On July 19, 2023, partners Jeffrey L. Wilson and Henry C. Chan secured a discontinuance on the last of a series of related cases involving an alleged fraudulent transfer of monies arising from a $150 million real estate loan. Plaintiffs, a set of major commercial lenders, brought suit against our clients, seeking full repayment of a loan they insisted was made to a third-party on the basis of fraudulent representations, improperly alleging our clients conspired with that third-party as part of the loan process to, among other things, use Bitcoin to secrete assets from creditors.
Plaintiffs were represented by one of the city’s most prestigious litigation firms and filed multiple suits in N.Y. Supreme Court, seeking damages and emergency injunctive relief to restrain our clients’ assets — including those belonging to a family trust. Indeed, plaintiffs even sought to unwind the creation of the family trust itself based on a novel theory under the New York Debtor and Creditor Law., which would have created utter chaos in the trust and real estate investment industries in New York City, if endorsed by the courts.
Our attorneys, led by Mr. Wilson, filed a pre-answer motion to dismiss against certain defendants, successfully argued the motion to lift the preliminary injunction at the trial court level, and were prepared to defend that victory at the Appellate Division when the plaintiffs discontinued their cases against our clients. The latest win allowed our attorneys to unfreeze our clients’ personal assets improperly restrained by the Appellate Division, pending appeal.
In addition to handling the civil cases in New York, our attorneys assisted the client’s criminal counsel in securing a dismissal of all charges filed by the Office of the United States Attorney. Working hand-in-hand with co-counsel and our clients, our attorneys were able to analyze thousands of pages of discovery involving a complicated set of real estate transactions to help force the release of our client and a full dismissal of all counts.
Henry Chan noted, “This case is objective proof that justice can be secured even though the process might, at times, be abused.” Notwithstanding the scorched-earth policy employed by plaintiffs’ counsel to attempt to force an unjustified settlement from our clients, Wilson & Chan’s attorneys met them at every turn and prevailed.
For Chan, “It’s why we are litigators. Our clients came to us at the darkest time in their lives. We knew them, and we were prepared to help them make things right. We wouldn’t wish this process on anyone, but we are happy the correct result was achieved and that our clients can now move on with their lives.”
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