A federal appeals court has upheld the conviction of Robert Arledge for his role in swindling the drugmaker out of $6.7 million during litigation over its diet pills, which were withdrawn in 1997 over links to serious heart and lung problems, The Jackson Clarion-Ledger reports.

Prosecutors say Arledge’s clients made claims of about $250,000 each even though they had no legitimate health problems caused by the pills - Pondimin, which was one-half of the fen-phen weight-loss cocktail, and Redux, its chemical cousin. He was sentenced to six years in prison and ordered to pay $5.8 million in restitution.

Arledge was the only lawyer charged in a joint investigation by the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation of fraudulent claims in a $400 million settlement fund and subsequent settlements over the diet pill litigation. You can read more about lawyers and the fen-phen settlement here and here.