Bailey suspended by Supreme Court

WASHINGTON, March 18 (UPI) -- The Supreme Court Monday suspended prominent lawyer F. Lee Bailey from practicing before it, giving him 40 days to show why he should not be disbarred from the high court.

The action was automatic following Bailey's suspension in Florida in a dispute over $18 million in stock. The federal government insists the stock should be forfeited as part of a client's drug profits.

Bailey is one of the nation's most-recognized defense attorneys, appearing as himself on television and in commercials over the years.

He also represented several high-profile defendants: Dr. Sam Shephard; Albert DeSalvo, the confessed "Boston Strangler"; and O.J. Simpson, who was acquitted of murdering his wife and her friend.

However, the Florida Bar Association recommended that Bailey be disbarred over a 1996 case, saying his misappropriated money and mingled it with his own accounts.

Bailey was jailed in 1996 until he allowed the federal government to seize stock and money belonging to a drug trafficking client. Bailey claimed the $18 million in stock was part of his legal fee and is suing to get it returned.