From staff reports

A Vicksburg lawyer convicted of conspiracy and mail and wire fraud in 2007 has been barred from practicing law in Mississippi.

Robert Arledge is no longer listed among attorneys on the Mississippi Bar Association or Mississippi Supreme Court Web sites. The disbarment was confirmed Friday in a phone call made to the Mississippi Supreme Court.

Arledge is serving a six-year sentence in a Montgomer, Ala., federal prison for knowingly making false claims to a diet drug settlement fund. The scheme netted more than $6.7 million from drug company Wyeth, then American Home Products and a maker of Fen-Phen, a prescription diet drug pulled in 1997 after research showed it could cause heart problems.

Arledge had appealed his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, but justices in April refused to hear the case. He is set for release in 2013.