Legal News

Brobdingnagian Bail Set For Indicted Fen Phen Lawyers

By Peter Lattman

Which criminal defendant had the highest bond set for bail?

(A) Dennis Kozlowski
(B) Bernie Ebbers
(C) Richard Scrushy
(D) William Gallion
(E) Jeff Skilling

If you said (D), you’re right! Choices A through C had their bail bonds set at $10 million. Skilling had his set at $5 million. But on Wednesday, a federal judge set the bond of William Gallion at $52 million.

Who’s William Gallion? He’s one of the three lawyers accused of taking millions of dollars from their former clients in a Fen Phen diet-drug lawsuit. Along with Law Blog All-Name Team Member Melbourne Mills ($5 million) and Shirley Cunningham ($45 million), the trio remains in a Kentucky jail.

Jim Shuffett, a lawyer for Mills, told the Lexington Herald-Leader his client would not be able to post a bond in that amount. Lawyers for Gallion and Cunningham declined to say whether their clients would pay the bond but all are likely to appeal, calling the amounts unprecedented. The lawyer of Gallion, O. Hale Almand, yet another Law Blog All-Name Team Member, told the Herald-Leader he had never seen a bond that high. “And I’ve represented people who’ve been accused of much worse than Mr. Gallion.”

Why was the bond set so high? It’s not clear. The trio were indicted last year by the feds on charges that they took more than $65 million from more than 400 former fen-phen clients who settled their cases. (Click here and here for Law Blog background.) They’ve pleaded not guilty.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on January 25, 2008 (boomark / email).