The Florida Bar announced Wednesday that local attorneys Chris Cadenhead and Scott Whitehead have been disbarred.
Whitehead, formerly of Destin, was suspended by the bar in 2010 following numerous alcohol-related run-ins with the law.
He was charged in 2011 with racketeering after 27 former clients claimed he lied to them. Investigators found he billed clients for hundreds of thousands of dollars in services he didn’t provide and made unauthorized charges on their credit cards.
Whitehead received a 10-year probated sentence in 2013 after serving as a key prosecution witness in the attempted murder trial of fellow lawyer James Harvey Tipler.
Whitehead testified of jailhouse conversations with Tipler in which Tipler conspired to kill Assistant State Attorney Russ Edgar.
The Florida Supreme Court ordered Whitehead permanently disbarred and ordered him to pay restitution of more than $112,000.
The Supreme Court also disbarred Cadenhead, a longtime Crestview lawyer.
Cadenhead pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in 2012 to bribery of a loan officer and conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to commit mail fraud and mail fraud. He agreed to testify against a fellow defendant.