Virginia: U.S. high court suspends lawyer for swindle conviction
VICKSBURG, Miss. (AP) — Vicksburg lawyer Robert Arledge has been suspended from practicing law before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court on Monday issued the suspension. It gave Arledge 40 days to file papers with the court giving reasons why he should not be disbarred.
Arledge was convicted in federal court in 2007 for swindling a pharmaceutical company out of millions over the diet drug Fen-Phen. He was sentenced to six years for his role in the scheme, which netted more than $6 million from the drug company Wyeth.
The U.S. Supreme Court denied his appeal in 2009.
Fen-Phen was a prescription diet drug pulled from the market in 1997 after research revealed it could cause heart problems.
Arledge was suspended from practicing law in Mississippi in 2008.
Alabama: HealthSouth investors to get settlement of $106 million
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — The Securities and Exchange Commission says $106 million that HealthSouth Corp. agreed to pay investors is ready for distribution to those who qualify.
The payout stems from of an SEC lawsuit in 2003. Birmingham-based hospital operator HealthSouth agreed to settle the suit in 2005 by paying $100 million to settle civil claims that it falsely inflated earnings. The money has earned interest since that time.
The money is from a fund created to compensate investors who suffered losses from owning HealthSouth stock on Sept. 30, 1998; Aug. 27, 2002, or March 19, 2003.
Those are the days on which it was determined that HealthSouth disclosed misleading information to investors, under the leadership of former Chief Executive Richard Scrushy.
