LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- One of two former Kentucky attorneys imprisoned after bilking hundreds of clients out of millions from a settlement involving the diet drug fen-phen was granted clemency by President Joe Biden.
William Gallion has been serving a 25-year sentence for fraud and was not eligible for release until 2029.
On Thursday, Biden granted 39 pardons and 1,499 commutations, including one to Gallion, who will now be released Dec. 22.
Unlike a pardon, Gallion will still have the conviction on his record and will be under supervised release and other court conditions, according to the order.
Gallion, Shirley Cunningham Jr. and Melbourne Mills should have been paid about $60 million of the $200 million settlement in 2001. Instead, they took $94.6 million for themselves and others, according the The Associated Press.
Along with his sentence, Gallion was ordered to pay $127.7 million in restitution, according to court records.
Cincinnati attorney Louis Sirkin, one of the attorneys who represented Gallion, said in an interview he was pleased with the clemency order.
"I’m very happy for him," Sirkin said. "I’m pleased that he’s getting out. I think he is a good guy. And he’s a very good attorney."
Gallion previously requested a commutation of his sentence in 2016 but was denied.
Gallion and Cunningham were convicted in 2009 of scamming more than 400 clients out of $94.6 million they had won against the makers of fen-phen, American Home Products.
According to the Associated Press, fen-phen was pulled from the market in 1997 after users had heart problems related to the drug.
Mills was acquitted of the charges and subsequently disbarred.
Gallion was convicted of eight counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit to wire fraud. He was also disbarred.
This story will be updated.
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Copyright 2024 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this story.
