Hey, I just write the American.com column about the Kentucky fen-phen fraud, not the headlines. Earlier on Overlawyered: Mar. 26 and links therein. (Cross-posted at Point of Law.)
Posts Tagged ‘scandals’
Update: Minor, co-defendants guilty on all charges
“Attorney Paul Minor, former Circuit Judge John Whitfield and Chancery Judge Wes Teel were found guilty Friday of all charges in a judicial bribery conspiracy.” (Anita Lee, “Guilty, guilty, guilty”, Biloxi Sun-Herald, Mar. 31; Jimmie E. Gates, “Minor, 2 others found guilty”, Jackson Clarion-Ledger, Mar. 31). We’ve been covering this corruption story, which arose from the financial coziness with judges of one of Mississippi’s most prominent trial lawyers, since it broke: see Mar. 16, etc., as well as Mar. 22.
More: Anita Lee, “Hard Time”, Biloxi Sun-Herald, Apr. 1.
NY Times on Ky. fen-phen scandal
We’ve been beating the drums on this one for a while (Mar. 6 and Aug. 25, 2006, Jan. 24, Feb. 14, Feb. 21, Mar. 19, 2007; Point of Law May 10, 2005) and it’s nice to see the Times’s Adam Liptak with a front-pager this weekend on the affair. The story begins by telling the story of what happened when W.L. Carter, one of the clients in the 440-member batch, went to pick up his check from the fen-phen settlement:
The check was, for starters, much smaller than he had expected. And his own lawyers threatened to retaliate against him if he ever told anyone, including his family, how much he had been paid. “You will be fined $100,000, you will go to jail and you will be sued,” Mr. Carter recalled them saying.
Liptak writes: “Legal experts said the fraud might be one of the biggest and most brazen in legal history.” Or at least one of the biggest and most brazen that’s come to light: batch settlements in mass tort cases are frequently so secretive in their details, and so carefully drawn up to repel inquiries from outsiders or from clients themselves about who got what, that we can at best speculate about whether the Kentucky scandal is an outlier. (“Fraud Inquiry Looks at Lawyers in Diet-Drug Case”, Mar. 22).
P.S. As Ted notes above, today’s Louisville Courier-Journal adds some new information about the alleged role played by Stanley Chesley’s Cincinnati law firm (Andrew Wolfson, “Court filing ties lawyer into diet- drug pay scheme”, Mar. 26; Lattman, Mar. 26).
Paul Minor retrial, cont’d
In recent developments at the Mississippi judicial-bribery retrial, Richard (“Dickie”) Scruggs, a longstanding associate of attorney Paul Minor’s, “testified without accepting the U.S. Justice Department’s offer of immunity from prosecution”. Scruggs had not taken the stand during the first trial. (Anita Lee, “Scruggs takes stand”, Biloxi Sun-Herald, Mar. 14). Earlier, attorney Leonard Radlauer testified that he’d served as a go-between in a scheme in which Minor furnished $118,000 to pay off a debt owed by Judge John Whitfield of Gulfport. (“Scruggs likely to testify today”, Mar. 13). According to the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, summarizing his testimony,
Radlauer said he later came to the realization after receiving what he considered a fraudulent promissory note from Whitfield that Minor’s reason for wanting him to make the payment wasn’t above-board.
“It wasn’t to keep it out of the paper,” Radlauer said. “I thought it was a pretty shady thing. … It was backdating.”
(Jimmie E. Gates, “Witness: Loan antics ‘shady'”, Jackson Clarion-Ledger, Mar. 13; also Gates, Clarion-Ledger, Mar. 9, Mar. 10, Mar. 12; Lee, Sun-Herald, Mar. 12). As prosecutors wrapped up their case, U.S. District Court Judge Henry T. Wingate on Thursday refused a defense motion to dismiss the charges. (Lee, Sun-Herald, Mar. 15 first and second story). Prosecutors have said that Minor, one of the state’s most prominent plaintiff’s lawyers, slipped the money to judges in exchange for favorable rulings. Earlier: Feb. 26, Mar. 8, Mar. 9, etc.
Mississippi bribery retrial: service with a smile
“Former Circuit Judge John Whitfield set a trial date on a lawsuit filed by Gulf Coast attorney Paul Minor before the defendant was served with the lawsuit, the defense attorney testified Wednesday.” (Jimmie E. Gates, “Former judge’s action questioned in judicial bribery trial”, Jackson Clarion Ledger, Mar. 8). More: Mar. 8, etc.
“Scruggs offered immunity in bribery trial”
Lands on his feet every time, it seems: “The U.S. Justice Department has offered immunity from prosecution to attorney Richard ‘Dickie’ Scruggs in exchange for his testimony in a judicial bribery trial involving his former colleague, Paul Minor.” (Biloxi Sun-Herald, Mar. 7). We’ve extensively followed the trial and now retrial of Minor, a prominent Mississippi attorney, and several judges.
Mississippi judicial bribery retrial
Retrial is getting under way in the high-profile case against prominent Gulf Coast plaintiff’s lawyer Paul Minor and two former judges. Earlier proceedings resulted in the acquittal of Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz, Jr. of all charges and a mixture of not guilty findings and inability to reach a verdict in the case of other defendants. Our extensive coverage is here.
Kentucky fen-phen scandal, cont’d
It just keeps getting juicier:
The attorneys accused of misappropriating more than $64 million from Kentucky’s fen-phen settlement initially withheld another $27.7 million, which they turned over to their clients only after the Kentucky Bar Association began investigating the case, newly filed court records show.
The additional payments also came after one of the lawyers — Melbourne Mills Jr. — discovered in January 2002 that the settlement was for $50 million more than the other two lawyers, William Gallion and Shirley Cunningham Jr., had told him, according to the records.
Mills was so angry that when Gallion showed up at his birthday party on Feb. 6, 2002, Mills called him “a thief” and insisted that more money be given to the clients, according to a deposition from Mills’ administrative assistant, Rebecca Phipps.
(Andrew Wolfson, “Lawyers held 2nd cache of diet drug settlement”, Louisville Courier-Journal, Feb. 11; Beth Musgrave, “Fen-phen ruling could come soon”, Lexington Herald-Leader, Feb. 13). Earlier coverage: Mar. 6 and Aug. 25, 2006, Jan. 24, 2007, etc.
Update: Milberg Weiss indicted
Following a six-year investigation, the nation’s best-known plaintiff’s law firm is the subject of a 102-page federal indictment charging it paid millions in illegal kickbacks to a stable of docile “named plaintiffs” in its suits, and engaged in elaborate concealment and deception to keep the details of the scheme from coming to the attention of courts, class members and others. (“Top Law Firm Indicted in Alleged Scheme to Pay Plaintiffs for Class-Action Suits”, AP/FoxNews.com, May 19; Julie Creswell, “Milberg Weiss Is Charged With Bribery and Fraud”, New York Times, May 18; Josh Gerstein, “Criminal Charges Levied Against Big Tort Law Firm”, New York Sun, May 19).
Blog reaction: Stephen Bainbridge; Tom Kirkendall; Evan Schaeffer; Greg Mitchell; Jonathan B. Wilson.
Our extensive earlier coverage: Apr. 7, Nov. 18 and links from there.
Further Developments in the Milberg Weiss Case
The U. S. Justice Department is looking at possible new indictments in the kickback investigation of powerhouse plaintiff firm Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman. (Apr. 7)
Here’s a telling sentence:
David Bershad, partner Steven Schulman (are) being looked at in connection with payments to Howard Vogel, a real estate broker and former lead plaintiff in several Milberg class actions.
Mr. Vogel must be prone to bad luck, eh?