Law firm Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman LLP is being investigated about whether it used money recovered in some suits to pay an expert witness for other cases, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Milberg Weiss used former financial analyst John B. Torkelsen as an expert in its cases in the 1980s and 1990s, the Journal said, citing unnamed sources.
Prosecutors are probing whether Milberg Weiss, which paid Torkelsen tens of millions of dollars, used money from shareholder recoveries in separate cases for the purpose, the Journal said, citing the sources.
Milberg Weiss and the US Attorney's office in Los Angeles could not immediately be reached for comment.
The Milberg Weiss firm, known for its class-action securities lawsuits against major corporations, and attorneys David Bershad and Steven Schulman were indicted last month by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles for orchestrating a kickback scheme in which it paid clients for acting as plaintiffs in its lawsuits. All have denied those allegations.