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Edward Davis "Ed" Fagan (born October 20, 1952) is a former American reparations lawyer who was disbarred for his conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation.[1] Fagan lost his license in both New York[2] and New Jersey for failing to pay court fines and fees and for stealing client money and escrow trust funds from Holocaust survivors. He currently lives in Prague.[3]
Contents
- 1 Background
- 2 Career
- 2.1 1995 Holocaust lawsuits against Swiss banks
- 2.2 2002 slavery class action lawsuit
- 2.3 2002 Apartheid lawsuit against Swiss and US banks
- 2.4 2003 Apartheid lawsuit against Anglo American
- 2.5 2004 Artwork lawsuit against Bank Austria Creditanstalt AG
- 2.6 2004 slave trade lawsuit against Lloyd's of London
- 2.7 2005 Kaprun disaster lawsuit
- 2.8 2005 Indian Ocean tsunami victims lawsuit
- 2.9 2006 Borat lawsuit
- 3 Malpractice
- 4 Sexual misconduct investigation
- 5 Disbarment in New Jersey and New York
- 6 Bankruptcy
- 7 See also
- 8 References
- 9 External links
Background
Fagan was born in Harlingen, Texas and raised in a Conservative Jewish[3] home in San Antonio, Texas and has two children. Prior to embarking on his legal career, he traveled to Israel to take part in the Yom Kippur War.[3][4] After returning to the US, he enrolled in Cardozo School of Law and graduated in 1980.[5] He initially worked as a personal injury lawyer,[2] 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.[5]Clients and partners have stated publicly and in court, that Fagan often failed to represent the interest of his clients, he 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 Mr. 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."
Career
1995 Holocaust lawsuits against Swiss banks
In the 1995, Fagan filed lawsuits against Swiss banks which had refused to repay money 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[6] Ed Fagan even 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, Ed 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.”[6]
Amongst Fagan's many critics was New York University law professor Burt Neuborne, who had said on record: "We essentially worked around him, ... I mean, he was, he was there, but, but he played, if I tell you zero, I mean zero role in developing the legal theory, in presenting the legal theory, and in participating as a lawyer."[6] Neuborne, a leading human rights lawyer, believed that it was time to set the record straight:
It didn’t surprise me at the last minute that the only lawyer, the only lawyer that thought he could hold this deal up would be Ed Fagan. Because that’s the barometer of how much you care about yourself, and how much you care about those victims. I think it is appropriate to, to tell the truth about him. One hundred percent of his activity in this case, including the press activity, it was designed to get his name there so other people would sign up with him, so he could get more and more and more and more people in the fold and then show up in court and say "I am the top lawyer cause I have got the most clients."[6]In 1998, Mrs. Gizella Weisshaus, the named plaintiff in the lawsuit against Swiss banks, opted out of that historic settlement because she felt that her attorneys were more interested in paying themselves millions of dollars, even before some of the survivors had received any money. On April 8, 1998 Mrs. Gizella Weisshauss filed an attorney ethics complaint, claiming that Edward D. Fagan, her lawyer at the time, held back $82,583.04 belonging to her from the estate of her deceased cousin Jack Oestreicher. Hal R. Lieberman, Esq. from Departmental Disciplinary Committee, Supreme Court, Appellate Division, responded on May 6, 1998, that in this "ongoing criminal proceeding" the outcome of the disciplinary investigation should be awaited.[7]
In 2000, Fagan represented some 82,000 Holocaust victims and family members (many of whom later accused him of negligence), suing governments and companies in Germany and Austria based on the Alien Tort Claims Act.
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