LOS ANGELES – A man who was paid $2.5 million to be a plaintiff in a major lawsuit kickback scheme was sentenced Monday to three months in prison.
Retired real estate mortgage broker Harold J. Vogel was sentenced by U.S. District Judge John Walter for his role in a scheme that targeted some of the nation's biggest corporations with class-action lawsuits.
Vogel, 64, pleaded guilty in 2006 to making a false declaration before a court.
New York-based Milberg Weiss, now known as Milberg LLP, said former partners in the law firm paid about $11.3 million in kickbacks to plaintiffs in cases that brought it roughly $239 million in legal fees.
The firm agreed to pay $75 million to settle the case involving more than 165 lawsuits filed from the 1970s through 2005.
The firm dominated the field of securities class-action lawsuits involving shareholders who claimed they suffered losses because executives misled them about a company's finances.
Lawsuits filed by the firm targeted now-defunct energy giant Enron Corp., AT&T Inc., Lucent, WorldCom, Microsoft Corp., Prudential Insurance and other companies.
Vogel has paid $2 million to the government as part of his forfeiture agreement, and the judge also fined him $4,000.
His attorney noted Vogel cooperated with authorities, and prosecutors had recommended probation rather than prison time for him. But Judge Walter noted Vogel was involved in about 40 cases in which he received kickbacks from the law firm.
Outside court, prosecutors declined to elaborate about what information he had provided. Vogel could have been sentenced to a maximum of five years.
Judge Walter previously sentenced law firm co-founder Melvyn Weiss to 2½ years in prison for helping orchestrate the scheme. Weiss, 72, was also ordered to forfeit $9.7 million and fined $250,000.
Former partner William Lerach is serving two years in prison for his guilty plea to conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements.
Two other partners who pleaded guilty to conspiracy are scheduled to be sentenced later this year.
