White Collar Crime
Judge OKs $30M Seizure from Fen-Phen Lawyers
Posted Jun 18, 2009, 12:05 pm CST
By Molly McDonough
A federal judge in Kentucky ruled today that prosecutors can seize $30 million and three accounts from lawyers convicted of bilking clients in fen-phen settlement.
U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves, of the Eastern District of Kentucky, sided with the government, which asked that assets be seized from William Gallion and Shirley Cunningham Jr., who were convicted in April of cheating clients out of $94.6 million in settlement funds in litigation over fen-phen, a diet drug.
The Associated Press reports that Reeves granted another seizure request, but suspended the order to give Gallion and Cunningham a chance to appeal.