Unrepentant Ex-Lawyer Bill Lerach's Planned Trip to Europe Irks DOJ
Now disbarred and on probation, former securities class-action king Bill Lerach is planning a European vacation.
But prosecutors at the U.S. Department of Justice, apparently galled not only by the trip itself but by an interview the unrepentant ex-attorney gave to California Lawyer, are urging Lerach’s probation officer and a federal judge in California to clip his wings, reports Politico’s Under the Radar blog.
“I’m not ashamed of myself in any way,” Lerach says in the interview with the legal publication, calling his conviction for paying illegal kickbacks to class action plaintiffs as part of an alleged $11.3 million law firm scheme a “politically motivated prosecution.”
In his request for permission to take the 44-day trip to 18 European cities, accompanied by as many as 18 friends and family members, Lerach says he hopes to take along elderly relatives and cites his family’s special interest in the Holocaust, the law blog reports.
Hat tip: Above the Law.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com (2008): “Lerach Ponders Planned Trip to Club Fed”
Washington Post (2007): “Guilty Plea to End Crusading Lawyer’s Lucrative Run”
