LA judge allows fraud and conspiracy charges to stand against Milberg Weiss

The Sacramento Bee reports:

A federal judge denied motions to dismiss charges against a New York-based law firm, one of its partners and two others accused of keeping a pool of people at the ready to take part in class-action lawsuits and paying them millions of dollars in kickbacks.

U.S. District Judge John F. Walter rejected the defendants’ arguments Monday that the fraud and conspiracy charges should be dropped because the payments made to some plaintiffs weren’t illegal.

The law firm, now known as Milberg Weiss, was indicted in May 2006 by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles.