Famed defense attorney F. Lee Bailey has filed for bankruptcy again to tie up loose ends following his bankruptcy filing last year.
The attorney, whose high-profile clients have included O.J. Simpson, discharged more than $4 million in debt to the Internal Revenue Service in the previous case.
The new Chapter 13 filing aims to resolve liens on Bailey’s home in Yarmouth, personal property, pensions and book royalties and to set up a payment plan, his bankruptcy attorney, James F. Molleur, said Tuesday.
“He’d finally like to be left alone and move on with his life. He’s been fighting with the IRS for many years,” Molleur said.
The filing says he has assets totaling between $100,000 and $500,000 and liabilities totaling between $1 million and $10 million.
Bailey was one of Simpson’s attorneys during the former NFL star’s 1995 murder trial, which ended in his acquittal in the killings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman.
Bailey first rose to national prominence in the 1960s, successfully defending Dr. Sam Sheppard of Ohio, who was charged with murdering his pregnant wife. He also represented Albert DeSalvo, who claimed to be the Boston Strangler.
Bailey was disbarred in Florida in 2001 over his handling of shares of stock owned by a client who pleaded guilty to drug smuggling and money laundering. That stock also led to the dispute with the IRS, which said Bailey owed $1.9 million because of his failure to report some of the stock proceeds as income. With interest and penalties, the IRS filed liens against Bailey totaling $4.5 million.
Correction: This story was updated at 10:21 a.m. on June 28, 2017 to correct the name of F. Lee Bailey’s bankruptcy attorney.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Comments are no longer available on this story