Retrial of disbarred lawyers to begin

FRANKFORT, Ky., Feb. 16 (UPI) -- The U.S. government will try again to convict two former lawyers accused of taking millions of dollars from their clients in a fen-phen diet drug case.

The retrial of William Gallion and Shirley Cunningham, scheduled to begin Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Frankfort, Ky., is expected to last up to eight weeks, The (Louisville) Courier-Journal reported.

The two disbarred Lexington lawyers pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and eight counts of aiding and abetting wire fraud. If convicted, they could receive maximum sentences of 20 years in prison.

The allegations in the second case are basically the same as in the trial that ended with a deadlocked jury last July, the newspaper said. The government has accused Gallion and Cunningham of paying only about one-third of a $200 million settlement in 2001 to their 440 clients and improperly keeping the rest for themselves and others.

The money came in a settlement of a class-action lawsuit filed in Kentucky against the manufacturer of the diet drug, which was pulled from the market after being shown to cause heart-valve damage.