William "Bill" Shannon Lerach (born March 14, 1946,[1] Ohio River Valley,[2] Midwestern United States) is an American disbarred lawyer who specialized in private Securities Class Action lawsuits.
The $7.12 billion he obtained as the lead plaintiff's attorney in the case against Enron is currently the largest sum ever recovered in a group of securities class-action lawsuits in U.S.
[11][12] On a televised PBS broadcast, Lerach was part of a panel to discuss accounting fraud, corporate misconduct and securities laws and regulations on the program, "NOW with Bill Moyers" on September 27, 2002[13] and November 21, 2003.
In Lerach's lawsuit against Halliburton, he argued that Cheney had fled the company just ahead of the stock collapse, finding refuge in the White House.
The attorney was in a position to subpoena and demand public testimony from the vice president, and he doubted that Cheney would be able to successfully hide behind a claim of executive privilege.
[27] Lerach pleaded guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice and making false declarations under oath related to his involvement in the Milberg Weiss kickback scheme.
The final two-and-a-half months were spent in home confinement following stints in the Arizona federal prison and a halfway house in San Diego.
Circle of Greed: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Lawyer Who Brought Corporate America to its Knees[15] was written by journalists Patrick Dillon and Carl M.
He has also delivered two compelling lectures describing the battle to recover billions in damages for slave labor and theft of assets during the Holocaust at UC San Diego's Great Hall and at their Geisel Library.