Ephraim (Fry) Wernick

Represent a financial services and fintech company in litigation against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and New York Attorney General’s Office, currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

Represent and lead an internal investigation by a multinational private equity fund in connection with a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in Brazil

Represent foreign nationals in contested forfeiture proceedings against the U.S. Department of Justice, Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California concerning alleged corruption and money laundering and attempted forfeiture of a $53 million property in Los Angeles

Represent an individual in connection with the U.S. Department of Justice Special Counsel investigation into alleged obstruction and interference in the 2020 Presidential Election

Represent a senior executive in connection with an investigation into alleged sanctions violations by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas

Represent a healthcare company and senior executive in connection with an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia

Represent an individual in connection with an investigation into alleged healthcare and securities fraud by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York

Represent an individual in contested forfeiture and restitution matters currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California

Successfully represented a financial services and fintech company through a DPA and corporate monitorship with the U.S. Department of Justice

Successfully resolved a settlement on behalf of a financial services company with the New York Department of Financial Services

Represent multiple individuals in connection with an ongoing FCPA investigation in Latin America by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission

Represent a social media company in connection with an investigation by the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol

Represent a precious metals company in connection with an investigation by the SEC

Represent a major university system and research laboratory in connection with multiple congressional and state legislative investigations into the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic

Represent a privately held group of companies in connection with an internal investigation and prosecute a civil lawsuit involving a $47 million fraud

Conduct an internal investigation into the theft of valuable NFTs and the use of cryptocurrency

Represented a publicly traded financial services and infrastructure company in connection with ongoing FCPA investigations in Latin America by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission

Conducted a risk assessment and implementation of compliance enhancements for a publicly traded technology company

In a pro bono matter, represent a female Afghan judge and her family in connection with their successful escape from Afghanistan and relocation to a third country after the U.S. withdrawal

Conducted a risk assessment and implementation of compliance enhancements for an international manufacturing company

Represented a major university system and multiple educational institutions in connection with investigations by Congress and the U.S. Department of Education into alleged violations of Section 117 of the Higher Education Act

Represented an individual in connection with a high-profile Congressional investigation into improper delivery of COVID-19 vaccinations

Represented a private equity firm and portfolio energy company in connection with an internal investigation into alleged campaign finance violations

Represented a publicly traded transportation company and managed an internal investigation into allegations of corruption and financial fraud

Represented a large IT services and solutions contractor and managed an internal investigation into allegations of retaliation and substantive violations of the False Claims Act by a former employee

Represented South Korean food distributor in connection with victim restitution claims under the Mandatory Victim Rights Act

Represented a U.S.-based importer and its CEO in connection with an investigation by the U.S. Secret Service into alleged PPE fraud

Represented a publicly traded energy company and conducted a compliance review prior to the execution of a large merger

Represented a publicly traded space technology company in connection with a comprehensive compliance review and implementation of risk-based enhancements to the program

Supervised a high-profile FCPA and money laundering investigation, including charges against two senior bank executives and an intermediary, for their alleged role executing a multi-billion dollar bribery and embezzlement scheme

Supervised the prosecution in U.S. v. Mobile Telesystems PJSC; the coordinated resolution between DOJ and the SEC resulted in a parent-level DPA and subsidiary-level guilty plea, an $850 million criminal fine, and a three-year corporate monitorship for a Russian telecommunications company that paid over $420 million in bribes in Uzbekistan

Lead trial attorney in U.S. v. Telia Company AB, et al; the coordinated resolution between DOJ and the SEC, the Netherlands, and Sweden resulted in a parent-level DPA, subsidiary-level guilty plea, and a $965 million criminal fine for a Swedish telecommunications company that paid over $330 million in bribes in Uzbekistan

Lead trial attorney in U.S. v. Rolls-Royce plc, et al; the coordinated resolution between DOJ and the U.K. Serious Fraud Office and Brazil Public Prosecutor resulted in a parent-level DPA and $880 million global fine, and seven individuals were also charged in connection with their role in a conspiracy to pay and launder over $80 million in bribes in six different countries

Lead trial attorney in U.S. v. VimpelCom, Ltd. et al; the coordinated resolution between DOJ and the SEC and the Netherlands resulted in a parent-level DPA, subsidiary-level guilty plea, a subsidiary guilty plea, a $835 million criminal fine, and a three-year monitorship for a Dutch telecom company that paid over $114 million in bribes in Uzbekistan

Lead trial attorney in a national security counter-intelligence and FCPA prosecution of a Russian official, a U.S. company, and U.S. businessmen for conspiring to pay and launder over $2 million in bribes in connection with the transportation of nuclear fuel between the Russian Federation and the United States, yielding three FCPA-related pleas and a corporate NPA

Supervised the prosecution in U.S. v. Credit Suisse (Hong Kong) Ltd.; the coordinated resolution between DOJ and the SEC resulted in an NPA and $47 million criminal penalty for corrupt hiring practices in Asia

Supervised a major oil and gas investigation involving a coordinated prosecution with five foreign jurisdictions into approximately 15 oil and gas companies that used a corrupt intermediary company to bribe foreign officials in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia

Supervised a major aerospace investigation involving a coordinated prosecution with multiple jurisdictions into bribery and ITAR Part 130 violations

Supervised an investigation into corrupt practices in professional sports, including alleged bribery, visa fraud, sanctions evasion, and extortion by teams operating in Latin America

Served as a DOJ subject matter expert, delegate and negotiator on anticorruption, asset recovery, and trade matters at multiple international fora, including the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) in Paris; the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the U.N. Convention Against Corruption in Vienna; and was a U.S. negotiator for the anticorruption component of NAFTA 2.0

Served a one-year detail to DOJ’s Guantanamo Bay Litigation Team, where he investigated and litigated cases on behalf of the U.S. against prisoners of war and high-value detainees connected to the Taliban, al-Qaida and associated groups, and was the lead trial attorney in Khairulla Khairkhwa v. Obama, which resulted in the continued detention of the highest ranking member of the Taliban in U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba

Served as Counsel on the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), where he was the lead investigative attorney concerning abusive debt practices, ineffective oversight of dual use exports and technologies, and oversight of waste, fraud and abuse at the United Nations Development Programme