Scruggs to Appear in Court Next Week

Disbarred attorney Richard “Dickie” Scruggs, who is serving a five-year prison sentence in a high profile judicial bribery conspiracy, is scheduled to appear in federal court in Mississippi Tuesday.

Scruggs was one of the most powerful civil attorneys in the country before pleading guilty last year to conspiring to bribe a judge in a dispute over $26.5 million in legal fees from Hurricane Katrina litigation.

His name has since been mentioned in another alleged bribery scheme in Hinds County over asbestos fees, but no charges have been made public.

Calls to the U.S. attorney’s office were not immediately returned. Scruggs’ attorney did not immediately respond to phone and e-mail messages.

A court employee said Scruggs is to appear Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Glen Davidson.

Larry Whitman, executive assistant at the Kentucky prison where Scruggs was being held, told The Associated Press that he’s not at the facility. It was not clear where he was being held or if was in transit.

Scruggs had gained national prominence, and hundreds of millions of dollars, by leading the charge against tobacco companies in the 1990s that led to a multibillion-dollar settlement. His efforts were portrayed in the 1999 film “The Insider,” starring Al Pacino and Russell Crowe.

He was indicted in November 2007 along with several associates in the Katrina bribery case. Scruggs’ associates who pleaded guilty in that case pointed investigators to other alleged crimes, including a case before Hinds County Circuit Judge Bobby DeLaughter. Scruggs’ former lawyer, Joey Langston, pleaded guilty to trying to influence DeLaughter on Scruggs’ behalf.

Prosecutors say DeLaughter was enticed with a promise that he would be appointed to the federal bench with help from Scruggs’ brother-in-law, former U.S. Sen. Trent Lott, according to court records. Lott has not been accused of wrongdoing.

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Associated Press writer Chris Talbott contributed to this report.