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Attorney Gets 5 Years In Bribery Plot

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The Associated Press

Published: June 28, 2008

OXFORD, Miss. - OXFORD, Miss. - Richard "Dickie" Scruggs, who became one of the wealthiest trial lawyers in the country by taking on tobacco, asbestos and insurance companies, was sentenced Friday to five years in prison for conspiring to bribe a judge.

Scruggs, 62, nearly fainted as the judge scolded him for his conduct, and people in the courtroom gasped as he swayed side to side.

U.S. District Judge Neal Biggers Jr. called Scruggs' conduct "reprehensible" and fined him $250,000. Scruggs, brother-in-law of former Sen. Trent Lott, will also lose his law license. The judge handed down the full sentence requested by prosecutors despite arguments from the defense for half that time in prison.

"I could not be more ashamed of where I am today, mixed up in a judicial bribery scheme," Scruggs told the judge. "I have disappointed everyone in my life."

Scruggs was indicted in November along with his son and a law partner after an associate wore a wire for the FBI and secretly recorded conversations about the bribe plan. Prosecutors said he wanted a favorable ruling in a dispute over $26.5 million in legal fees from a mass settlement of Hurricane Katrina insurance cases.
Biggers said that after reviewing evidence, including the secretly recorded conversations, "it made me think perhaps this was not the first time you did this because you did it so easily."

Scruggs gained fame in the 1990s by using a corporate insider against tobacco companies in lawsuits resulting in a $206 billion settlement. The case was portrayed in the 1999 film "The Insider" starring Al Pacino and Russell Crowe.

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