A would-be Idaho nuclear developer hasn’t paid $700,000 in legal bills, according to a law firm that’s asking a federal judge for permission to withdraw from defending the company in the case being pursued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

K&L Gates attorney Barry Hartman in Washington, D.C., told U.S. District Court Judge Edward Lodge this week that Alternate Energy Holdings Inc. hasn’t paid his firm’s bills since February.

Hartman told Lodge that AEHI president Don Gillispie had been warned repeatedly to pay up.

Gillispie has several other lawyers, too.

SEC lawyers allege Alternate Energy Holdings Inc. executives including Gillispie broke laws governing publicly-traded companies by selling securities through unregistered, illegal transactions.

Eagle, Idaho-based AEHI didn’t return a phone call Friday seeking comment about its lawyers’ bid to quit.