Melyvn Weiss, the class-action lawyer who helped win billions of dollars in settlements from some of the world’s biggest corporations, was on Monday sentenced to two and half years in prison for his role in a scheme to pay kickbacks to clients.

Mr Weiss, 72, who pleaded guilty to a federal racketeering conspiracy charge in April, was also ordered by a federal judge to forfeit $9.75m in gains and pay $250,000 in fines. The prison sentence was at the high end of the 18 to 33 months range in the plea agreement reached by US prosecutors and Mr Weiss’s lawyers.