Class action king pleads guilty to racketeering

By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Class-action lawsuit king Melvyn Weiss pleaded guilty on Wednesday to U.S. racketeering charges in connection with a scheme to pay kickbacks to plaintiffs, apologizing to his former law firm and saying he deeply regretted his conduct.

The Bronx-born Weiss, who pioneered high-stakes shareholder litigation in U.S. courts, pleaded guilty to a single count of racketeering conspiracy as part of an agreement with federal prosecutors.

As part of the plea deal the 72-year-old attorney, who landed some $1 billion in settlements for investors hurt by the Drexel Burnham Lambert junk bond scandal in the 1980s, faces between 18 and 33 months in federal prison at his June 2 sentencing.

He has also agreed to pay $10 million in fines and forfeiture.

"I deeply regret my conduct and apologize to all those who have been affected, including all of the wonderful and extremely talented lawyers and other employees of the Firm, none of whom had any involvement in any wrongdoing," Weiss said in a statement released after the plea hearing in Los Angeles.

Milberg Weiss, the New York law firm he co-founded and turned into the top U.S. shareholder firm, dropped his name in March after the plea deal was announced.

That agreement proposed a sentence and fines that are more onerous than for the other six other Milberg Weiss defendants who have pleaded guilty.

Weiss is the fourth lawyer from Milberg Weiss to plead guilty in what U.S. Attorney Thomas O'Brien called "a scheme based in greed (that) affected the integrity of the courts and the interests of an untold number of absent class members."