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MIAMI (AP) - A federal indictment unsealed Tuesday accused a disbarred attorney of defrauding thousands of clients out of $13.5 million in settlement money from lawsuits claiming they were made ill by exposure to asbestos.
Later in the day, Louis S. Robles, 58, pleaded not guilty to the indictment's 41 fraud counts. Robles, who was disbarred in 2003 after an investigation by the Florida Bar into his financial practices, surrendered to federal authorities on Monday.
The indictment alleged Robles took money from his asbestos clients' trust fund accounts and used it to pay for personal real estate, including a 9,000-square-foot waterfront mansion on Key Biscayne, apartments in New York and Los Angeles and a condominium in Telluride, Colo.
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