Fen-Phen Lawyers Charged With Defrauding Clients

Fen-Phen

Two of the owners of the Preakness champion Curlin were indicted yesterday by a federal grand jury on a charge that they conspired to defraud their clients in a $200 million lawsuit settlement with the maker of the diet drug fen-phen.

The grand jury in Covington, Ky., indicted the lawyers Shirley A. Cunningham Jr., 52, and William J. Gallion, 56, on one count each of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

If convicted, each could receive a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The federal sentencing guidelines are no longer mandatory, so it is unlikely they will receive the maximum penalty if they are found guilty.

The grand jury also handed up one forfeiture count each, which would require the defendants, if

Glaxo Faces U.S. Investor Lawsuit Over Avandia

Avandia

GlaxoSmithKline faces a U.S. investor lawsuit claiming that Europe’s biggest drugmaker misled shareholders about the safety of diabetes drug Avandia.

Law firm Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer said in a statement it had filed a class action suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Glaxo and certain of its officers alleging the company had made false statements.

The suit claims Glaxo failed adequately to disclose the fact that it had performed a pooled, or meta, analysis that showed Avandia increased the risk of heart attacks.

Glaxo publicly disclosed its meta-analysis only after top U.S. cardiologist Steven Nissen published his own meta-analysis on heart-attack risk last month, which sent shares in the British-based drugmaker tumbling.

Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer said