With decades of experience, the construction industry is what the Elia family loved.  In 1982, with the help of their father Alfred, Daniel and David Elia opened the doors to D.A. Elia Construction Corp. (Elia), a small public works contractor with an office located in Buffalo and operations spanning the entire state.  When the insurance company whom they relied on to provide them with bonds required for bidding on public works jobs suddenly stopped insuring and owners withheld payment for work they had completed, Elia was forced to close its doors, file for bankruptcy, and litigate against those whose disputes had ruined their business operations. 

William Savino had known David Elia for decades having grown up with him in Niagara Falls, NY. In 1994, Elia retained his law firm Damon & Morey, LLP to represent it in a Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Reorganization.  Damon & Morey was approved by Bankruptcy Judge Kaplan as its counsel so long as Damon & Morey promised to set up safeguards against any conflicts-of-interest which might arise. As chairman of Damon & Morey's Business Litigation and Insolvency Group, William Savino gave his word that he would guard against such conflicts. 

During its bankruptcy, Elia was sued by a subcontractor, Construction Pacesetters, Inc. (CPSI), the Lead Creditor of the Bankruptcy Creditors' Committee.  Knowing that representing CPSI against Elia would be a clear conflict-of-interest, Damon & Morey got conspiring. First, it lied to the Court about the number of its attorneys that had worked for CPSI against Elia. Then, Damon and Morey hired and paid local attorneys to represent CPSI against Elia, agreeing to advance expenses in return for a 1/3 contingency fee for all claims that they collected for CPSI from Elia (EXHIBIT 12). To conceal this blatant conflict-of-interest, instead of opening files in the name of the actual client (CPSI) that it was unethically representing against another of its clients (Elia), Damon & Morey opened files in the names of CPSI's principals and affiliates and delayed its billing for many months (EXHIBIT 8).  When one of the attorneys that Damon & Morey had hired to represent CPSI against Elia notified Damon & Morey that he “did not feel comfortable going forward as counsel” and withdrew from the case (EXHIBITS 10, 31), Damon & Morey just contacted another attorney to replace him in representing CPSI against Elia. Working for Damon & Morey, this outside attorney unlawfully appropriated payments to CPSI, itself and Damon & Morey instead of allowing the Bankruptcy Court to handle the proceeding.  Damon & Morey attorney William Savino is an expert in bankruptcy law and was aware that he needed to fully advise Judge Kaplan that of these matters, yet he intentionally concealed this information (EXHIBIT 12).