COVINGTON, Ky. - A judge set multimillion-dollar cash bonds for two part-owners of Horse of the Year Curlin and a third man charged with defrauding clients in a settlement over the diet drug fen-phen.

U.S. District Judge William Bertelsman sealed the opinion Wednesday giving the reason for setting the bond for William Gallion, Shirley Cunningham Jr. and Melbourne Mills.

Bertelsman set bond for Gallion at $52 million and Cunningham at $45 million. The two men own a 20 percent stake in Curlin. Mills, whose bond was set at $5 million, has no financial interest in the horse.

In lieu of cash, the men can put up property worth 110 percent of the cash bond amount, Bertelsman ruled.

The unusually high bond comes after months of legal wrangling over whether the three men had to turn over a list of their assets to the court. Bertelsman ordered all three held in the Boone County Jail pending trial in May. They gave the judge financial information in recent weeks.

The three men face federal wire fraud charges related to their handling of a $200 million settlement involving the diet drug fen-phen. They've been in the Boone County Jail awaiting trial in May.

The three attorneys are also being sued by 418 former clients. A state judge ordered Cunningham's and Gallion's assets, including Midnight Cry Stables, turned over to the plaintiffs to satisfy a $42 million judgment stemming from the lawsuit.

Angela Ford, a Lexington attorney who represents the 418 former clients, said it appears Bertelsman reviewed the assets of Gallion, Cunningham and Mills before setting bond.

"The amounts are appropriate given the concern that they are flight risks and have significant assets to flee,'' Ford said.

If the men fled, they would forfeit any money or property put up to secure the bond. That provision guarantees that the 418 former clients would be able to collect on the judgment issued by the state court.

"He's ensured that the victims are protected,'' Ford said.

The ruling came as Gallion, Cunningham and Mills were in federal court for a hearing about the FBI's methods of putting the criminal case together.

The attorneys for the three men contend that FBI Special Agent Mary Trotman violated the attorney-client privilege by using Rebecca Phipps, a staff member for Mills, as an informant in the case. Trotman testified Wednesday that the FBI and federal prosecutors set up a "taint team'' to review documents and listen to recordings made for any information that might fall under the privilege.

The "taint team'' was composed of FBI agents and prosecutors not directly involved in the investigation, Trotman said. Trotman added that she didn't see any information that was deemed privileged.

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Phipps provided documents and made several recordings during the investigation. She received immunity from prosecution in exchange for her work with the FBI. Phipps also gave three interviews to FBI agents but didn't disclose any privileged information, Trotman said.

"If she brought up something during an interview that we thought was privileged, we stopped the interview,'' Trotman said.

The hearing in the criminal case comes a day after a state judge declined to force a public auction of the 20 percent ownership interest in Curlin held by Gallion and Cunningham. Special Judge Roger Crittenden said the move to force a sale of Curlin was premature and that more needed to be known about Gallion's and Cunningham's other assets.

Gallion and Cunningham are the original owners of Curlin through Midnight Cry Stables. They sold an 80 percent stake in Curlin to a group led by Jess Jackson, the founder of Kendall-Jackson Winery and owner of Stonestreet Stables, and his wife, Barbara Banke, in February 2007. Jackson has since bought out two partners.

Curlin, who won Horse of the Year honors Monday night, has been in training at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans. Richard Getty, the attorney for Jackson's Stonestreet Stables, said Curlin is preparing to race as a 4-year-old. Jackson is considering running Curlin in the Dubai World Cup in March.

Curlin won $5.1 million in purses in 2007, winning the Preakness and the Jockey Club Gold Cup before winning the Breeders' Cup Classic on Oct. 27.

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