Topeka ? Attorneys for a former Westar Energy Inc. executive charged with looting the utility asked a federal judge Tuesday to be allowed to withdraw from the case, saying they haven’t been paid in years.

Edward Little, lead defense attorney for former chief strategy officer Douglas Lake, said his law firm and another firm helping out with Lake’s defense are owed almost $3.3 million for a past trial and appeals.

Lake and David Wittig, Westar’s former chief executive, are scheduled for trial in January on charges that include conspiracy and circumvention of internal controls.

Asking the firms to represent Lake essentially for free at that trial, estimated to cost up to $3 million more, is an “unreasonable financial burden,” Little told U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson.

“I would love to come out here and try a third case; I believe in Mr. Lake’s innocence,” said Little with the New York City-based firm of Hughes, Hubbard & Reed. “(But) it would be a huge loss to me financially and individually.”

Lake himself claimed Westar and the government were collaborating to “leave me defenseless” in fighting the criminal charges.

“I’m disappointed … but I have no capacity to pay what I owe them, what the company, quite frankly, owes them,” he said.

Prosecutors downplayed the financial argument, noting the firms have received about $5.8 million so far, almost as much as the U.S. Attorney’s office spends in Kansas annually. They added that allowing the firms to withdraw would require a significant delay in the January trial as new lawyers got up to speed on the complex case that has spanned four years.

“We vigorously oppose the withdrawal of seasoned attorneys who have so much institutional knowledge,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Hathaway.

Robinson said she would consider the case and issue a ruling later.