Lawyer gets 6 months

In the NYTimes: The lawyer, David Bershad, 68, was a key player in the scheme that paid people to act as plaintiffs in cases that brought roughly $239 million in legal fees to Milberg Weiss, now known as Milberg.

Senator Stevens found guilty on corruption charges

Stevens, 84, was convicted of all seven felony charges he faced of lying about free home renovations and other gifts he received from a wealthy oil contractor. Jurors began deliberating last week.

A.I.G. to suspend millions in executive payouts

In the NYTimes: The beleaguered insurer AIG has agreed to suspend payments to executives from a $600 million bonus fund as well as $19 million in payments to its former chief executive, New York’s attorney general announced on Wednesday.

Charges Expected Against Employees of Concrete Testing Company

In the NYTimes: Manhattan prosecutors are expected to seek state racketeering and fraud charges later this month against about a dozen officers and employees of a company hired to test the strength of the concrete at some of the biggest construction projects in the New York area, according to investigators and others briefed on the case. The charges are expected to accuse the company’s president and several senior officials of failing to do some tests and falsifying others over a period of about five years, the investigators and the others said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because no charges had yet been filed.

Taking a closer look at Lehman's Brothers

From the NYTimes: One area of focus for New Jersey prosecutors is whether Mr. Fuld or other Lehman executives made misleading statements about the bank’s condition to investors who took part in a $6 billion infusion of capital announced by Lehman on June 9, one person close to the matter said. The new capital came as Lehman disclosed a $2.8 billion third-quarter loss that sent its shares plunging.

Mutual funds scandal in France

Christine Lagarde, French finance minister, on Friday ordered an inquiry into Groupe Caisse d’Epargne, France’s third-largest mutual savings bank, after it announced a €600m loss due to a trading scandal. The accusation? Traders had exceeded authorised limits on size and ignored instructions to trade cautiously when using the bank’s own account, Caisse d’Epargne said. More here.

Fall of the fat cats

At one time, he says, he was earning more than $1 million a week. Now, he has been ordered to pay back $110 million to his victims, and he said he is working on that. More on the story here.

CEO's collected millions through salaries, stock options and bonuses

Many CEOs who led their banks and brokerages into the subprime abyss collected millions through salaries, stock options and bonuses. Equilar, an executive-compensation research firm in Redwood Shores, Calif., helped columnist Michael Brush take a look at what some of the key players earned over the past three years as the nation's banks went bust. Here are some of the facts.

AIG Executives blow $440,000 of our money

This article: On September 22, a week after the FED extended an $85 billion emergency loan to save the insurance firm. AIG CEO's spent $440,000 in a corporate retreat at the St. Regis Monarch Beach resort in Dana Point, Calif., about midway between Los Angeles and San Diego. According to the receipt from the St. Regis, the eight-day company retreat was a lavish one -$139,000 was spent on hotel rooms, while even more money -$147,301- was spent on banquets. Another $23,380 was spent on undisclosed spa treatments and another $6,939 was spent on golf. A full $9,980 was spent on room service and food and cocktails at the hotel lounge.