By GREG RISLING
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - A former law-firm partner who prosecutors called the "money man" in a lucrative class-action lawsuit kickback scheme targeting major corporations was sentenced Monday to six months in prison.

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 New York-based Milberg Weiss, now known as Milberg LLP.

"I want to say that I personally take responsibility for what I did. It was wrong," Bershad said in court.

In a letter submitted to U.S. District Court Judge Hon. John Walter, Bershad apologized for the deception.

"I now recognize that our behavior grievously injured the judicial process," he wrote. "I will live out my days with the painful knowledge that our acts tarnished all of the good work we did."

Bershad pleaded guilty in July 2007 to one count of conspiring to obstruct justice and make false statements under oath. He forfeited $7.75 million and must pay a $250,000 fine.

The firm has said that former partners paid about $11.3 million in kickbacks to plaintiffs in securities lawsuits involving shareholders who claim that they suffered losses because executives misled them about a company's finances.

The suits were filed from the 1970s through 2005 against now-defunct energy giant Enron Corp., AT&T Inc., Lucent, WorldCom, Microsoft Corp., Prudential Insurance and other companies.

Prosecutors said Bershad cooperated with the investigation and aided the bringing of indictments against other partners and firm co-founders Melvyn Weiss and William Lerach.

Known as the "money man," Bershad collected cash from conspiring partners and distributed it to paid plaintiffs and intermediaries, prosecutors said in court documents.

"Mr. Bershad gave the government the most complete view of the nature, scope and history of the conspiracy," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Robinson, who recommended that Bershad be sentenced to three months in prison and another three months in a community treatment facility.

Walter previously sentenced Weiss to 30 months in prison for helping orchestrate the scheme. He was also ordered to pay $9.7 million in forfeitures and $250,000 in fines after pleading guilty to a racketeering conspiracy charge in April as part of an agreement with prosecutors.

Lerach is serving a two-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice and making false statements.