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Ed Fagan
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Ed Fagan
Edward Davis Fagan (born October 20, 1952, Harlingen, Texas) is a former American reparations lawyer who was disbarred for his conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation.
Fagan was raised in San Antonio, Texas. He participated in the Yom Kippur War in Israel. After graduating from Cardozo School of Law in 1980, he initially worked as a personal injury lawyer and later with a law firm representing corporate defendants. In the 1980s, he founded an exploration club for the wealthy, organizing trips to exotic locations accompanied by scientists and environmentalists.
Fagan gained attention for filing lawsuits against Swiss banks in 1995, seeking reparations for Holocaust victims. Critics accused him of prioritizing personal gain and failing to adequately represent his clients. Fagan faced controversies in other cases, such as the 2002 slavery class action lawsuit and 2005 Kaprun disaster lawsuit.
Fagan lost his license in both New York and New Jersey for failing to pay court fines, and stealing client money and escrow trust funds from Holocaust survivors, some of whom he represented in the 1996-98 World Jewish Congress-initiated lawsuit against Swiss banks. Bankruptcy proceedings in 2007 revealed significant financial troubles, with debts said to be $9.4m.
Fagan was born in Harlingen, Texas, and raised in a Conservative Jewish home in San Antonio, Texas and has two children. Before embarking on his legal career, he traveled to Israel to take part in the Yom Kippur War. After returning to the US, he enrolled in Cardozo School of Law and graduated in 1980. He initially worked as a personal injury lawyer, then worked with a large law firm, representing corporate defendants, before he started an exploration club for the wealthy in the 1980s, allowing rich customers to visit exotic locations, entertained and accompanied by scientists and environmentalists. A nonprofit venture of the business, the Odyssoe Foundation, was created in 1991, but collapsed with the entire enterprise.
Clients and partners have stated publicly and in court that Fagan often failed to represent the interests of his clients, generally took on "too many clients", "vastly outstrip[ed] his resources" and was "often absent for the legal fight". According to Burt Neuborne, law professor at New York University, who had worked with Fagan before breaking with him, "Mr. Fagan's filing in the Swiss banks case was so inadequate that a judge asked him to rewrite it...This was an ordinary man who got swept up in issues that were bigger than he was."
In the 1995, Fagan filed lawsuits against three Swiss banks that had refused to release funds they held that belonged to Holocaust victims. The banks in question settled the claims outside of court, resulting in a payout of US$1.25 billion.
According to news reports Fagan held up the final formal signing of the German slave labor settlement because he wanted more money for himself. While several hundred people and German and American representatives waited, Fagan, still wearing an ABCNEWS 20/20 microphone, could be heard "haggling over the fees, and then boasting of his success". He was recorded saying "I got the legal fees up..We did great, we did great we just got another, we just got some more money."
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Ed Fagan
Edward Davis Fagan (born October 20, 1952, Harlingen, Texas) is a former American reparations lawyer who was disbarred for his conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation.
Fagan was raised in San Antonio, Texas. He participated in the Yom Kippur War in Israel. After graduating from Cardozo School of Law in 1980, he initially worked as a personal injury lawyer and later with a law firm representing corporate defendants. In the 1980s, he founded an exploration club for the wealthy, organizing trips to exotic locations accompanied by scientists and environmentalists.
Fagan gained attention for filing lawsuits against Swiss banks in 1995, seeking reparations for Holocaust victims. Critics accused him of prioritizing personal gain and failing to adequately represent his clients. Fagan faced controversies in other cases, such as the 2002 slavery class action lawsuit and 2005 Kaprun disaster lawsuit.
Fagan lost his license in both New York and New Jersey for failing to pay court fines, and stealing client money and escrow trust funds from Holocaust survivors, some of whom he represented in the 1996-98 World Jewish Congress-initiated lawsuit against Swiss banks. Bankruptcy proceedings in 2007 revealed significant financial troubles, with debts said to be $9.4m.
Fagan was born in Harlingen, Texas, and raised in a Conservative Jewish home in San Antonio, Texas and has two children. Before embarking on his legal career, he traveled to Israel to take part in the Yom Kippur War. After returning to the US, he enrolled in Cardozo School of Law and graduated in 1980. He initially worked as a personal injury lawyer, then worked with a large law firm, representing corporate defendants, before he started an exploration club for the wealthy in the 1980s, allowing rich customers to visit exotic locations, entertained and accompanied by scientists and environmentalists. A nonprofit venture of the business, the Odyssoe Foundation, was created in 1991, but collapsed with the entire enterprise.
Clients and partners have stated publicly and in court that Fagan often failed to represent the interests of his clients, generally took on "too many clients", "vastly outstrip[ed] his resources" and was "often absent for the legal fight". According to Burt Neuborne, law professor at New York University, who had worked with Fagan before breaking with him, "Mr. Fagan's filing in the Swiss banks case was so inadequate that a judge asked him to rewrite it...This was an ordinary man who got swept up in issues that were bigger than he was."
In the 1995, Fagan filed lawsuits against three Swiss banks that had refused to release funds they held that belonged to Holocaust victims. The banks in question settled the claims outside of court, resulting in a payout of US$1.25 billion.
According to news reports Fagan held up the final formal signing of the German slave labor settlement because he wanted more money for himself. While several hundred people and German and American representatives waited, Fagan, still wearing an ABCNEWS 20/20 microphone, could be heard "haggling over the fees, and then boasting of his success". He was recorded saying "I got the legal fees up..We did great, we did great we just got another, we just got some more money."