Hi everyone,
I was given $17,000 from a client to pursue investment opportunities and I repaid the client the $17,000 plus a small amount of interest. But client sued me for additional income, pain, and suffering. I was charged and convicted on mail fraud charges. I had no restitution and have completed my probation. Can I now seek protection from the civil law suit for pain, suffering and additional income?
Thank you in advance.

Surely you can defend yourself in the civil lawsuit. The person may be barred from bringing such a suit against you, because they may have waived that by accepting your money previously. I would certainly claim that their acceptance of the money was in full satisfaction of the debt, and that they could not come back later and claim more. Also, they cannot claim for "pain and suffering", that only applies in personal injury cases.