An attorney for convicted former law partner Evan Greebel urged a U.S. appeals court on Thursday to block federal prosecutors from taking his client's retirement account funds to help pay more than $10.4 million owed to victims of a fraud scheme involving ex-pharma executive Martin Shkreli, Reuters reported. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York weighed Greebel's contention that retirement accounts associated with his work at Katten Muchin Rosenman, where he had been a partner until 2015, and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson should be off-limits from the government. A jury found Greebel guilty in 2017 in a conspiracy with Shkreli to dupe investors in his company Retrophin Inc. Greebel was then a partner at Katten Muchin and served as outside counsel to Retrophin. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison for helping Shkreli, and sentenced to seven years for related charges. Greebel's lawyer, Reed Brodsky of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, argued his client doesn't meet plan requirements to immediately withdraw the funds to pay for the victims' restitution. He also said that even if the government could reach the accounts, there's a 25% garnishment cap based on the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act.
