Bailey’s Expenses Again Questioned in Drug Case

A federal judge has ordered attorney F. Lee Bailey to submit better-organized expenses for the $1.5 million he seeks for defending a millionaire drug smuggler.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Maurice Paul, who jailed Bailey last year for contempt in the same case, gave him until March 14 to improve on the “disorganized and confusing” materials he filed.

“We will do the best we can to comply with even more detail and precision,” said Bailey’s attorney, Roger Zuckerman.

Federal prosecutors are contesting more than $300,000 of the claimed expenses.

U.S. Attorney Michael Patterson had argued at an August hearing that Bailey’s expense records were “incomprehensible, incomplete and inaccurate.”

The judge jailed Bailey for 43 days last year in a dispute over $16 million in stock from convicted drug smuggler Claude Duboc.

Bailey, 63, whose celebrity clients have included O.J. Simpson and Dr. Sam Sheppard, said the stock was his fee for defending Duboc.

The government said the stock was part of Duboc’s forfeiture deal. Bailey was released April 19 after surrendering the stock.

He has since filed suit arguing that the stock belonged to him. That case is pending.