Williams & Connolly has failed to secure a new trial for Walter Forbes, former chairman of Cendant Corp., after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld a lower court and denied Forbes' claim for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence.

Forbes was accused of orchestrating a massive accounting fraud at Cendant that caused investors to lose $19 billion. When the fraud was discovered in 1998, it was believed to be the largest then on record.

The government took Forbes to trial three times, with the first two trials ending in deadlocked juries. In 2006, after a third trial, Forbes was convicted of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and making false statements in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Forbes was sentenced to 12 1/2 years in prison and ordered to pay $3.275 billion in restitution. One day before the three-year mark of his conviction, his lawyers filed a motion for a new trial.