Harold J. Vogel was sentenced Monday to three months in prison for allegedly accepting $2.5 million to serve as a plaintiff in a securities class action lawsuits, according to the AP. He could have received as much as five years in prison. Vogel pleaded guilty in April 2007 to one count of making a false declaration before a court.
Vogel was part of the larger case involving law firm Milberg Weiss. The AP article states that “Milberg Weiss, now known as Milberg LLP, said former partners paid about $11.3 million in kickbacks to plaintiffs in cases that brought it roughly $239 million in legal fees.”
The judge who sentenced Vogel, U.S. District Judge John Walter, previously sentenced Milberg Weiss co-founder Melvyn Weiss to 30 months in prison for helping orchestrate the scheme. Weiss was also ordered to pay $9.7 million in forfeitures and $250,000 in fines, and pleaded guilty to a racketeering conspiracy charge in April.
Weiss’ former partner William Lerach is serving a two-year prison sentence and former partners Steven Schulman and David Bershad are both are scheduled to be sentenced later this year.
