Friday, July 15, 2011
Prosecutors Focus On Fen-Phen Judgment
- {Kentucky}...Lexington lawyer Angela Ford played a large role in the convictions of Kentucky lawyers Shirley Cunningham Jr. and William Gallion who received long prison terms for fraud, and a court order requiring them to pay restitution of $127 million to their former clients for the theft of tens of millions of dollars from Kentuckians injured by the diet drug fen-phen. Ford now represents most of those clients. But federal prosecutors have now turned their attention to Ford, in what they say is an effort to protect the fen-phen victims after a $42 million civil judgment that she won for her clients was reversed. The U.S. attorney's office in Lexington has won a court order requiring Ford to account for the money she's collected and hasn't passed on to clients, including $13.5 million she's been paid in legal fees. Ford says in court papers that the government intends to try to garnishee her fees, presumably to hold for safekeeping. Prosecutors say they fear Cunningham and Gallion will try to get their hands on the money after a Kentucky Court of Appeals ruling in February reversed the $42 million judgment.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 11:46 PM 
