A deal at the heart of a controversy engulfing Japanese camera maker Olympus Corp. also involves two U.S. firms that are highly regarded on Wall Street. Law firm Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP and merger boutique Perella Weinberg Partners LP, both based in New York, advised Olympus on its February 2008 acquisition of British medical-device maker Gyrus Group PLC. The deal had been largely forgotten until it emerged this month that Olympus paid $687 million to other advisers on the $1.92 billion acquisition. Perella Weinberg, founded in the last decade by mergers-and-acquisitions veteran Joseph Perella and Goldman Sachs alumnus Peter Weinberg, was paid less than £5 million, or about $8 million, in cash for its work on the deal, according to a person familiar with the matter. It was unclear how much Weil Gotshal was paid. The $687 million advisory payment went to Axam Investments Ltd. and Axes America LLC. The pair have since been dissolved, according to a report on the deal that ousted CEO Michael Woodford commissioned two weeks ago by outside auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers. The Pricewaterhouse report suggests that Weil Gotshal and Perella Weinberg may have been paid their fees by Axes rather than Olympus. "Whilst this appears an unusual arrangement to us, we have not been provided with any further details regarding this arrangement and therefore are unable to comment further," the report says. According to the Pricewaterhouse report, the Subscription Agreement that Olympus, Gyrus, Axes and Axam reached in September 2008 and that detailed the fee was prepared by Weil Gotshal. [WS Journal, 10/25/11]