Outside Counsel and the Sham Deals

A law-firm partner acted as outside counsel to a small drug company run by a young chief executive. That executive owed money to people whose savings he had lost in his hedge funds. Prosecutors say the lawyer drew up settlement and consulting agreements that made the company pay those private debts, for work nobody did. They also say he helped hide how much of the company's stock the executive controlled by parking shares in other people's names.