Roger D. Blackwell is a former marketing professor in college, who did very well for himself.  However, he was convicted of insider trading when a "federal jury in Columbus found that Blackwell, a member of Worthington Foods Inc.’s board of directors, illegally tipped off friends and relatives in 1999 to Kellogg Co.’s secret pending purchase of Worthington Foods, and then covered it up"  Now, in this story, a " Minnesota insurer wants former marketing professor Roger D. Blackwell to return $2.6 million the company gave him to help pay for his legal defense against federal insider-trading charges."

What is even more astounding is that he paid $6 million to his criminal defense attorneys.  How does a professor even contemplate such a big fee?  Better yet, the law firm is now suing him for an additional $ 2.7 million which they say he owes! "The former consumer-behavior professor said in a legal malpractice suit filed last year that he paid nearly $6 million to his previous trial attorney, Thomas O. Gorman, and law firm Porter, Wright, Morris & Arthur.

Blackwell said Gorman and Porter, Wright, based in Columbus, misled him about his defense, did a poor job handling his criminal trial and charged him excessive fees.

Gorman and Porter, Wright denied Blackwell’s claims and countersued for more than $2.7 million in allegedly unpaid fees and expenses.

After Blackwell was convicted, he hired attorney William Wilkinson and law firm Thompson Hine for the appeals process, which was unsuccessful.

In addition to Blackwell’s six-year sentence, he was fined $1 million by U.S. District Judge James L. Graham. Blackwell also faces a potential $1 million judgment in a civil insider-trading complaint filed against him by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.