CINCINNATI (AP) -- A federal appeals court is set to hear the case of 2 attorneys imprisoned after being convicted in 2009 of bilking their clients out of millions from a settlement involving the diet drug fen-phen.
The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati is scheduled to take up the case of 60-year-old William Gallion and 57-year-old Shirley Cunningham Jr., on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. EST. The two men are appealing their convictions.
Gallion and Cunningham were convicted of scamming more than 400 clients out of $94.6 million from a $200 million settlement they had won against the makers of fen-phen, American Home Products. Fen-phen was pulled from the market after users had heart problems related to the drug.
A third attorney, Melbourne Mills, was acquitted of the charges and subsequently disbarred.
Cunningham's scheduled release date is 2025, while Gallion is not scheduled to be released from federal prison until 2029. The two men, who both resigned from the bar, once owned the champion racehorse Curlin.
Prosecutors had contended Gallion and Cunningham cheated their clients out of the money and paid themselves and others about two-thirds of the 2001 settlement.
Gallion and Cunningham are also being pursued by their former clients in civil court. In a lawsuit, a judge awarded 400-plus former clients $42 million, but the Kentucky Court of Appeals overturned the decision and the case is pending with the Kentucky Supreme Court.
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