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Richard and Joe welcomed back the guest from their first broadcast in October of 2011, Bill Lerach. For over 30 years, Lerach was a securities lawyer. He led the prosecution of securities class and stockholder derivative actions which resulted in over $45 billion dollars of recoveries for defrauded shareholders of Wall Street banks, major accounting firms, corporations and insurance companies. He has been referred to as “The King of Torts.” Mr. Lerach obtained $7.12 billion dollars for Enron stockholders as the lead plaintiff in the case against Enron. This is currently the largest sum ever recorded in a private securities class action suit. He was also instrumental in ending the Joe Camel advertising campaign. In 2007 he pled guilty to one count of obstructing justice and served a two-year prison sentence. Subsequently, he was disbarred in 2009. Following his release, Bill has retired to his home in La Jolla Farms where devotes himself to travel, lecturing, gardening and tending to a world class collection of Tribal Art. Recently, he gave a lecture at USD on preserving indigenous cultures and the development of his art collection and the business side of connoissuership.
Bill earned his undergraduate and law degree from the University of Pittsburgh and still keeps strong ties with Pittsburgh. He currently lives in La Jolla with his wife, Michelle Ciccarelli Lerach. He is a well-known lecturer on topics that explore the differences between the ideals of our legal system and its harsh realities.
His February 18th, 2016 lecture, The Holocaust Litigations: Is Holding Corporate Evil Accountable an Impossible Dream? at USCD, and UCSD premiered American Law: Instrument of Progress or Weapon of Oppression? William Lerach — A Life in The Law on February 15th.
COMMENT BY RICH MUSCIO: “Bill Lerach, ‘king’ of the class action lawsuit, wrote this The Chickens Have Come Home to Roost in 2002, which not only serves as a fascinating historical perspective, it also portends the financial events of 2008-present.”
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