Ed Fagan  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. Fagan lost his license in both New York 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 Boca Raton, Florida. Fagan was born in Harlingen, Texas and raised in a Conservative Jewish 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. After returning to the US, he enrolled in Cardozo School of Law and graduated in 1980. He initially worked as a personal injury lawyer, 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. 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." 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 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.”