William (Bill) Fanciullo went to the State University of New York at Buffalo Law School. For his first summer during law school he worked at the United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of New York. For his second summer he worked for the U.S. Department of Justice at the Buffalo Strike Force on Organized Crime.
During his senior year he applied for and received a position with the U.S. Department of Justice through the highly competitive "Honor's Graduate" program. He was hired to be a Trial Attorney with the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice. While with DOJ in Washington, D.C., he applied to be an Assistant United States Attorney in Albany, New York, and commenced work as an AUSA in November 1981.
As an Assistant U.S. Attorney Mr. Fanciullo litigated criminal and civil cases on behalf of the United States of America. He handled all aspects of cases, including grand jury investigations, motions, trials and appeals. As a more experienced AUSA he handled the most difficult and complex cases. In addition to his regular caseload duties, he was the forfeiture "specialist" for the Albany Office. He also conducted training of law enforcement officers on numerous topics.
For approximately his last two years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney, he was also responsible for reviewing all briefs of the Albany U.S. Attorney's Office to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. In addition, also for approximately the last two years of his tenure at the U.S. Attorney's Office, he represented all United States Attorneys in the country at meetings of the Attorney General's Asset Forfeiture Policy Advisory Committee, which recommended national forfeiture policy to the Attorney General.
As an Assistant United States Attorney, Mr. Fanciullo received numerous commendations and a significant award. The award is the Director's Award For Superior Performance as an Assistant United States Attorney. Recipients of this award are limited to one percent of the total number of Assistant U.S. Attorneys in the country, per year. The justification for the award included Mr. Fanciullo's "outstanding work in a broad range of cases, both civil and criminal," and his "creativity, persistence, thoroughness, and superior legal ability." The justification included other factors as well, including that he maintained one of the highest civil and criminal caseloads in the office.
Mr. Fanciullo received many letters of commendation, including from the Department of Justice, and from former FBI Directors Sessions and Webster.
Mr. Fanciullo went into private practice in 1989. His practice is limited to litigation, civil and criminal, including trials, hearings and appeals, in federal and state courts.
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Mr. Fanciullo has conducted legal education seminars and spoken in his filed on many occasions, including:
2007, Local Chair, Moderator and Panelist, Zealous Representation: Ethical Limits and Trial Techniques, NYSBA Seminar;
2000, Lecturer, Federal Civil Discovery Practice for Experienced Litigators, NYSBA Seminar, Discovery 2000--for Experienced Litigators; , Lecturer, Federal Civil Discovery Practice for Experienced Litigators, NYSBA Seminar,
1998, Co-Overall Planning Chair, Local Chair and Lecturer, NYSBA Seminar, The Federal Sentencing Guidelines;
1996, Local Chair, NYSBA Seminar, Juries, Grand and Petit, In New York State Criminal Cases;
1995, speaker, NYSBA Seminar, Practical Skills - Basic Criminal Law;
1994, Local Chair, The Trial of a Drug Case, NYSBA Seminar, and, speaker: Federal Considerations - Frequently Charged Offenses, Federal Sentencing Guidelines Issues, Appeal;
1994, speaker, When the Feds Come Knocking at Your Client's Door [representing clients in federal criminal investigations], Albany County Bar Association;
1989, scheduled speaker, White Collar Crime NYSBA Seminar;
1997, participant in Panel, Inside the Jury Room, Albany Law School;
1996, participant in Panel, Options in the Practice of Law, Albany Law School;
April 1995 and November 1995, participant in Panel, The Criminal Justice System, Albany Law School;
March 1995, participant in Panel, Solo and Small Firm Practice in the Capital District, Albany Law School.
In addition, Mr. Fanciullo was the author of the Federal Criminal Law column of the Albany County Bar Association Newsletter, 1999.
Mr. Fanciullo is included in Who's Who in American Law.
Bar Admissions:
United States Supreme Court
United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
United States District Court - Northern District of New York
United States District Court - Western District of New York
New York State Courts - Admitted 1980
Professional Organizations -- Member of:
American Bar Association, including the Litigation Section and the Criminal Justice Section, and he is a Committee Member of the following committees: Trial Practice, Trial Evidence, Criminal Litigation
New York State Bar Association, including the Trial Lawyers Section, Criminal Justice Section and the Federal and Commercial Litigation Section
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
Northern District of New York Federal Court Bar Association
Albany County Bar Association
Capital District Trial Lawyer's Association.
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SAMPLING OF CASES
Mr. Fanciullo has been an attorney for over 28 years. All cases cannot be mentioned, of course.
Some of Mr. Fanciullo's cases include representing plaintiffs in U.S. District Court (NDNY) in a civil case from 2003 to 2008. The amended complaint alleged violations of civil RICO including alleged predicate acts involving alleged money laundering, mail and wire fraud, obstruction of justice and related allegations. The case also included causes of action of fraud, breach of contract, breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, breach of fiduciary duty, interference with business relations, and more. The case settled on the day of trial as against several of the defendants. Three of the entity defendants defaulted, resulting in a $170 million default judgment. This case involved years of discovery and motions, voluminous documents, and required hiring of experts in the areas of patents, pertinent science, damages and fraud.
Another recent case involved representation of a restaurant owner indicted for alleged tax violations, hiring illegal aliens, money laundering and harboring and transporting illegal aliens. Motions to suppress seizures and statements were made. A defense pretrial motion resulted in numerous pretrial seizure warrants being vacated. A negotiated plea was worked out. Accounting experts were hired and close coordination with immigration counsel was accomplished.
In another case a corporate client suffered an environmental spill. Rather than incurring liability, the client ended up receiving restitution.
Another case involved representation of a truck driver indicted for allegedly transporting unreported cash on an international trip. This case went to trial and the driver was found not guilty.
Other criminal cases include defense against allegations of bribery, "honest services" mail and wire fraud, tax cases, immigration cases, drug cases, and many others.
One of Mr. Fanciullo's civil cases involved bringing an action under the Federal Tort Claims Act on behalf of the victim of a sexual assault in a federal prison. The case settled in favor of plaintiff.
Mr. Fanciullo has also represented plaintiffs in civil cases including brain injury, car accident, construction accident, drowning and others. Mr. Fanciullo will bring in co-counsel, with client approval of course, and, in personal injury cases at no additional expense to the client, where it is in the client's interest to do so.
Other civil cases include personal injury and death cases, complex litigation and commercial litigation, and, again, many others.
A partial listing of reported cases follows:
U.S. v. Ford, 435 F.3d 204 (2d Cir. 2006);
U.S. v. Johnson, 221 F.3d 83 (2d Cir., 2000), cert. denied, 533 U.S. 953;
U.S. v. Hernandez-Fundora, 49 F. 3d 848 (2d Cir. 1995), amended, 58 F.3d 802, cert. denied, 115 S. Ct. 2288, conviction vacated and indictment dismissed, 896 F.Supp. 276 (N.D.N.Y., 1995);
U.S. v. Jaswal, 47 F. 3d 539 (2d Cir. 1995);
U.S. v. Davis, 967 F.2d 84 (2d Cir. 1992), cert. denied, 113 S. Ct. 356;
U.S. v. Ritchey, 949 F.2d 61 (2nd Cir. 1991);
Town of Fenton v. Dole, 792 F.2d 44 (2d Cir. 1986);
Friends of Shawangunks, Inc. v. Clark, 754 F.2d 446 (2d Cir. 1985);
U.S. v. Li, 2006 U.S.Dist.LEXIS 61919. No. 04-CR-543 (N.D.N.Y. 2006);
U.S. v. Chiochvili, 81 F.Supp.2d 393 (N.D.N.Y. 1999);
Michelson v. Daly, 590 F.Supp. 261 (N.D.N.Y. 1984);
County of Delaware v. J E D Distributing and Manufacturing, Inc., 161 A.D. 2d 1083, 557 N.Y.S. 2d 642 (3d Dept. 1990).
Of course, attorneys and others with access to legal databases such as LEXIS are free to conduct a search under Mr. Fanciullo's name as counsel, most notably in the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, for a more complete indication of published cases. Keep in mind, most cases are not published.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Feel free to call Mr. Fanciullo to discuss your case with him.