disgraced F. Lee Bailey denied license to practice law in Maine

In 2010, F. Lee Bailey poses with his business partner and girlfriend, Debbie Elliott. (Photo: Portland Press Herald)

disgraced F. Lee Bailey denied license to practice law in Missouri

Disgraced F. Lee Bailey denied license to practice law in Maine.

Remember F. Lee Bailey, the lawyer who, at one time, was very well-known with a decent reputation?

You know, the guy who who was on OJ Simpson’s Team.  In fact, his cross examination of Mark Fuhrman is considered by many to be key in securing The Juices acquittal.

Bailey represented Patty Hearst and lost that case.

He’s had a slew of high profile cases of yesteryear but, for many years, there were always little bits and pieces that just didn’t seem right. There were doubts about his credibility.

Even Patty Hearst had them,  Way back then, she suspected that Bailey was drinking on the job.

He defended the Boston Strangler, Albert DeSalvo, who actually confessed to him.

Life went on for the now disgraced F. Lee Bailey until he got into really big trouble.

F. Lee Bailey, OJ Simpson and the late Johnnie Cochran

Bailey and another famous attorney, Robert Shapiro, had defended a marijuana dealer named Claude DuBoc.  A plea deal was made and Duboc agreed to turn over his assets to the government.

One of those assets was DuBoc’s stock in Biochem Pharma, a Canadian pharmaceutical company. Initially the stock was worth about $6 million but soon jumped to approximately $16 million.

It appears that Bailey wanted the money for himself.

Bailey claimed the government transferred the stock to him with no restrictions on fees and expenses. Prosecutors said the stock was entrusted to him only to manage some Duboc property in France and had to be returned.

Bailey claimed he was entitled to the appreciation for payment for his legal fees. He had already used the stock as collateral for loans and was unable to turn over the stock to the government.

Bailey was sent to Federal Prison in Tallahassee and spent 44 days in jail until Bailey’s brother raised enough money to enable Bailey to return the stock.

F. Lee Bailey also found guilty of contempt for failing to turn over $2 million to the government that was forfeited by infomercial king William McCorkle, when he was convicted of fraud and money laundering and Bailey has had even had issues with the Massachusetts Bar in 1970 and the New Jersey Bar in 1971

Bailey was disbarred in Florida, with a reciprocal disbarment in Massachusetts.

Latest blow for F. Lee Bailey

Disgraced F. Lee Bailey denied license to practice law in Maine!

The 79 year old passed the Maine bar exam last winter but the Maine Board of Bar Examiners did not feel confident in his honesty and integrity so his license was rejected.

A sad end to someone that obviously is intelligent.

Not too sure if that many 79-year-olds could actually pass the bar in their own state, even if they were currently practicing law.

He will be remembered for posterity as disgraced F. Lee Bailey.

Sad.

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