Personal Attention. Reliable Advice.
Jonathan Willens and Ed Scarvalone have practiced law in New York City for over 30 years, working in large and small law firms and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Our colleague Heidi Wendel has supervised False Claims Act cases for both the U.S. Attorney and the New York State Attorney General.
All of us have handled jury trials, large matters with dozens of depositions, and appellate arguments up to the United States Supreme Court. We apply our experience and strategic judgment to all of our cases.
Sealed Cases
Several of our current cases are sealed while they are under investigation by the Department of Justice and the New York State Attorney General. These cases involve alleged kickbacks paid to physicians by a pharmaceutical company, and fraud by the owner of a chain of skilled nursing facilities who billed Medicare and Medicaid for unnecessary physical therapy.
U.S. v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 21 Civ. 8007 (S.D.N.Y.)
Based on information provided by our client, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York brought an enforcement action under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery and Enforcement Act (FIRREA) against Well Fargo Bank. In 2021, the government announced a settlement in which the bank agreed to pay over $70 million in penalties and restitution, including $35 million that the bank has already paid to its defrauded foreign exchange customers. Our client received the maximum whistleblower share allowed under the FIRREA statute.
In the settlement, Wells Fargo admitted that it defrauded over 770 customers who used the Bank’s foreign exchange services from 2010 to 2017. Most of these customers were unsophisticated business owners who entered into fixed-price agreements with the Bank expecting to pay standard fees to buy and sell foreign currency. Instead, the Bank grossly overcharged its customers and obtained millions of dollars in violation of the mail fraud, wire fraud and bank fraud statutes.