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THE SMIRK ON MY FACE WHEN I READ THIS.
JUST A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A LAWYER.
THIS IS FROM THE AUSTIN AMERICAN STATESMAN AND ONE OF TEXAS FINEST
ANY BETS ON THE SENTENCE?
I AM GUESSING A YEAR TOPS
WHAT DO YOU THINK??
PATTI
Lawyer pleads guilty to stealing from dead
10:47 PM CDT on Saturday, June 28, 2008
Associated Press
AUSTIN (AP) -- A lawyer accused of stealing from three elderly clients after their deaths, including living in one woman’s home and driving another’s car, has pleaded guilty to felony theft charges.
Terry Erwin Stork, 69, faces up to life in prison on two of the charges when he is sentenced in August. He pleaded guilty Friday.
According to lawsuits and arrest affidavits, Stork systematically mismanaged or stole from the three estates worth more than $800,000 over two decades, the Austin American-Statesman reported Saturday.
The records said Stork lived in the home of a deceased client from 1987 to 2002 and deposited money from the sale of the home into his own bank account.
In another case, he allegedly let the home of a client sit empty, drove the woman’s Buick LeSabre to disrepair and used her money to add to his rare china collection. He was also accused of failing to pass along inheritances to people and organizations that were supposed to get them.
His sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 13.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/27/AR2008062703609_2.html
Famed Litigator Gets 5-Year Term For Conspiracy to Bribe Judge
By Holbrook Mohr
Associated Press
Saturday, June 28, 2008; Page A03
OXFORD, Miss., June 27 -- Richard "Dickie" Scruggs, who became one of the wealthiest lawyers in the country by taking on tobacco, asbestos and insurance companies, was sentenced Friday to five years in prison for conspiring to bribe a judge.
Scruggs, 62, nearly fainted as the judge scolded him for his conduct, and people in the courtroom gasped as Scruggs swayed from side to side. He had to be seated for a time before the sentence was read, but later stood back up.
U.S. District Judge Neal Biggers Jr. called Scruggs's conduct "reprehensible" and fined him $250,000. Scruggs will also lose his law license. The judge handed down the full sentence requested by prosecutors despite arguments from the defense for half that time.
"I could not be more ashamed of where I am today, mixed up in a judicial bribery scheme," Scruggs told the judge. "I have disappointed everyone in my life."
Scruggs was indicted in November along with his son and a law partner after an associate wore a wire for the FBI and secretly recorded conversations about the bribery plan. Prosecutors said Scruggs wanted a favorable ruling in a dispute over $26.5 million in legal fees from a mass settlement of Hurricane Katrina insurance cases.
Biggers said that after reviewing evidence, including the secretly recorded conversations, "it made me think perhaps this was not the first time you did this, because you did it so easily. And there is evidence before the court that you have done it before."
Prosecutors are looking into another alleged bribery conspiracy in which Scruggs is accused of trying to influence a different judge in a dispute over legal fees from asbestos cases. Scruggs's former defense attorney has pleaded guilty in that case and is cooperating with investigators.
Scruggs gained fame in the 1990s by using a whistle-blower against tobacco companies in lawsuits that resulted in a $206 billion settlement. That case was portrayed in the 1999 film "The Insider," which starred Al Pacino and Russell Crowe.
He initially denied wrongdoing in the bribery attempt case. But in March, Scruggs and former law partner Sidney Backstrom pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe Lafayette County Circuit Court Judge Henry Lackey with $50,000.
"You picked the wrong man to try to bribe," Biggers said of Lackey, who reported the bribe attempt to authorities.
Backstrom was sentenced Friday to two years and four months in prison and fined $250,000.
Scruggs's son, Zach Scruggs, pleaded guilty to misprision of felony, meaning he knew a crime was committed but didn't report it. He is scheduled to be sentenced next week.
U.S. Attorney Jim Greenlee called the case "profoundly sad" but declined to comment further because the investigation is ongoing.
Scruggs's former defense attorney Joey Langston has pleaded guilty to trying to influence Hinds County Judge Bobby DeLaughter in the asbestos case by promising that Scruggs could help DeLaughter get appointed to the federal bench with the help of Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), Scruggs's brother-in-law.
Scruggs and the others have not been charged in that case.
Scruggs must report to prison by Aug. 4 and pay the fine within 30 days.
He asked to serve his time at the federal prison camp in Pensacola, Fla., the same minimum-security prison where another prominent Mississippi attorney and Scruggs associate, Paul Minor, is serving an 11-year sentence for bribing two state court judges.
Many high-profile friends had sought leniency for Scruggs in letters to Biggers, including former "60 Minutes" producer Lowell Bergman and tobacco industry whistle-blower Jeffrey Wigand, both portrayed in "The Insider."
Scruggs left the red brick courthouse without comment and drove away with his family and attorney.
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http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-weiss3-2008jun03,0,521861.story
Melvyn Weiss sentenced in class-action kickback scheme
The securities lawyer made millions by paying off plaintiffs to sue major companies. He gets 30 months in prison and must forfeit $9.75 million in earnings.
By Tiffany Hsu and Thomas S. Mulligan, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
June 3, 2008
Melvyn Weiss, once one of the country's most prominent and wealthy lawyers, will begin serving a 30-month prison term late this summer.
A federal judge in Los Angeles sentenced Weiss on Monday for his role in a kickback scheme that prosecutors said generated millions of dollars in fees for the New York law firm he co-founded.
U.S. District Judge John F. Walter also ordered Weiss to pay $250,000 in fines and forfeit $9.75 million in fees he earned while with the firm.
Reading from a prepared statement, Weiss apologized for his "wrongful conduct." The 72-year-old, who was indicted last September and agreed to a plea deal in March, was disbarred this year.
"I promise you my contrition is profound and genuine," he said. "My punishment has already been great."
Prosecutors said Weiss' firm made roughly $250 million over more than two decades by filing class-action lawsuits on behalf of plaintiffs who were paid a total of $11.3 million for their involvement. Companies targeted included AT&T, Xerox Corp. and United Airlines.
Indicted on charges of conspiracy, racketeering, obstruction of justice and making false statements, Weiss would have faced a maximum of 40 years in prison had he been convicted on all the counts. He pleaded guilty to a single racketeering charge as part of a deal that called for a sentence of 18 to 33 months.
Weiss' attorney, Benjamin Brafman, asked the judge to "temper justice with mercy" and consider Weiss' "breathtaking" 50-year record of pro bono and charity work. "He's a good man, and a good man can do a bad thing," Brafman said.
A 125-page memorandum written by Weiss' legal team and 275 letters from supporters detailed Weiss' philanthropic history, including $6.25 billion in settlements he helped win for Holocaust victims. Judge Walter and Assistant U.S. Atty. Douglas Axel said the support for Weiss appeared to be unprecedented.
Along with former partner William S. Lerach of San Diego -- who also pleaded guilty in the case and is serving a two-year term in the Federal Correctional Institution in Lompoc, Calif. -- Weiss helped pioneer the development of securities class-action litigation.
Axel sought in court to differentiate the two men. While Lerach distanced himself from the firm after the federal investigation began in 2001, Axel said, Weiss demonstrated "criminal arrogance" by continuing to negotiate kickbacks and hiding evidence.
"During that seven years, [Weiss] had opportunity after opportunity to come forward and take responsibility, and instead he hid behind the firm," Axel told the judge.
So successful was the firm originally known as Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach that it was the primary target of a 1995 law known as the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. "It might as well have been called the Milberg Weiss bill," said University of Michigan law professor Adam C. Pritchard.
The law was meant to discourage frivolous lawsuits and an unseemly rush to the courthouse by giving judges greater authority over the designation of "lead plaintiff." Until then, the firm representing the first person to file suit usually controlled the litigation and garnered the biggest share of fees.
After 1995, savvy institutional investors such as pension funds tended to get greater consideration as lead plaintiffs. Milberg Weiss adjusted so well that "the upshot was that they actually increased their market share," said Stephen Bainbridge, a UCLA law professor.
"In the late 1990s, they had an 80% market share in this field," he said.
Lerach left Milberg Weiss in 2004 to found a firm in San Diego. It represented the University of California pension system, which was the lead plaintiff in a fraud lawsuit against Enron Corp., the Houston energy-trading firm that collapsed in 2001.
Two defendants remain in the case: Palm Springs real estate attorney Paul Selzer, accused of laundering the firm's kickbacks to a plaintiff, and the firm itself, which was renamed Milberg LLP after Weiss agreed to plead guilty. A trial is scheduled for August.
The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the firm was negotiating to settle the charges by admitting misconduct and paying a $75-million fine, citing sources close to the talks. A Milberg spokeswoman declined to comment.
tiffany.hsu@latimes.com
thomas.mulligan@latimes .com
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http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20080627-1840-ca-medicalfraud.html
Attorney, accountant charged in OC medical scam
ASSOCIATED PRESS
6:40 p.m. June 27, 2008
SANTA ANA – An attorney and accountant have been charged with participating in a “rent-a-patient�� scam described by authorities as the largest medical insurance fraud case in the nation.
Roy Chester Dickson, 60, of Yorba Linda and Andrew Robert Harnen, 54, of Rosemead were named in a grand jury indictment unsealed Friday, the Orange County district attorney's office said. Authorities alleged they participated in a scheme at Unity Outpatient Surgery Center that recruited thousands of healthy people from across the nation to undergo unnecessary surgery in exchange for money or low-cost cosmetic procedures.
Advertisement Prosecutors said $154 million was fraudulently billed to medical insurance companies. Besides Dickson and Harnen, 17 other defendants have been charged in the case.
“The facts in this case represented greed in its worst form – people gambling with health in the name of cash,�� District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said.
Dickson, who faces 106 felony counts, is accused of using his law practice to launder as much as $3 million through attorney-client trust accounts and creating fraudulent documents to disguise patient recruiting activities. The charges include grand theft, insurance fraud, money laundering and perjury. He faces up to 73 years in prison if convicted of all counts.
Harnen, who faces 118 counts, is accused of helping recruiters and administrators hide their illegal activities by funneling money to corporations he helped set up and filing fraudulent tax returns. The charges against him include making false and fraudulent claims and carry a maximum penalty of 80 years in prison.
Both men were arrested Wednesday. They were each ordered held on $2 million bail during a court appearance Friday, district attorney spokeswoman Susan Schrader said.
Messages left for Harnen's attorney George Quevedo were not immediately returned. Schroeder did not know whether Dickson has retained an attorney.
The 17 other defendants charged in the case included three doctors, nine recruiters and five administrators at the surgery center. Six have pleaded guilty and have been sentenced.
The remaining defendants are scheduled to be arraigned July 10.
Last edited by Marie (2008-06-29 13:18:39)
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AND WHAT'S YOUR BEST GUESS AS TO HOW THIS ONE IS GOING TO TURN OUT???
http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/story/445651.html
Fen-phen jury adjourns for weekend without verdict
By Beth Musgrave
bmusgrave@herald-leader.com
COVINGTON — A Covington jury adjourned for the weekend without returning a verdict in the case of three Lexington-area lawyers accused of taking millions from their former clients in a diet-drug settlement.
The jury, which began deliberations on Tuesday, asked U.S. District Judge William Bertelsman a technical question Friday about when it was appropriate for attorneys to take fees in a class-action settlement. It was the first time in two days the jury had asked a question. On Tuesday, they asked for office supplies and to view a video deposition.
Before dismissing jurors for the day, Bertelsman suggested advising the jury not to be embarrassed to ask questions. After the defense raised some objections, Bertelsman agreed not to raise the issue of questions Friday but said he might consider doing so later.
Shirley Cunningham Jr., Melbourne Mills and William Gallion — who were temporarily suspended from the practice of law — were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Prosecutors say the three took about $65 million of a $200 million fen-phen settlement that should have gone to 440 former clients.
The three attorneys sued fen-phen marketer American Home Products in Boone Circuit Court. The case was settled in 2001.
Prosecutors say the lawyers used intimidation and deceit to take millions more than the $60 million they should have received. Defense attorneys argue that there was never criminal intent to defraud the clients. Mistakes were made in the case but those mistakes were unintentional, they said.
The question about attorney fees came shortly before noon Friday but was answered after lunch. After discussions between prosecutors and several objections by defense attorneys, Bertelsman directed the jury to look at two previously given instructions.
One instruction on Kentucky court rules says that when an attorney takes more money in fees than the contract with the client says they should receive, a hearing should be held and the plaintiffs should be notified of the hearing.
The three attorneys had the fees approved by the judge, but they never notified their clients that they were taking more in fees than their contracts said they should receive. Deliberations will continue Monday.
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