[JURIST] A Los Angeles lawyer on Tuesday became the third person to plead guilty [US DOJ press release] in connection with alleged kickbacks at Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman [law firm website], the leading class action law firm that was indicted [text, PDF; JURIST report] last week. The US Attorney's Office for the Central District of California [official website] said Richard R. Purtich funneled $879,868 to a former client of the firm, Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman [law firm website], in exchange for serving as a plaintiff in a securities lawsuit. Milberg Weiss, which is among the largest US litigators of shareholder class action lawsuits, has denied wrongdoing [statement].

Steven Cooperman, who allegedly received the payments from Purtich, and Howard J. Vogel, another Milberg Weiss client, have also pleaded guilty in the case. Bloomberg has more.