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Wednesday, March 01, 2006
Courts - More on: kentucky Judge Resigns Amid Accusations He Profited From Fen-Phen Case
"Ex-judge hit with pay cut: Bamberger's retirement misses time limit" is the headline today in the Cincinnati Enquirer, following on the ILB post yesterday. Some quotes:
FRANKFORT - A retired Northern Kentucky judge accused of profiting from a $200 million settlement for fen-phen victims will take a hit in his pocketbook.Joseph "Jay" Bamberger's retirement will immediately be reduced by about $3,665 a month - a 39.5 percent reduction.
Bamberger will continue to receive an estimated $5,613 monthly for his 22 years of public service. For 12 years of his career he served as the only circuit judge for Boone and Gallatin counties - sometimes managing the busiest court docket in the state.
Bamberger retired as a circuit judge on Jan. 5, 2004. He then took part in a program under which retired judges travel the state for five years to help reduce the number of backlogged cases in exchange for an increase in retirement benefits.
Chief Justice Joseph Lambert announced Tuesday that Bamberger hadn't met the five-year requirement for increased retirement benefits when he resigned as a traveling judge rather than face removal by the Judicial Conduct Commission.
On Monday, the commission publicly reprimanded Bamberger for alleged misconduct in the $200 million settlement involving the diet drug.
The commission said Bamberger approved attorney fees totaling at least $86 million and as much as $104 million in the 2001 settlement while 431 plaintiffs injured by the popular diet-drug combination collected a total of about $74 million.
Bamberger also allowed $20 million from the settlement to be put into a charitable fund, and then became a paid director of the fund, receiving $5,000 a month plus a $350 monthly expense allowance.
The retired judge, who lives in Florence, collected about $45,000 until he resigned from the fund's board and returned the money when questions were raised last year. * * *
Officials with the Boone County Sheriff's Department, Kentucky State Police and U.S. Attorney Office in Lexington said they do not have any criminal investigations into the fund or Bamberger. The FBI would neither confirm nor deny an investigation. * * *
Richard Beliles, the Kentucky chairman of Common Cause, a political watchdog group, said the charges leveled against Bamberger by the Judicial Conduct Commission demand a criminal investigation. "It threatens the public's confidence in the judiciary and the court system," said Beliles, a lawyer from Louisville. "It makes me personally a little sick in the stomach."
Posted by Marcia Oddi on March 1, 2006 08:05 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts