identified in media reports as: David Bershad, Steven Schulman and Robert Sugarman. Looks like this simmering investigation is just about ready to boil over. Comments are expected from Milberg in the near future. Lerach's firm, for its part seems to be getting a pass for the time being.

Many, many more details here or here. And for some history try some of our past coverage.

-- MDT

Labels: Howard Vogel, Melvyn Weiss, Milberg Weiss