When Donovan Wendt was charged with cocaine possession for trafficking in 2021, he hired criminal defence lawyer Felice Ferri.
Ferri worked out a deal last year that spared Wendt any jail time as part of an 18-month conditional sentence that included six months house arrest and probation.
Now, in a rare twist of the client-attorney relationship, Ferri and Wendt are co-accused in an alleged massive $8.3-million drug bust at a high-end home in London earlier this month.
Wendt, 30, is back behind bars and facing more than two dozen charges, including allegations that he broke his release conditions, while Ferri, 46, was granted bail after turning himself in to police shortly after a warrant was issued for his arrest.
The charges against the two men came after police responding to an April 4 disturbance call at 467 Commissioners Rd. E. stumbled across what investigators called a “large and complex” cannabis extraction laboratory.
The discovery of the alleged drug lab in a $2-million house and the allegations that a criminal lawyer and his former client were operating it sounds like a plotline pulled from Breaking Bad.
The Free Press used court documents, public records and interviews to outline how a criminal lawyer once licensed to practise in Canada and the United States ended up on the other end of the law.
Ferri studied law between 2005-2008 at the University of Windsor and the University of Detroit through a collaborative program that allows graduates to obtain two law degrees simultaneously, according to his LinkedIn profile.
