[JURIST] A judge in the US District Court for the Central District of California [official website] Monday sentenced Steven Schulman and David Bershad, two former partners of the law firm now known as Milberg LLP [firm website], to six months in prison each for their role in a scheme to pay lead plaintiffs illegally in class-action lawsuits brought by the firm. Under the scheme, the firm agreed to pay class-action lead plaintiffs a portion of the attorneys' fees if the firm won a case. Bernshad pleaded guilty [plea agreement, PDF] to charges of conspiring to obstruct justice [18 USC § 1503 text] and make false statements under oath [18 USC § 1623 text] in July 2007, and Schulman pleaded guilty [WSJ report] to a racketeering [18 USC § 1962 text] conspiracy charge in October 2007. Both men already agreed to forfeit profits derived from the cases and each pay a $250,000 fine. Prosecutors in the case said that information obtained as part of the men's plea agreement was instrumental in prosecuting firm co-founder Melvyn Weiss [JURIST news archive] for his role in the scheme. AP has more.

Weiss pleaded guilty in April to one count of racketeering conspiracy related to the alleged kickback scheme, and in June was sentenced to 30 months in prison [JURIST reports] and ordered to forfeit more than $10 million in proceeds. In April, Reuters reported that Milberg LLP had entered into negotiations [JURIST report] with federal prosecutors to settle accusations. Three individuals pleaded guilty in connection with the scheme in May 2006 after a federal grand jury indicted [JURIST reports] the firm.