Milberg Weiss and Ethics Panel’s Dirty Hands on Genta Scam... (MORE, CLICK HERE)

As reports of Manhattan’s unethical “ethical” probes of lawyers come in on a daily basis from around the country, we now welcome The Netherlands to the list of the whitewashed…. MORE....

A member of the Genta, Inc., class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Newark filed a complaint with the Manhattan Departmental Disciplinary Committee against Melvyn I. Weiss of Milberg Weiss on May 2, 2007.  But could the complainant, Dirk Raat of Gronlingen, The Netherlands, prove it? “For sure,” he says. And he did, he says, on a “silver plate” to then-chief counsel of the 1st Department’s Ethics Committee, Thomas Cahill.

Good with a brush: Vermeer, Rembrandt and Cahill

The allegations against Melvyn Weiss included violations of Professional Conduct and advancing a fraud on a client and a court of law. But you could just hear the whispers of the ghosts (Dutch settlers, perhaps) from the second floor of 61 Broadway: “whitewash…. whitewash…”

And what did the gentleman from Gronlingen get from the Cahill Cleansing Crew: a good-ole Yankee Bronx Cheer. And form letter, of course.

By May of 2004, Genta had been hit with dozens of lawsuits alleging fraud, and for misleading investors, insider trading, reaping illicit profits totaling over $125 million and for artificially inflating stock prices. The matter would soon evolve into a class action suit.  The allegations would soon include connections between Mel Weiss, David Bershad, William “pit bull” Nasser and hedge fund manager Lindsay Rosenwald.

And, Dirk maintains, The Milberg Weiss law firm should have declined to act as class counsel in Gentra due to a conflict of interest. To most, the matter sounds like something simple for the DDC to investigate and take a position on.

More Screwing at “The Committee or “De Wallen”

“Even a superficial review would have found disqualifying connections between Milberg and the class,” says one attorney knowledge with the allegations.

The big question, however, is whether or not ANY investigation or inquiry was even initiated.

(In October of 2006, a settlement agreement provided for a reported $200,000 payment to the plaintiffs’ attorneys by Genta’s insurance company. On May 7, 2007, the proposed settlement received final approval from the U.S. District Court in Newark.)

Something Smells, and It’s Not the Tulips of Keukenhof Gardens

At the request of many readers, this forum will soon post the publicly available contact information for each and every Departmental Disciplinary Committee member so that they may be contacted to ascertain whether any specific complaint was, in fact, ever sent to them or any committee member for review, and as questionably advanced by the DDC.

Meanwhile, review the referenced complaint and other related information, to the right, marked: “Milberg Weiss”