"CELEBRITY LAWYER FACES DISBARMENT: Famed criminal defense
attorney F. Lee Bailey faces the loss of his law license for
allegedly enriching himself with millions of dollars in stock
that was supposed to go to the government -- and then lying
about it under oath. An attorney for the Florida Bar told a
state judge this week that Bailey awarded himself $3.5 mil-
lion in fees from the sale of more than $80 million in stock
belonging to a drug trafficker -- a client of Bailey's -- in
1995 and 1996. The lawyer argued at Bailey's disbarment hear-
ing that the transaction was illegal, because of a court order
freezing the assets of Bailey's client, Claude DuBoc. The
state bar lawyer also accused Bailey of lying under oath when
he testified that he didn't know about the court order. Bailey
says federal officials agreed to let him keep the stock, in
exchange for his help in locating and disposing of DuBoc's
assets. Bailey went to jail for 43 days in 1996 on a contempt
of court charge -- before eventually surrendering the $3.5
million. He's now trying to get it back." (Posted June 5, 2000 ~ Shagmail People.)
A federal jury found Thursday that disbarred attorney
F. Lee Bailey
took $2 million in fees that should have gone to the
U.S. government,
and he was ordered to return it and pay another $3
million in damages.
Bailey, who gained fame representing celebrity clients
such as Patty
Hearst and O.J. Simpson, said he was "quite
disappointed" by the
verdict and planned to challenge it. Prosecutors sued
Bailey in civil
court after he and other lawyers took the fee after
unsuccessfully
representing television infomercial salesman William
McCorkle and his
wife on fraud charges in 1998.
http://news.findlaw.com/ap/o/1110/3-27-2003/20030327140003_07.html
