Attorney Pleads Guilty in Milberg Probe
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A Los Angeles attorney has agreed to plead guilty to a felony tax charge for funneling in excess of $2.7 million from a New York class action law firm indicted last week, Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman LLP, to a California eye doctor who regularly served as a plaintiff in securities lawsuits brought by the firm.
The lawyer, Richard Purtich, admitted in court filings to accepting the payments in the name of his law firm and paying the funds out to the physician, Steven Cooperman, or applying the money to his legal debts at the firm. Cooperman, who was convicted in 1999 of insurance fraud, has been cooperating with prosecutors.
On Thursday, a federal grand jury indicted Milberg Weiss and two of its partners, David Bershad and Steven Schulman, on conspiracy charges stemming from an alleged 25-year scheme to funnel illegal payments to plaintiffs who helped the firm file securities lawsuits. The firm and its partners have denied wrongdoing.
