Jefferson County, Mississippi:
Ten people were arrested in Fayette on charges related to the $150 million verdict in 1999 in Jefferson County against the manufacturer of the diet drug fen-phen, FBI special agent Bob Garrity said Tuesday.
Garrity said in a statement that the arrests came after an 18-month investigation that began in November 2002 into large jury awards. The FBI started the investigation to learn how individuals became part of these lawsuits and, perhaps, how juries were picked from an area where many people are kin or acquaintances.
(“Ten charged with fraud in fen-phen case in Jefferson County”, AP/Biloxi Sun-Herald, Aug. 31; “10 arrested in probe of $150M fen-phen verdict”, Jackson Clarion Ledger, Aug. 31; WLBT-TV. See Oct. 3 and links from there. Update Oct. 20: three defendants plead guilty.