John B. Torkelson is already serving time, but the former star expert witness (he billed $60 million in expert fees between 1993 and 1996) still found himself pleading guilty this past week on perjury charges...

Essentially Torkelson like any other expert had to attest to his independence each time he served as an expert. To protect this independence law firms are forbidden from paying experts on a contingency basis: i.e. - if they win. But that is exactly the type of arrangement Torkelson had over possibly hundreds of cases, including very many with what this press release wimpily refers to as a law firm "with a principle office in New York."

Now, most people who'd bother to visit The Daily Caveat might recognize this as a probable reference to Milberg Weiss and the phrasing as how that firm was referred to in the government investigation of class action litigation kickbacks prior to being officially named in the ensuing indictment. But a relationship between Torkelson and Milberg isn't exactly news.

We wrote about the connection and Torkelson's significance to the brewing Milberg indictment three years ago. Torkelson, aside from whatever inappropriate payment arrangements that he may have had with Milberg, was also involved in the AHI Healthcare lawsuit, which presented a perfect storm of informants for the Feds including involved parties: Torkelson himself, fraudster Steven Cooperman and Milberg alum turned mortal enemy, Alan Schulman.

-- MDT

Labels: Alan Schulman, John Torkelson, Milberg, Milberg Weiss, Steven Cooperman