Kenneth Starr Gets Public Defender, Deemed Flight Risk

How the mighty have fallen.

Kenneth Starr, financial advisor to the stars, was appointed a public defender this morning after his lawyer cited a conflict of interested and removed himself from the case.

Starr was arrested last week on charges of running a $30 million Ponzi scheme and defrauding celebrity clients such as Uma Thurman and Jim Wiatt.

According to the New York Post,

Former federal prosecutor Josh Klein said he learned his firm had the conflict on Friday, a day after he failed to win bail for Starr, who's been deemed a "flight risk" because federal agents found him hiding in a closet when they went to arrest him.

Klein said Starr -- whose assets have been frozen by the SEC and whose business is being overseen by a court-appointed monitor -- is "in the process of selecting retained counsel, slash, determining his ability to do so."

Acknowledging Starr's lack of funds, Judge Theodore Katz tapped Peggy Cross, a lawyer for the Federal Defenders of New York, to act as the former financial whiz's attorney for at least the remainder of the week.