NEW YORK (AP) _ Lawyer Harvey Myerson, a passionate and feisty Manhattan litigator with an appetite for the high life, was convicted Wednesday of defrauding clients of his now-defunct law firm out of millions of dollars.

Myerson, a veteran who has represented numerous high-powered clients in years of courtroom battles, registered little emotion as he heard the verdict.

He was convicted of five counts of mail and travel fraud. The jury in Brooklyn federal court, deliberating nearly five days after a six-week trial, found him innocent of five other charges.

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Myerson, who defended himself, said he would appeal the convictions.

″I am innocent of all the charges and this was a setup from day one,″ he said outside the courtroom.

He remained free on $250,000 bail pending sentencing by U.S. District Judge Edward Korman. No sentencing date was set.

Myerson faces up to 20 years in prison and $1.25 million in fines.

The government said Myerson - a 52-year-old attorney with a taste for Rolls-Royces, race cars, Cuban cigars and expensive trips - treated his now- defunct law firm, Myerson & Kuhn, like his ″personal candy store″ and its clients like his ″cash machine.″

During the trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean F. O’Shea told the jury that Myerson inflated bills to clients by $2.5 million and stole millions more from his firm by charging for numerous luxuries.

But Myerson, who lives in a Key West, Fla., mansion and acted as his own defense lawyer, addressed the jury with the arrogant flair that marked his career as a highly successful corporate attorney. He portrayed himself the victim in the fraud the government said he had committed.

″Maybe I was too uppity,″ Myerson said in his summation.

Myerson, who enjoyed the reputation of being a tenacious litigator, said he was the firm’s ″rainmaker″ who brought in $23 million of the firm’s $30 million in annual billings.

He said he didn’t need to steal from the law firm he formed in 1987 with former baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn. The concern expanded quickly, but fell into bankruptcy by the end of 1989.

But during the trial, O’Shea offered a variety of questionable expenses - ranging from dog food to toupee cleaning, a $24,000 fur coat, a $86,000 diamond ring and a $20,000 Kentucky Derby weekend - charged to the firm.

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Myerson admits spending the firm’s money, but said he took it as advances.

In perhaps what was Myerson’s best-known case, he won the United States Football League’s antitrust suit against the National Football League. Myerson’s firm was paid $5.5 million in legal fees and his clients were awarded only $3 in damages, according to court records.

The jury found that Myerson defrauded several clients, including Shearson Lehman Hutton Inc., ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. and the Home Insurance Co. out of millions of dollars.

He was acquitted of defrauding the state Urban Development Corp. and the Kelley Oil Co. He was also found innocent of a travel fraud, a mail fraud and an obstruction of justice charge.