Tom_Ajamie

Tom Ajamie

Tom Ajamie

American lawyer

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

Quick Facts Born, Alma mater ...

Education

Ajamie studied political science and foreign languages at Arizona State University. He subsequently attended the University of Notre Dame for law school.[1]

Professional History

Ajamie worked as a trial lawyer at the law firm Baker Botts. During his tenure there, he successfully defended the second largest funeral and cemetery services company against a $4 billion hostile takeover bid by that industry’s largest company, SCI.[2] In 1997, he left Baker Botts and founded the firm which is now known as Ajamie LLP.[3]

  • 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.[6]
  • Ajamie served as outside counsel for the Houston Super Bowl Host Committee.[9] He and his firm handled all compliance issues during the nearly two years leading up to Super Bowl LI in 2017[10]
  • In 2020, his clients were awarded a $79 million settlement following a class action lawsuit against Wells Fargo & Company in federal court.[11]

In 2010, He and Bruce Kelly wrote the book Financial Serial Killers: Inside the World of Wall Street Money Hustlers, Swindlers, and Con Men.[12] The second edition of Financial Serial Killers was released in paperback in 2014.[13]

In 2016 amfAR’s board retained Ajamie to investigate a suspicious financial transaction involving Harvey Weinstein.[14] Weinstein hired lawyer David Boies and law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, as well as Israeli firm Black Cube to block the investigation.[15]

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.[16] 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.[17]

Philanthropy

Ajamie started a scholarship fund in 2002 at his alma mater, Arizona State University, for students who support diversity initiatives.[1] The Ajamie Scholarship Fund awards $8,000 per qualifying student to multiple students per semester.[18] Ajamie is also a board member of the Houston Grand Opera.[19]

Awards and honors

References

  1. [1]
    Trefts, Deborah (August 4, 2017). "Trial lawyer Thomas Ajamie to advise on protecting personal savings from scammers". The ChautauQuan Daily.
  2. [2]
    Sapino Jeffreys, Brenda (January 20, 1997). "Digging Deep" (PDF). Texas Lawyer.
  3. [3]
    "Home". ajamie.com.
  4. [4]
    "Former Broker Gets Big Fine From Exchange". The New York Times. December 25, 2001.
  5. [5]
    Smith, Randall (December 26, 2001). "NYSE Panel Slaps Former Broker With Record $429.5 Million Fine". The Wall Street Journal.
  6. [6]
    Craig, Susanne (June 6, 2006). "Investors Who Fought Arbitrator's Ties Win a Big Ruling Against Prudential". The Wall Street Journal.
  7. [7]
    "Verdict and Settlement Trends Report" (PDF). Thomson Reuters. June 23, 2020.
  8. [8]
    "Border Wars" (PDF). The American Lawyer. June 1, 2010.
  9. [9]
    Ryan, John (February 2, 2017). "Lawyer Thomas Ajamie on His Work for the Super Bowl Host Committee". Lawdragon.
  10. [10]
    Mont, Joe (January 31, 2017). "The Super Bowl of compliance: the attorney behind the big game". Compliance Week.
  11. [11]
    Barker, Holly (July 30, 2020). "Wells Fargo's $79 Million ERISA Settlement Gets Judge's Final OK". Bloomberg Law.
  12. [12]
    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.
  13. [13]
    Financial Serial Killers: Inside the World of Wall Street Money Hustlers, Swindlers, and Con Men. Skyhorse. 14 October 2014.
  14. [14]
    Cohan, William D. (December 20, 2017). ""Nothing About This Deal Feels Right to Me": Inside Harvey Weinstein's Other Nightmare". Vanity Fair.
  15. [15]
    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.
  16. [16]
    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.
  17. [17]
    Kantor, Jodi; Twohey, Megan (2019). She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement. Penguin Press. ISBN 978-0525560340.
  18. [18]
    "Ajamie Scholarship Fund". scholarships.asu.edu/scholarship/ajamie. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
  19. [19]
    "People". www.houstongrandopera.org/about-us/people/. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
  20. [20]
    "50 "Litigation Trailblazers & Pioneers" Recognized by ALM's the National Law Journal".
  21. [21]
    "NLJ 2017 Plaintiff's Lawyers Trailblazers".
  22. [22]
    "Thomas Ajamie - Texas - Lawyer Profile | Benchmark Litigation".
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