Ex-Lawyers to Be Sentenced Today in Fen-Phen Settlement Scandal
Two former Kentucky lawyers will be sentenced today for their conviction on charges they kept nearly $95 million from a massive fen-phen settlement that was supposed to be paid to their clients.
Prosecutors argue that lawyers William Gallion and Shirley Cunningham “spit in the face of the law” and deserve sentences that will keep them in jail the rest of their lives, the Louisville Courier-Journal reports. Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Voorhees said Gallion, 58, should be sentenced to 35 years in prison and Cunningham, 54, should be sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Gallion and Cunningham were convicted in April on wire fraud charges. It was their second trial. When they were tried for the first time last year, a jury reportedly deadlocked 10-2 in favor of acquittal. The same jury acquitted a third defendant, Melbourne Mills Jr., who had argued he was an alcoholic who was unable to form the intent to defraud his clients.
Voorhees wrote in a pre-sentencing memorandum that Gallion and Cunningham “abused Kentucky’s judicial system to commit what was tantamount to the robbery of 440 vulnerable victims, who innocently placed their trust” in them.
Defense lawyers say the men have already served 18 months in prison, enough to have paid for their crimes, the Lexington Herald-Leader reports. Letters written to the judge in support of the men say they both grew up in poor circumstances and worked hard to get through law school. Both also care for their elderly mothers.
