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Thomas Ajamie (born June 25, 1960) is an American lawyer and the founder of the law firm Ajamie LLP.

Tom Ajamie
Born
Thomas R. Ajamie

(1960-06-25) June 25, 1960 (age 64)
Alma mater
OccupationLawyer
TitleManaging partner and founder of Ajamie LLP
Board member ofHouston Grand Opera
Websitewww.ajamie.com/lawyers/thomas-r-ajamie/

Early life and education

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Ajamie'a paternal grandfather immigrated to the U.S. from Lebanon.[1]

He grew up in Scottsdale, Arizona, where his father started and ran a pizza delivery busineess.[2]

Ajamie studied political science and foreign languages at Arizona State University. He subsequently attended the University of Notre Dame for law school.[3]

Professional history

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Ajamie began his legal career as a trial lawyer at the law firm Baker Botts. During his tenure there, he successfully defended the world's second largest funeral and cemetery services company, Loewen Group against a $4 billion hostile takeover bid by that industry’s largest company, SCI.[4] In 1997, he left Baker Botts and founded the firm which is now known as Ajamie LLP.[5]

Ajamie LLP

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In 2001, a New York Stock Exchange panel levied a $429 million fine, the largest in history at the time, against PaineWebber broker Enrique Perusquia[6] on behalf of Ajamie's clients.[7][8]

In 2006, a New York Stock Exchange arbitration panel returned a $14.5 million penalty, the third largest ever at the time, against Prudential Equity Group on behalf of his clients.[9]

In 2010, he won the largest civil RICO jury verdict in United States history[10] on behalf of his client ADT Security Services.[11]

Ajamie served as outside counsel for the Houston Super Bowl Host Committee.[12] He and his firm handled all compliance issues for nearly two years leading up to Super Bowl LI in 2017[13]

In 2020, Ajamie and his law firm settled for $79 million a federal court class action lawsuit against Wells Fargo & Company on behalf of its former financial advisors who were forced to forfeit their deferred compensation when they left the company.[14][15]

In 2016, amfAR’s board retained Ajamie to investigate a suspicious financial transaction involving Harvey Weinstein.[16] Weinstein hired lawyer David Boies and law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, as well as Israeli firm Black Cube to block the investigation.[17]

After members of the amfAR board had shared the report with the New York attorney general and members of the press, Ajamie was contacted by New York Times writers Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey. In October 2017, Twohey and Kantor published their sexual misconduct piece on Weinstein.[18] Ajamie’s Weinstein investigation is also featured in their New York Times bestseller She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement.[19]

In 2018 Ajamie appeared in the PBS Frontline film Weinstein to relate the story of his fateful interaction with the then soon to be felled film mogul in a Park City, Utah hotel during the Sundance Film Festival.[20] Also in the 2024 BBC/CBC podcast series The Six Billion Dollar Gold Scam in the episode End of the Bonanza he offers his views on the possible expiration of the supposedly dead (but by some sources reported alive), Fillipino geologist Michael de Guzman, who is/was a central figure in the Bre-X scandal in the aftermath of which Ajame represented some of the concern's investors in Indonesia.[21]

Philanthropy

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Ajamie started a scholarship fund in 2002 at his alma mater, Arizona State University, for students who support diversity initiatives.[3] The Ajamie Scholarship Fund awards $8,000 per qualifying student to multiple students per semester.[22]

Further Ajame philanthropically supports Hospice of the Valley in his native Arizona, the Elton John Aids Foundation and the Sundance Film Festival and is a board member of the Houston Grand Opera.[23] [24][25] [26]

In the course of his active philanthropic efforts, Ajamie regularly attends charitable events both international and domestic, often accompanied by well-known figures such as model Carol Alt.[27][28] He has also served on the event committee for the Art de Vivre award bestowed by L'Alliance New York (French Institute Alliance Française - FIAF).[29]

Book

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In 2010, Ajamie and Bruce Kelly wrote the book Financial Serial Killers: Inside the World of Wall Street Money Hustlers, Swindlers, and Con Men.[30] The second edition of Financial Serial Killers was released in paperback in 2014.[31]

Publishers Weekly in reviewing the book opined ..."Ajamie, a top securities lawyer, and Kelly, news editor for Investment News, team up to recount true tales of financial frauds throughout history, which make for addictive if depressing reading. Ajamie's expertise in commercial litigation gives the reader an inside look at the complex strategies financial advisers, insurance agents, and even family members employ to fleece hapless individuals, focusing on the false emotional bonds con artists create with their victims in order to take advantage of them".[32]

In 2017 Ajamie spoke at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York in conjuction with the book.[2]

Awards and honors

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References

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  1. ^ Aguirre, Holly. "How a Lebanese-American lawyer helped take down Harvey Weinstein". The National.
  2. ^ a b Trefts, Deborah (2017-08-04). "Trial lawyer Thomas Ajamie to advise on protecting personal savings from scammers". The Chautauquan Daily. Retrieved 2024-10-11.
  3. ^ a b Trefts, Deborah (August 4, 2017). "Trial lawyer Thomas Ajamie to advise on protecting personal savings from scammers". The ChautauQuan Daily.
  4. ^ Sapino Jeffreys, Brenda (January 20, 1997). "Digging Deep" (PDF). Texas Lawyer.
  5. ^ "Home". ajamie.com.
  6. ^ "Former Broker Gets Big Fine From Exchange". The New York Times. December 25, 2001.
  7. ^ Smith, Randall (December 26, 2001). "NYSE Panel Slaps Former Broker With Record $429.5 Million Fine". The Wall Street Journal.
  8. ^ Staff Writer. "Huge arbitration award for investors won't materialize". The Stockton Record.
  9. ^ Craig, Susanne (June 6, 2006). "Investors Who Fought Arbitrator's Ties Win a Big Ruling Against Prudential". The Wall Street Journal.
  10. ^ "Verdict and Settlement Trends Report" (PDF). Thomson Reuters. June 23, 2020.
  11. ^ "Border Wars" (PDF). The American Lawyer. June 1, 2010.
  12. ^ Ryan, John (February 2, 2017). "Lawyer Thomas Ajamie on His Work for the Super Bowl Host Committee". Lawdragon.
  13. ^ Mont, Joe (January 31, 2017). "The Super Bowl of compliance: the attorney behind the big game". Compliance Week.
  14. ^ Barker, Holly (July 30, 2020). "Wells Fargo's $79 Million ERISA Settlement Gets Judge's Final OK". Bloomberg Law.
  15. ^ Kelly, Bruce (2018-10-16). "Ex-Wells Fargo broker complaint wins class action status in fight over deferred compensation". InvestmentNews. Retrieved 2024-10-11.
  16. ^ Cohan, William D. (December 20, 2017). ""Nothing About This Deal Feels Right to Me": Inside Harvey Weinstein's Other Nightmare". Vanity Fair.
  17. ^ Rice, Andrew (September 30, 2018). "The Bad, Good Lawyer Was David Boies just doing right by Harvey Weinstein? Or did he cross an ethical line?". New York Magazine's Intelligencer.
  18. ^ Siegel, Tatiana (March 30, 2020). "A Texas Lawyer and an Open Secret: How Harvey Weinstein's Charity Fraud Led to His Downfall". The Hollywood Reporter.
  19. ^ Kantor, Jodi; Twohey, Megan (2019). She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement. Penguin Press. ISBN 978-0525560340.
  20. ^ "Weinstein". PBS.
  21. ^ The Six Billion Dollar Gold Scam. BBC. Retrieved 2024-11-11.
  22. ^ "Ajamie Scholarship Fund". Scholarships - Arizona State University. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
  23. ^ "People". Houston Grand Opera. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
  24. ^ "Donor Recognition (Jan. 1–Dec. 31, 2023)" (PDF). Hospice of the Valley Arizona.
  25. ^ "2020 Annual Report" (PDF). Elton John AIDS Foundation.
  26. ^ "2018 Fiscal Year Annual Report" (PDF). Sundance Film Festival. Retrieved 2024-11-11.
  27. ^ Hodge, Shelby (February 3, 2017). "NFL Royalty Mixes It Up With Houston Fat Cats: When Dinner Costs as Much as Super Bowl Ticket". PaperCity Magazine.
  28. ^ "1980s | Class Notes | Spring 2017 | 2017 | Issues | Notre Dame Magazine | University of Notre Dame".
  29. ^ "French Institute Alliance Française Fifth Annual Art de Vivre Award". Black Tie International Magazine.
  30. ^ Ajamie, Tom; Kelly, Bruce (2010). Financial Serial Killers: Inside the World of Wall Street Money Hustlers, Swindlers, and Con Men. Skyhorse Publishing. ISBN 978-1-62914-395-8.
  31. ^ Financial Serial Killers: Inside the World of Wall Street Money Hustlers, Swindlers, and Con Men. Skyhorse. 14 October 2014.
  32. ^ Tom Ajamie; Bruce Kelly (2010). Financial Serial Killers. Skyhorse Publishing. ISBN 9781616080310. Retrieved 2024-10-05.
  33. ^ "50 "Litigation Trailblazers & Pioneers" Recognized by ALM's The National Law Journal".
  34. ^ "NLJ 2017 Plaintiff's Lawyers Trailblazers".
  35. ^ "Thomas Ajamie - Texas - Lawyer Profile | Benchmark Litigation".
  36. ^ "Thomas R. "Tom" Ajamie - Houston, TX - Lawyer". Best Lawyers. Retrieved 2024-10-11.
  37. ^ "Thomas Ajamie". chambers.com. Retrieved 2024-10-11.
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