Veteran federal prosecutor Ephraim “Fry” Wernick, a former assistant chief of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Unit, has joined Vinson & Elkins as a partner in Washington, D.C., the firm announced this week.
Wernick is the second recent high profile addition to V&E’s government investigations and white collar criminal defense practice in Washington, D.C. In October, the firm added Ron Tenpas, who was formerly the U.S. government’s highest ranking environmental lawyer.
After graduating from the University of Texas School of Law in 2003, Wernick practiced at Strasburger & Price and then at Akin Gump. In 2008, he joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C. as an assistant U.S. attorney. Over the next six years, he was the lead prosecutor in more than 30 criminal trials and served for several years in the Fraud and Public Corruption Section, where he prosecuted what is believed to be the largest campaign finance case in U.S. history, according to V&E’s announcement.
In 2014, Wernick joined the DOJ Criminal Fraud FCPA Unit, where he was soon promoted to assistant chief. He handled large investigations in the energy, sports, aerospace, telecom and financial services sectors. During his tenure, he oversaw four of the six largest corporate FCPA resolutions and dozens of individual prosecutions, including:
- a $965 million coordinated global resolution between DOJ, the SEC, the Netherlands, and Sweden with Telia Company AB, a Swedish telecom company that admitted to paying over $330 million in bribes in Uzbekistan;
- a $880 million coordinated global resolution between DOJ, the U.K. Serious Fraud Office, and Brazil with Rolls-Royce plc, a multinational power systems manufacturer, including seven individual charges, in connection with their conspiracy to pay and launder over $80 million in bribes in six different countries;
- a $850 million criminal resolution between DOJ and the SEC with Mobile Telesystems PJSC, a Russian telecommunications company that paid over $420 million in bribes in Uzbekistan;
- and a $835 million coordinated global resolution between DOJ, the SEC, and the Netherlands with VimpelCom Ltd., a Dutch telecom company that paid over $114 million in bribes in Uzbekistan.
“Fry brings to the firm more than a decade of experience as a leading fraud and corruption prosecutor,” V&E Chairman Mark Kelly said in a statement. “Having directed some of the DOJ’s most significant and complex white collar prosecutions and investigations, he is a strong complement to our growing and robust practice.”
While at the DOJ, Wernick also served a one-year detail to the Guantanamo Bay Litigation Team, where he was the lead trial attorney in the case against the highest-ranking member of the Taliban in U.S. custody.
Wernick’s government experience also includes a 2017 appointment to serve as counsel to the chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, where he advised the committee on proposed legislation addressing a range of criminal justice and national security matters.