Perjury

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Former Milberg Expert Witness Pleads Guilty To Perjury

May 5, 2008 in Perjury by Dave Westheimer | No comments

John Torkelsen of Princeton, New Jersey, a former expert witness in
numerous class action securities cases for several law firms including the former Milberg Weiss (now Milberg LLP), on Thursday pleaded guilty to a single count of perjury in US District Court in Philadelphia. A plea agreement had been reached in February (earlier). The single perjury count arose from a case filed in US District Court in San Jose,California in which Torkelsen submitted a false declaration that he was an independent agent under a non-contingent arrangement with plaintiff’s counsel, when he was actually being paid on a contingency basis under a secret agreement.

Torkelsen is currently serving a 70 month prison sentence for stealing SBA funds in an unrelated case. He faces up to five years in prison on the perjury count; sentencing has been scheduled for August 5 (Law.com, Reuters).

Scooter Libby Disbarred

March 21, 2008 in Obstruction, Perjury by Dave Westheimer | No comments

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Thursday disbarred Scooter Libby from the practice of law in DC effective June 12, 2007, the date he filed an affidavit of voluntary compliance with the court’s rules on professional ethics for lawyers. The court wrote:

  • When a member of the Bar is convicted of an offense involving moral turpitude, disbarment is mandatory. When convictions on more than one count are involved, disbarment is mandated if any one of them involves moral turpitude. This court has held that obstruction of justice (18 U.S.C. § 1503) and perjury (18 U.S.C. § 1623) are crimes of moral turpitude per se.  Since respondent was convicted of each of these offenses, as the Board concluded, disbarment is mandatory under D.C. Code § 11-2503 (a) [citations omitted].

Libby had not contested the recommendation of the Board of Professional Responsibility. The disbarment will last at least five years and should affect his standing in other states where he is licensed.  The Washington Post story is here.

Former Expert Witness Will Plead Guilty To Perjury

February 29, 2008 in DOJ Scandal, Perjury by Dave Westheimer | No comments

John Torkelsen of Princeton, New Jersey, a former expert witness in numerous class action securities cases for Milberg Weiss and other firms, has agreed to plead guilty to a one count criminal information charging him with perjury, according to a plea agreement filed on Thursday in US District Court in Philadelphia. Torkelsen offered expert witness testimony on plaintiff class damages and the value of settlements. According to the DOJ press release and the criminal information, the firms who hired Torkelsen, including one identified as “the New York Law Firm”, represented to various federal courts that he was an independent expert, which should have precluded them from paying him on a contingency basis; however, the firms allegedly entered into secret arrangements to pay him contingency fees. According to DOJ, the law firms submitted reimbursement requests to courts for contingent fees that Torkelsen had already been paid, and when he had to write off expenses for cases they lost, he submitted fraudulent bills on other cases for work he did not perform, which were then submitted to the courts by the firms. The one perjury count referenced in the guilty plea involved a 1999 case in San Jose, California, in which Torkelsen allegedly attested to a “non-contingent engagement by plaintiff’s counsel” when he was actually paid, according to the criminal information, by “the New York Law firm” on a contingent basis. Lawfuel has the DOJ press release here. No sentencing date has been announced. The DOJ press release was posted on the site of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, which is prosecuting the Milberg Weiss case. Milberg Weiss’ principal office was in New York during the time periods covered in the information. In the press release, the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California thanked the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania for his assistance. The plea also disposed of tax-related issues in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Torkelsen is currently serving a 70 month prison sentence for stealing SBA funds in an unrelated case. His ex-wife Pamela was also indicted in that case and became a cooperating witness, not only against her ex-husband but against Milberg Weiss. A 2006 Law.com story here provides some interesting background.