Ryan Fayhee’s Pro Bono Efforts Help Secure Release of Former Marine Unlawfully Detained by Russia
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After 2,043 days of unlawful detention by the Russian government, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan touched down on US soil, first at Andrews Air Force Base, then continued on to Joint Base San Antonio – Kelly Field, Texas where he was met by Akin Washington D.C. based partner Ryan Fayhee. In a public statement, the Whelan family recognized Ryan’s tireless years-long effort to help secure Paul’s freedom.
“The family of a hostage is isolated, and it can be hard to know who can help and who to trust. We will never be able to adequately thank Ryan Fayhee for making contact back in January 2019 and his subsequent support. Ryan volunteered his expertise, providing strategic insights and wise counsel because he cared about a fellow American.”
Ryan began to work with the family shortly after Paul was arrested during a trip to Moscow to attend the wedding of a former fellow U.S. Marine. Paul was later charged with espionage and held at the formerly KGB-run Lefortovo detention center in Moscow. In a closed-door and widely discredited trial in 2020, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison. The U.S. Secretary of State later officially found Paul to be wrongfully detained, which triggered resources and capabilities from the inter-agency hostage enterprise.
The Whelan family said, “there are no words to express what Ryan’s courage, self-sacrifice, and kindness has meant to our family” when Paul was released from prison on August 1st, 2024 in the largest prisoner swap involving the U.S., its Western allies and Russia since the Cold War.
From the earliest days of Paul’s detention in 2019, Ryan leveraged his background in national security and deep knowledge of Washington, D.C., to navigate this unpredictable case. Throughout the process, he collaborated with essential partners, including the White House, National Security Council, the Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs, and members of Congress. These collective efforts helped incentivize a resolution and Ryan’s multidisciplinary strategy ensured that Paul’s case remained a priority at the highest levels of government.
Ryan has worked extensively on a pro bono basis on behalf of the wrongfully detained and hostages including most recently the family of wrongfully detained American, Ryan Corbett, held by the Taliban in Afghanistan. In 2023, Ryan helped secure the release of Paul Rusesabagina, a permanent U.S. resident who was imprisoned by the Rwandan government in 2020 and sentenced to 25 years behind bars in a deeply flawed case.
In a recognition for his pro bono work on the Whelan and Rusesabagina matters, Ryan told Bloomberg Law his experience in government as a former national security prosecutor and knowledge of Washington, D.C. allowed him to be uniquely helpful to families navigating an unpredictable crisis with limited resources. “I’ve now seen many families go through these unfortunate situations and every single one is an all-star – they are at their very best and inspire all of us around them. Seeing them in action and supporting them in what they do has been a life-changing experience,” he said.
Akin is a leading international law firm with more than 900 lawyers in offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
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