May 23, 2006

Attorney Richard Purtich has admitted to passing on under $879 thousand in referral fees to Milberg plaintiff Steven Cooperman as kickbacks. Intriguingly, the indictment names "Partner B" as involved in the transactions, with leaks naming B as former Milberg lawyer William Lerach, who hasn't been indicted. Prosecutors had alleged payments were $3.5 million, and agreed as part of the plea not to allege perjury before the grand jury (which could result in Purtich's disbarment), so Purtich is perhaps giving something back in return—which could include an agreement to giving damning testimony that spreads the scandal further. Per Walter's post below, the New York Times' coverage is straight out of Bloomberg News' perfunctory account, but Justin Scheck of The Recorder has more detail, including the tasty anecdote that Purtich used to be the attorney for Overlawyered favorite Rex DeGeorge of the Exploding-Yachts DeGeorges.