Wendy Williams had a heated dispute with bank officials days before her funds froze, reveals ex-attorney
Wendy Williams, the former TV personality, whose accounts were supposed to be accessible again in July, is still without access and appears to have become bogged down in the legal process. Days before her accounts were stopped, Williams and her ex-attorney, LaShawn Thomas got into a heated dispute inside a Florida Wells Fargo.
The 58-year-old former TV host's funds were taken over by a financial guardian after her bank alleged in startling court documents that she had been the victim of financial exploitation, dementia, or illegal influence. Thomas spoke with The Sun earlier this year about a grueling trip to a Florida Wells Fargo branch with her then-client, Williams, just days before the host's accounts were frozen.
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Thomas acknowledges parting ways with the celebrity but continues to represent Williams' 49-year-old ex-husband Kevin Hunter. The lawyer opened up about the following exchange that took place in January at one of the bank's brokerage offices in Florida when asked if anything suspicious had occurred with Williams' accounts prior to them being blocked. She refuted any claims of "financial exploitation," which the bank had expressed worry about in court documents.
Thomas said, "I met Wendy at the Wells Fargo branch. We went into the Wells Fargo branch and we spoke to the branch manager. We told him what was going on." Williams' son Kevin Hunter Jr, 22, was also present there, according to the lawyer.
Williams' bank statements, which were being shipped to her New York home, were currently unavailable, according to Thomas. While she was visiting Florida, her son also wanted to set up online banking for his mother. Thomas stated, "Wendy said she wanted to get access to the accounts."
Never joke with your health. Wendy Williams kept pushing hard till her graves disease pushed back and forced her to retired from her talkshow.
— Olu (@empror24) August 16, 2022
These are recent photos of Wendy’s posted by TMZ media outfits. I hope she gets all the medical attention she needs.2/2 pic.twitter.com/JTSoaaPaB5
The lawyer further stated that the bank manager had informed her, "Well, we don't do that in the retail branch. That's the Wells Fargo advisors, let me see if I can get somebody on the line." "He called Lori (Lori Schiller, Wendy's longtime financial adviser). He went into another room and had a conversation with Lori and came out," said Thomas.
Thomas added, "He said Lori was willing to talk to Wendy, but that she doesn't want anybody else in the room when she talks to Wendy. So Wendy said, 'No, why can't she talk to me with my attorney, I can understand if my son has to leave out of the room, but I want to keep my attorney here.'"
"And Lori said 'No, I want to talk to Wendy alone,' and if Wendy doesn't want to talk to her alone, Lori wouldn't talk to Wendy." This led to a heated argument between the bank officials and Williams. The trio eventually left the bank empty-handed. It was rare for Williams to enter a brokerage office with individuals in hand and request access to her accounts, according to the source who witnessed the encounter told The Sun. The branch was also far from her usual place of business, which was in New York.
Meanwhile, Thomas dismissed any claims that she had a conflict of interest by continuing to work on the Wells Fargo lawsuit in a lengthy statement that she released on Instagram on Thursday, August 18. She wrote in the statement, "To be clear, there was never a conflict of interest, the judge and Wells Fargo did not want me on the case because I couldn't be bought. I would never stand by and watch my client be taken advantage of so they did everything to get me out of the picture including threatening to report me to the Florida bar if I communicate with my client."
"Their goal was to get Wendy back to New York to control her when Wendy was doing well in Florida with her son. She was on the mend, seeing her doctors every day, exercising and having coherent conversations. The person you see today is vastly different from the person you saw in videos in Florida," the statement continued.
"She has been isolated and I've done everything in my power to assist her. I have been impeded in my attempts to communicate with Wendy by the court. They don't want us to see a healthy Wendy hence the court's threats to sanction me if I spoke to the media or Wendy," the statement read.