Litigation Support & Enforcement
Independent compliance consultancies and court-appointed monitorships
- Serve as a court-appointed monitor for global financial institutions regarding CFTC, SEC, Federal Reserve, FINRA, and DOJ issues
- Act as independent compliance consultant during pending CFTC, SEC, and Federal Reserve actions pursuant to terms of engagement negotiated between regulators and respondents
- Review and recommend improvements to supervisory, compliance, operational policies, procedures, IT systems, trade surveillance, and controls
Litigation support
- Assist counsel in legal, regulatory, and transactional issues involving major financial firms
- Collaborate with counsel to develop litigation strategy
- Assist counsel with preparation for depositions and enforcement interviews
- Develop strategies to integrate and coordinate legal, public affairs, and government affairs resources
Expert witness testimony
- Provide oral and written expert testimony in trials, arbitration proceedings, and investigations
- Serve as an expert before U.S. and foreign courts and regulatory bodies on behalf of commercial banks, cryptocurrency companies, investment advisors, broker-dealers, public companies, and professional firms
Representative Engagements
- Developed enhancements to the trade surveillance framework of a large bank’s futures commission merchant serving as an independent monitor subject to a CFTC and New York Attorney General settlement agreement
- In connection with a joint Federal Reserve and CFTC action, conducted an independent governance review for the board of directors of a systemically important financial institution
- Served as independent compliance consultant for a large global bank, making recommendations to improve swap dealer practices, policies, and procedures
- Conducted an independent review for a large private equity fund at the request of institutional investors regarding valuation issues and cybersecurity
- Served as independent compliance consultant for a major financial firm regarding its internal audit function and IT operations processes
- Conducted an independent and holistic review, analysis, and assessment of policies and procedures related to governance and clearing activities at a major clearinghouse
- Assisted major law firm in providing legal advice to a large hedge fund regarding its process and reporting obligations for “blue sheets” data
- Served for three years as a court-appointed monitor for a major non-U.S. swap dealer pursuant to a CFTC enforcement action, which included reviewing, assessing, and providing recommendations to enhance the firm’s swap reporting and related business continuity and disaster recovery programs
- Served as expert witness for employees of a major cryptocurrency derivatives trading platform accused of violating CFTC regulations and U.S. AML regulations in a criminal proceeding
- Served as expert witness in high profile securities fraud cases
- Delivered expert testimony regarding the materiality standard under federal securities laws and the design and implementation of corporate disclosure processes and internal controls
- Supported a major law firm’s response to SEC inquiry targeting a decentralized cryptocurrency trading platform
- Served as expert witness in cases related to the role of directors during IPOs
- Provided expert testimony regarding inconsistent statements of an adverse party to a cross-border merger before the Directorate General for Competition of the European Commission
- Conducted independent review of a large global bank’s fixed income transaction reporting to FINRA
- Assisted a leading law firm in the preparation of a letter to the CFTC Division of Enforcement regarding the definition of “actual delivery” under the Actual Delivery Exemption
- Provided testimony to the SEC and PCAOB on issues regarding relations between U.S. regulators and the Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission
- Pursuant to an investment bank’s DOJ non-prosecution agreement, advised on enhancements regarding issues including mortgage-backed securities sales practices and bond traders’ compensation policies and practices