Speakers

• Alex Moglia Moglia Advisors | Schaumburg, IL
  

  Alex Moglia

  Moglia Advisors | Schaumburg, IL

  Alex D. Moglia has been successful as an M&A advisor, chief restructuring officer, financial advisor, litigation expert witness, state and federal receiver, bankruptcy trustee, liquidating trustee, assignee for the benefit of creditors, and fraud recovery expert. Prior to founding Moglia Advisors, Alex held executive positions with Continental Illinois National Bank and CNW Corporation, the later a publicly traded company with finance, transportation and manufacturing operations. Initially, he was an international attorney with Winston & Strawn, before leaving the practice of law in 1983.
  Alex is an Emeritus member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Federal Equity Receivers. He is a member of the panel of bankruptcy trustees in Chicago, and serves as bankruptcy trustee throughout the United States. He is a member of INSOL International, and a former member of the Board of Directors of AeroCare, an international air transportation carrier of patients and transplant organs. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the American Bankruptcy Institute, and founded and chaired its Finance & Banking Committee.
  He has a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Chicago Law School and attended the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. He has a Bachelor of Science of Foreign Service from Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. Alex was born in Argentina, lived in Brazil, and has worked on projects involving the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa. He is fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, and French, and has working knowledge of Italian. Alex is an avid soccer fan.

• Alysson Mills Mills & Amond, LLP | New Orleans, LA
  

  Alysson Mills

  Mills & Amond, LLP | New Orleans, LA

  Alysson Mills is a partner of the law firm Mills & Amond, LLP.

  Alysson’s practice is diverse. She represents businesses in all forms of litigation and clients of all backgrounds in cases implicating the First Amendment. She is a member of the Criminal Justice Act Panel and represents indigent criminal defendants in federal courts. She volunteers her professional time to causes that are important to her.

  A large part of Alysson’s practice is dedicated to appeals. She has represented clients in the U.S. Supreme Court; several federal courts of appeals; and the Mississippi and Louisiana Supreme Courts. She regularly argues in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

  Alysson is the court-appointed receiver in Securities & Exchange Commission vs. Adams, et al., No. 3:18-cv-252 (S.D. Miss.), and charged with recovering money for victims of Mississippi’s largest Ponzi scheme.

  Outside the office, Alysson teaches First Amendment and media law at Tulane University and serves on several civic boards.

• Amy Longo SEC | Los Angeles, CA
  

  Amy Longo

  SEC | Los Angeles, CA

  Amy Jane Longo is the Regional Trial Counsel for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Los Angeles Regional Office, where she both supervises and first-chairs federal court litigation to enforce the federal securities laws, as well as prosecuting SEC administrative proceedings. Representative matters include, for example, actions for financial fraud, insider trading, offering frauds, Ponzi schemes, trading suspensions, market manipulation, and actions against investment advisers, brokers, accountants, attorneys, and other regulated entities and individuals. Prior to joining the SEC, Amy was a litigation partner in a global law firm, practicing in the areas of securities and financial services litigation and electronic discovery.

• Bikram Bandy FTC, Bureau of Consumer Protection
  

  Bikram Bandy

  FTC, Bureau of Consumer Protection

  Bikram Bandy is the Chief Litigation Counsel for the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. In that role, he advises the Bureau Director on litigation matters and provides legal, strategic, and tactical advice to case teams investigating and litigating consumer protection cases. He is also the Bureau’s point person on addressing challenges the agency faces as a result of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in AMG Capital Management v. FTC. Before joining the FTC in 2012, Bikram was a partner at a major national law firm, where he worked on a variety of complex civil litigation matters. He obtained his undergraduate degree from Duke University and his law degree from the George Washington University Law School.

• Chantal Eikey Rehmann, Inc. | Grand Rapids, MI
  

  Chantal Eikey

  Rehmann, Inc. | Grand Rapids, MI

  Chantal Eikey is a consulting manager in Rehmann’s turnaround and restructuring practice, working with team members to develop creative solutions for troubled businesses, both domestic and international.

  Chantal began her career at Rehmann in 2009 as an audit intern. She gained collections experience with an accounts payable audit company in 2010 before joining Rehmann’s turnaround and restructuring practice. Chantal has significant experience managing a company’s operations until sale, as well as ensuring orderly wind-down or liquidation on insolvent projects. She is also knowledgeable about and worked in both Federal & State Receiverships.

  Chantal is a Certified Insolvency and Restructuring Advisor (CIRA); an industry recognition of her high degree of specialized knowledge in business bankruptcy and insolvency.

• Daniel Seligman (Producer) Columbia Research Corp. | Seattle, WA
  

  Daniel Seligman (Producer)

  Columbia Research Corp. | Seattle, WA

  Daniel Seligman, an attorney-at-law and Certified Fraud Examiner, is the principal in the Columbia Research Corp. in Seattle, Washington. He has 40 years of combined experience as a lawyer, research analyst and journalist. He provides fact-finding, due diligence and investigative services for law firms, bankruptcy trustees, business trade associations and others. He currently serves as the chair of NAFER’s Publications Committee. www.danielseligman.com

• David Doyle Cozen O'Connor | Chicago, IL
  

  David Doyle

  Cozen O'Connor | Chicago, IL

  David R. Doyle is a member of Cozen O’Connor and resides in the firm’s Chicago office. David represents receivers, bankruptcy trustees and assignees for the benefit of creditors in the Northern District of Illinois and jurisdictions across the country. Before private practice, he served as a law clerk to the Hon. Carol A. Doyle, Chief Bankruptcy Judge for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

• David Stapleton Stapleton Group | Los Angeles, CA
  

  David Stapleton

  Stapleton Group | Los Angeles, CA

  David P. Stapleton, a nationally-recognized federal receiver, trustee and restructuring expert, resolves complex problems caused by fraud, such as Ponzi schemes; non-performing commercial loans; and, shareholder disputes. In representing creditors, business owners and legal counsel, David quickly identifies the obstacles between the parties involved and implements actions to overcome impasses. His expertise spans federal equity receiverships; assignments for the benefit of creditors (ABCs); bankruptcy plan administration and liquidations; and, financial advisory.
  Investors, lenders, creditors and attorneys turn to David for his strategic approach to maximizing financial recovery. He has led the successful resolution of over one hundred troubled business and real estate projects, exceeding his clients’ expectations numerous times.
  David founded Stapleton Group in 2008 to provide clients with a single-source solution when faced with business or real estate-related investments, problem loans or shareholder disputes. He began his career as a CPA at PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP, providing financial and restructuring services for Fortune 500 clients out of PwC’s New York, London, Frankfurt and Southern California offices. He then served as a director at a national provider of fiduciary services, and worked for a subsidiary of private equity firm Leucadia National Corporation where he managed acquisitions.

• Eddy Espinosa Akerman LLP | Dallas, TX
  

  Eddy Espinosa

  Akerman LLP | Dallas, TX

  Eduardo Espinosa is an experienced court-appointed fiduciary frequently recommended by regulators to serve in proceedings where there is concern that assets will be dissipated. A former enforcement lawyer with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr. Espinosa has served as receiver, receiver’s counsel, or trustee, in federal and state proceedings involving fraudulent securities offerings. He has particular experience with life settlements, EB-5 offerings and FOREX funds. In addition to his fraud and recovery practice, Mr. Espinosa advises clients on the legal and regulatory aspects of their commercial and transactional opportunities.

• Gary Caris Barnes & Thornburg LLP | Los Angeles, CA
  

  Gary Caris

  Barnes & Thornburg LLP | Los Angeles, CA

  Gary Caris represents receivers and creditors in federal, bankruptcy and state courts.
  Gary represents receivers who have been appointed in enforcement actions brought by various federal agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Commodity Futures Trading Commission. He has represented federal equity receivers in more than 45 actions across the country.
  In one such action, he successfully litigated contested civil contempt proceedings, which played a key role in the recovery of over $25 million in various assets diverted and hidden from the Receiver throughout the world, including in Belize and Latvia. In another, he acted as co-counsel in coordinated SEC and CFTC actions brought in connection with a $1.5 billion Ponzi scheme, assisting the Receiver in clawback litigation against winning investors which helped lead to investors receiving 100% recovery on their claims.
  On appeal, he has successfully obtained orders affirming the Receiver’s recovery of assets paid to attorneys obtained from ill-gotten gains, FTC v. Assail, 410 F. 3d 256 (5th Cir. 2005) and holding that the District Court had ancillary jurisdiction in connection with litigation of state law claims against third parties Robb Evans & Associates LLC v. Holibaugh, 609 F. 3d 359 (4th Cir. 2010).
  Gary also represents financial institutions and other creditors in complex bankruptcy litigation, reorganization proceedings and commercial litigation.
  He is an active member of NAFER, in the past having served as a board member, and currently serving on the Best Practices and Amicus Committees.

• Geoff Winkler (Producer) American Fiduciary Services LLC | Portland, OR
  

  Geoff Winkler (Producer)

  American Fiduciary Services LLC | Portland, OR

  Geoff Winkler is a Founding Member and CEO of American Fiduciary Services LLC. Mr. Winkler leads a team of legal and financial industry professionals who specialize in managing complex investigations, forensic accounting, fiduciary and insolvency services, and securities litigation support. He has extensive experience testifying as an expert witness and has served as CFO and COO in dozens of State and Federal District Court receiverships, corporate monitorships, and in other cases as a fiduciary and insolvency expert. These roles included responsibility for: managing operations with up to thousands of employees; preparing, auditing, and/or restating financial statements per Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and SEC reporting requirements; instituting internal controls to prevent fraud and provide assurances in reporting; and turnaround and restructuring businesses. In addition, Mr. Winkler has initiated litigation against executive leadership, board of directors, and financial oversight committees for failure to execute the duties required by their fiduciary duty to the company, including failure to institute strong internal controls; provide oversight of financial reporting; and, ensure GAAP requirements are being met. Due to the varying nature of these assignments, Mr. Winkler works with a diverse team of experts that supplement his expertise based on the specific needs of a given case. Mr. Winkler’s experience includes leadership in large and complex fraud investigations and forensic accounting efforts in numerous industries including manufacturing, financial services, healthcare, capital leases, consumer services and retail sales.

• Gregory Garno Genovese Joblove & Battista, P.A. | Miami, FL
  

  Gregory Garno

  Genovese Joblove & Battista, P.A. | Miami, FL

  Gregory M. Garno practices in the areas of complex commercial litigation, banking litigation, professional malpractice, creditors’ rights, and bankruptcy. He represents major financial institutions, corporations, fiduciaries, individuals, and governmental agencies in significant complex litigation in both state and federal courts, in both jury and non-jury matters and arbitrations. His commercial litigation experience includes contract disputes, business torts, director liability and corporate and shareholder disputes, collection matters, insurance, receiverships and fraud actions.
  Gregory is “AV” rated by Martindale-Hubbell, and has been recognized as one of South Florida’s “Up and Comers” and “Top Lawyers” by South Florida Legal Guide. He is a member of the National Association of Federal Equity Receivers (NAFER) and the trial section of The Florida Bar and a member of the Miami-Dade County Bar Association. Gregory is also an active member of the Children’s Home Society of Florida, where he is a marketing outreach coordinator for the “Champions for Children” campaign.
  Gregory is a member of The Florida Bar and admitted to practice before the Federal General Bar for the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Middle Districts of Florida, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, the Bankruptcy Bar for the Southern District of Florida and the U.S. Supreme Court.
  He is a 1996 cum laude graduate of the University of Miami School of Law, where he was a member of the Business Law Journal. He earned a bachelor of science from Cornell University in 1993.

• Gregory Hays Hays Financial Consulting, LLC | Atlanta, GA
  

  Gregory Hays

  Hays Financial Consulting, LLC | Atlanta, GA

  Mr. Hays is a court appointed fiduciary and forensic accountant that specializes in recovering funds from insolvent companies and investment offerings. He is routinely appointed by federal and state courts as a receiver or bankruptcy trustee to manage businesses in order to maximize recovery for creditors. He has been appointed as a fiduciary by courts in seven states.

  Mr. Hays is a recognized expert in Ponzi schemes and receiverships and has been quoted in many articles in national publications. The TV show American Greed featured a story on the Al Parish Ponzi scheme where he served as receiver. Other cases in which he has served as a fiduciary have been the subject of TV broadcasts including CNN’s Anderson Cooper, CBS Evening News, and local news programs.

  He has spoken on bankruptcy, receiver and fraud issues at conferences sponsored by the ABI, ACFE, AIRA, IAAR, INSOL, NABT, NACM, NAFER, NCBJ, TMA and other professional organizations.

  Mr. Hays has thirty-five years of financial experience including twenty-five years managing bankruptcy and receivership cases and investigating fraudulent activity. He manages a firm of corporate financial consultants that specializes in turnarounds, workouts, asset recovery, forensic accounting, litigation support, and interim management. He is a Certified Turnaround Professional (“CTP”) and a Certified Insolvency and Restructuring Advisor (“CIRA”) and serves on the Board of Directors for the Association of Insolvency & Restructuring Advisors. He is also a Past President of the National Association of Federal Equity Receivers (“NAFER”).

• Hernan Serrano J.S. Held LLC | New York, NY
  

  Hernan Serrano

  J.S. Held LLC | New York, NY
• Ira Bodenstein Cozen O'Connor | Chicago, IL
  

  Ira Bodenstein

  Cozen O'Connor | Chicago, IL

  Ira has a keen understanding of the trustee process and how to efficiently achieve the optimum resolution for the involved parties. He counsels bankruptcy clients on the necessity and timing of filing reorganization cases, and the rights of unsecured and secured creditors prior to and subsequent to bankruptcy filing. Ira is experienced in all facets of Chapter 11 reorganization cases, including preparing and confirming plans of reorganization in debtor cases, representing creditors’ committees, opposing debtors’ plans on behalf of creditors and representing creditors and debtors in preference and fraudulent conveyance litigation. He also counsels lenders on their rights as secured creditors. Ira is a member of the private panel of Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustees and also represents panel trustees. Ira has also served as a federal equity receiver in SEC and DOL actions and has represented federal equity receivers in SEC and CFTC actions.

  Appointed by U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, Ira served as the U.S. Trustee for Region 11, which includes the Northern District of Illinois and the state of Wisconsin, from May 1998 through January 2006. In that capacity, he served as head of the Justice Department’s component with primary oversight responsibility for all bankruptcy cases filed in Region 11.

  In 2018, Ira was named an Illinois Leading Attorney by the Law Bulletin Publishing Company. He has an AV rating from Martindale Hubble and is listed in Who’s Who in America’s 70th Anniversary edition. Ira is a founding member and past president of the National Association of Federal Equity Receivers.

  Ira earned his J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law and his B.A. from Franklin & Marshall College.

• Jared Perez Guerra King P.A. | Tampa, FL
  

  Jared Perez

  Guerra King P.A. | Tampa, FL

  Jared Perez concentrates his practice on complex commercial litigation with a focus on financial services and securities matters, including securities fraud litigation, SEC and FINRA investigations, shareholder derivative litigation, and federal equity receiverships.
  Martindale-Hubbell has rated Jared AV Preeminent®, which represents the “highest level of professional excellence for … legal knowledge, communication skills and ethical standards,” and Super Lawyers has designated him a “Rising Star” in business litigation from 2015 through 2019.
  Jared is a member of the legal team representing the receiver appointed over Arthur Nadel’s $400 million Ponzi scheme. In that capacity, he helped to recover tens of millions of dollars for defrauded investors through dozens of cases in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida and before the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Jared has represented receivers appointed at the request of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, and the Florida Attorney General’s Office. In addition to receivership work, Jared represents individuals and entities in securities fraud litigation, regulatory enforcement proceedings, and complex commercial litigation.
  Jared is a Tampa native and graduated from Florida State University, cum laude, in 2002. He received his law degree in 2005 from Columbia Law School. At Columbia, Jared served as the Managing Editor of the Science & Technology Law Review. He also interned with the Rackets Bureau of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, the Hon. Robert Patterson, Jr., of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and the Hon. Sonia Sotomayor, then of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and, presently, a member of the United States Supreme Court.

• Joe Grekin (Producer) Schafer and Weiner, PLLC | Bloomfield Hills, MI
  

  Joe Grekin (Producer)

  Schafer and Weiner, PLLC | Bloomfield Hills, MI

  Joseph Grekin is an experienced litigator, negotiator and counselor, with expertise in commercial, bankruptcy, receivership, and general insolvency issues. Mr. Grekin specializes in representing clients at a tactical or financial disadvantage, using creative and novel methods and arguments to fight tenaciously and professionally to achieve favorable results for his clients.

  Mr. Grekin has represented businesses, individuals, and receivers for over twenty-five years in state, federal, bankruptcy, appellate, and administrative courts in several states. He has extensive experience managing large and complex files, including receiverships, bankruptcies, and commercial and bankruptcy litigation, relating to tens of millions of dollars.

  Mr. Grekin has been a cutting-edge advocate in the field of debtor/creditor issues in the litigation context, and has successfully advocated for his clients in several published cases on a wide variety of issues. He has extensive trial experience on commercial and insolvency issues, which makes him an able negotiator and advisor not just in litigation, but in other commercial and bankruptcy venues as well, from business formation to insolvency counseling.

  Mr. Grekin is a member of the National Association of Federal Equity Receivers, and re-created the dormant Debtor/Creditor Committee of the Oakland County Bar Association, becoming its initial chairperson. He speaks and writes regularly on business and insolvency issues.

• Jonathan Perlman (Producer) Genovese Joblove & Battista, P.A. | Miami, FL
  

  Jonathan Perlman (Producer)

  Genovese Joblove & Battista, P.A. | Miami, FL

  Jonathan E. Perlman is an equity partner and executive committee member at the Genovese Joblove & Battista Law Firm, with offices in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Tampa and Caracas, Venezuela, where he leads GJB’s Receivership, Class Action and Securities Litigation practice groups.
  Mr. Perlman has served as a Federal Court-Appointed Receiver in actions brought by the SEC, FTC and Florida Attorney General, and is responsible for having recovered millions of dollars for victims of fraudulent schemes, including the Creative Capital investment Ponzi scheme, the 321 Loans massive fraudulent debt relief operation, the All Dreams scheme defrauding consumers with false promises of “free” vacations, the Hispanic Global Way fraudulent weight loss product scheme, and the World Patent Marketing invention promotion services scam.
  Perlman sits on the board of directors of the National Association of Federal Equity Receivers (NAFER), where he also chairs NAFER’s Best Practices Committee and serves on its judicial outreach, annual conference and international committees. He is also a member of INSOL International.
  In addition to administering receiverships, Perlman’s practice focuses on fraudulent and deceptive practices, securities, franchising and accessibility litigation matters. Perlman is “AV” rated by Martindale-Hubbell and is a member of the American Bar Association Forum on Franchising and the International Franchise Association. The Franchise Times has repeatedly named him a “Legal Eagle,” recognizing the top 100 U.S. franchising attorneys, and has also been recognized numerous times in Who’s Who Among U.S. Attorneys, and as a “Super Lawyer” in Super Lawyer.

• JonMarc Buffa Commodity Futures Trading Commission | Washington, DC
  

  JonMarc Buffa

  Commodity Futures Trading Commission | Washington, DC

  JonMarc Buffa is a Senior Trial Attorney in the Office of Cooperative Enforcement at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Mr. Buffa engages in federal court prosecution of violators of the federal derivatives laws. He was the CFTC’s responsible counsel on the $7 billion fraud case CFTC v. Walsh (WG Trading). Mr. Buffa previously served as Special Counsel and Policy Advisor to former CFTC Commissioner Scott D. O’Malia where he advised the Commissioner on the implementation and promulgation of regulations pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Act. In addition to his work at the CFTC, Mr. Buffa is a longtime adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center. Prior to joining the CFTC, Mr. Buffa was an attorney at three major national and international law firms. He is a graduate of Notre Dame Law School and Boston College’s Carroll School of Management.

• Jordan Maglich (Producer) Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC | Tampa, FL
  

  Jordan Maglich (Producer)

  Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC | Tampa, FL

  Jordan Maglich has a broad practice focused on complex commercial litigation, securities and financial services, and regulatory matters. Jordan often serves as counsel to receivers appointed in connection with regulatory enforcement actions brought by federal and state regulators including the Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Federal Trade Commission, and the Florida Office of Financial Regulation. Jordan also counsels individuals and entities that are the subject or focus of investigatory or enforcement proceedings by state and federal regulators.

  Jordan regularly practices in state, federal, and bankruptcy courts in matters involving a wide variety of civil disputes and other business-related litigation. Jordan also has significant experience in arbitration forums, including the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). In addition to defending broker-dealers and their associated persons named in FINRA proceedings by customers and/or departing associated persons, Jordan has also obtained various affirmative relief including injunctive relief to prevent non-customers from proceeding in arbitral forums as well as the recovery of transition and incentive payments to departed or terminated associated persons.

  He has extensive experience in fraud matters and wrongdoing involving financial malfeasance. Drawing on this experience, Jordan is the founder and editor of Ponzitracker, which tracks the proliferation of Ponzi schemes and provides regular analysis on the topic. Jordan is regularly sought out by local and national media sources for comment on various matters involving Ponzi schemes and financial services, and his commentary has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, CNBC, and other media.

• Kathy Bazoian Phelps Raines Feldman LLP | Los Angeles, CA
  

  Kathy Bazoian Phelps

  Raines Feldman LLP | Los Angeles, CA

  Kathy Bazoian Phelps has been a lawyer since 1991 and is currently a partner at Raines Feldman LLP in the Los Angeles office. In addition to individually serving as a fiduciary in certain matters, Kathy practices in the area of insolvency law, fiduciary representation, and fraud litigation, where she represents federal equity and state court receivers and bankruptcy trustees. Kathy frequently serves as special litigation counsel for fiduciaries and interested parties in fraud-related litigation, cases arising out of receivership and bankruptcy as well as parallel criminal and civil forfeiture proceedings. She is particularly knowledgeable about the administration of Ponzi scheme cases and has extensive litigation experience in claims arising in these types of cases.

  Kathy has lectured widely and written on bankruptcy and receivership matters, with a focus on Ponzi schemes. Her book entitled The Ponzi Book: A Legal Resource for Unraveling Ponzi Schemes, co-authored with Hon. Steven Rhodes, has garnered national and international attention as the authoritative work on Ponzi scheme law.

  In addition to her roles as lawyer, speaker and author, Kathy also serves as a mediator and is currently on the mediation and arbitration rosters for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, as well as the Bankruptcy Mediation Panel for the Central District of California and the Bankruptcy Mediation Panel for the District of Arizona.

  Kathy’s personal interests and accomplishments include extensive travel and the study of the Chinese Mandarin language.

• Kenton Johnson (Producer) Robb Evans & Associates LLC | Pasadena, CA
  

  Kenton Johnson (Producer)

  Robb Evans & Associates LLC | Pasadena, CA

  Since January 1996, Mr. Johnson has been a member of Robb Evans and Associates LLC. Mr. Johnson works with the other members of the organization to administer and carry out the daily activities of more than 300 receiverships and liquidations that the firm is managing or has completed. Case management includes commercial and industrial, multi-family and residential property management and sales, fraud investigation, asset tracing, asset enhancement, management and liquidation, and supervision of litigation. Industries and types of businesses include manufacturing, contracting, health care, shopping centers, wholesale distribution, multi-level marketing, worldwide Internet and credit card commerce, and the U.S. agency of an international bank.

  Mr. Johnson is a current director and past Co-Chair of the California Receivers Forum. He has participated as a speaker and panelist at Loyola Receivership Conferences in Los Angeles. Mr. Johnson is a founding member and current director of NAFER and participates on committees and as a panelist at annual conferences.

• Kevin Duff Rachlis Duff & Peel, LLC | Chicago, IL
  

  Kevin Duff

  Rachlis Duff & Peel, LLC | Chicago, IL

  Kevin Duff begins his term as President of NAFER at the 2018 Annual Meeting. Mr. Duff is a member of Rachlis Duff Adler Peel & Kaplan, LLC, a commercial litigation law firm in Chicago, Illinois. He has trial and appellate experience in a variety of complex commercial litigation and receivership matters. Mr. Duff has significant experience in litigation involving Ponzi scheme and other similar illegal, illicit, fraudulent, and sham transactions, including pursuing a spectrum of remedies to recover money and other assets from defendants and third-parties in such circumstances. He serves as a receiver and receiver’s counsel in actions brought by the SEC, CFTC, and private litigants.

• Krista Freitag E3 Advisors | Los Angeles, CA
  

  Krista Freitag

  E3 Advisors | Los Angeles, CA

  Since co-founding E3 Advisors in 2011, Ms. Freitag and E3 have provided federal and state receivership, trustee and advisory services for more than 80 projects located throughout the United States. Such projects represent various asset classes including retail, hospitality, multi-family and single-family residential, assisted-living facilities, quick-service restaurants, industrial facilities, and raw land. Ms. Freitag has served as Receiver for retail assets alone exceeding $300 million of asset value. She has also served as Monitor and Receiver in several United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Trade Commission and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau cases exceeding $650 million of fraudulent activity.
  Prior to founding E3 Advisors, Ms. Freitag served as Managing Director and Consultant for Douglas Wilson Companies for nearly nine (9) years. Ms. Freitag provided project management, asset management, property management, accounting, forensic accounting, financial analysis, and homeowner’s association services for dozens of clients, real estate assets and operating businesses throughout the United States. She provided project management services for receivership assets exceeding $400 million of asset value and managed the disposition of nearly $100 million worth of retail and operating business assets.
  Before joining Douglas Wilson Companies, she worked as an Investment Manager for Brio Investment Group, where she managed and analyzed a multi-million dollar private investment portfolio, which primarily included multi-family, boutique hotel and private equity assets.
  Ms. Freitag holds a MS in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from San Diego State University, a BS in Accounting from Northwestern Oklahoma State University, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude, and a Master Certificate in Essentials of Hospitality Management from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration.

• Maria Yip (Producer) Yip Associates | Miami, FL
  

  Maria Yip (Producer)

  Yip Associates | Miami, FL

  Maria M. Yip is the founder and managing partner of YIP ASSOCIATES, a firm specializing in forensic accounting, financial investigations, receiverships and other fiduciary roles, bankruptcy related matters and valuations. Ms. Yip also serves as the firm’s Fiduciary Services Practice Leader. The firm serves its clients from offices in Florida, New York and New Jersey. Ms. Yip has previously worked for Price Waterhouse, Arthur Andersen, and led the forensic accounting practice for Florida as a partner at Grant Thornton prior to founding Yip Associates in 2008. Yip Associates is certified as a minority-owned and women-owned firm (M/WBE).

  Ms. Yip is a Florida certified public accountant (CPA), certified fraud examiner (CFE), certified insolvency and restructuring advisor (CIRA) and is certified in financial forensics (CFF).

  Ms. Yip is a sitting United States Bankruptcy Panel Trustee and Subchapter V Trustee in the Southern District of Florida. She also serves as a court-appointed receiver, examiner, liquidating trustee, custodian and assignee for the benefit of creditors. Ms. Yip has significant experience marshaling and securing assets and identifying potential causes of action to provide recoveries for creditors and investors. Ms. Yip has also served as accountant and financial advisor to receivers appointed in numerous SEC, CFTC and FTC matters.

  Ms. Yip has more than 25 years of experience serving as a forensic accountant and expert witness. Clients include attorneys, receivers, bankruptcy trustees and governmental agencies. She regularly serves as an expert witness in Federal and State court, international litigation and arbitration matters.

• Mark Dottore Dottore Companies LLC | Cleveland, OH
  

  Mark Dottore

  Dottore Companies LLC | Cleveland, OH

  Mark’s more than 30 years of management, business and financial experience are regularly applied in crisis situations which complement a value added approach focusing on efficiency and asset preservation. As a gifted negotiator, mediator and advisor, Mark’s talents are often sought by business, civic and political organizations.

  Mark Dottore holds an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Myers University, and is a professional member of the Northeast Ohio Network of International Women’s Insolvency and Restructuring Confederation, the National Association of Federal Equity Receivers, the Turnaround Management Association, and Community Mediation Services of Central Ohio.

  Mark has been appointed as receiver in over 100 cases ranging from local residents facing personal crises to multi-layered cases reaching international proportions. Mark engages each case and client with diligence and personal care, whether it can be resolved in days or a decade.

  Mark was recently selected as Master Commissioner, United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, appointed by the Chief Judge of the United States District Court as Representative of the Court for a new federal foreclosure program and appointed to the Magistrate Selection and Reappointment Commission of United States District Court.

• Melanie Damian (Producer) Damian & Valori, LLP | Culmo Trial Attorneys | Miami, FL
  

  Melanie Damian (Producer)

  Damian & Valori, LLP | Culmo Trial Attorneys | Miami, FL

  Ms. Damian represents public and private companies and individuals in a variety of complex business and securities litigation. She regularly serves as court-appointed Federal Equity Receiver, Special Monitor, and distribution Agent, and also serves as Receiver and Monitor in state court matters. Ms. Damian also serves as counsel to Receivers serving in both state and federal court. She counsels companies on corporate governance matters and serves as counsel to special litigation committees performing internal investigations in response to shareholder derivative demands. She also represents officers and directors in corporate and securities litigation matters, and various partners or members in closely held “business divorce” matters.
  Ms. Damian is a Past Chair of the Business Law Section of The Florida Bar, President of the International Women’s Forum (IWF) Florida Chapter. And, current Chair of the NAFER Regulatory Outreach Committee.

• Melanie L. Cyganowski Otterbourg PC | New York, NY
  

  Melanie L. Cyganowski

  Otterbourg PC | New York, NY

  Former Chief Bankruptcy Judge Melanie L. Cyganowski joined Otterbourg P.C. as a partner in 2008, after serving a full 14-year term as a Bankruptcy Judge in the Eastern District of New York. From November 29, 2005 through the end of her term, she was the Court’s Chief Judge. After graduating magna cum laude from the School of Law at the State University of New York at Buffalo, Melanie served as a law clerk to the late Hon. Charles L. Brieant, former Chief Judge in the Southern District of New York. Following her clerkship, Melanie was a litigator at Sullivan & Cromwell, and Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy.
  Melanie presently chairs Otterbourg’s Bankruptcy practice. She was recently appointed Receiver in SEC v. Platinum Partners, an alleged billion dollar fraud. She has also represented Official Committees of Unsecured Creditors in bankruptcy cases, including Escada and Quirky. Her other fiduciary appointments include (a) Chief Restructuring Officer and Temporary Operator of Brooklyn’s Interfaith Medical Center, a 287 bed acute care teaching hospital with ambulatory and out-patients clinics in the surrounding Bed-Stuy neighborhood, and (b) Patient Care Ombudsman in Orianna Health Systems, 21st Century Oncology and California Proton. Melanie has also represented the FDIC as Receiver in various bankruptcy cases; has served as the Auditor in connection with a consent judgment in a national matter; and is an arbitrator/mediator in numerous disputes, including Madoff, Lehman, Quebecor and Metaldyne. Last fall she mediated a dispute involving 19 State Attorney Generals and the Chapter 7 Trustee in ITT involving the issue of retention of student records.
  In 2014, Melanie was inducted as a Fellow into the American College of Bankruptcy. An author of numerous articles, she sits on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Norton Journal of Bankruptcy Practice & Law. Melanie is also a Fellow of the American and New York State Bar Foundations, and an adjunct professor of law at St. John’s University School of Law.

• Michael Napoli Akerman LLP | Dallas, TX
  

  Michael Napoli

  Akerman LLP | Dallas, TX

  As a court-appointed receiver and counsel to receivers and trustees, Michael Napoli works to maximize the value of insolvent entities in order to make a fair and equitable distribution to creditors. His experience covers a variety of industries with an emphasis on life settlements. Outside of the insolvency arena, Michael protects individuals and companies facing lawsuits. He works closely with his clients to create practical, business solutions to litigation problems. Representing both plaintiffs and defendants, Michael works on a wide variety of cases including securities, commercial, and products liability matters.
  Michael maintains an active pro bono practice involving, among other things, assisting parents in obtaining the return of their children under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

• Naim Surgeon Akerman LLP | Fort Lauderdale, FL
  

  Naim Surgeon

  Akerman LLP | Fort Lauderdale, FL

  Naim Surgeon is an experienced first chair trial lawyer, and serves as chief counsel in several federal equity receivership matters. Naim also serves as Special Master in a Products Liability MDL pending in the Southern District of Florida. Recognized by Super Lawyers as a Rising Star, Naim maintains a nationwide federal and state litigation practice representing clients in class action defense, securities and investment-related fraud, intellectual property matters, antitrust claims, higher education litigation, labor and employment defense, and defense of Helms-Burton Title III claims. Naim has also arbitrated general business disputes before JAMS, the AAA, and the ICC. As chief counsel to a Federal Equity Receiver, Naim has worked on behalf of the Receiver to unravel high-profile investor fraud, EB-5 fraud, and obtain successful recoveries on behalf of the receivership estate and those victimized by fraud. Naim manages all aspects of the administration of the receivership estate along with coordinating matters concerning the estate with Federal agencies and the District Court.

• Paula Durham J.S. Held LLC | Phoenix, AZ
  

  Paula Durham

  J.S. Held LLC | Phoenix, AZ

  Ms. Durham has over 20 years of experience in receivership management, fraud and FCPA investigations, regulatory compliance, and operations. Ms. Durham has managed receiverships in regulatory matters brought by the FTC, as well as numerous state court receiverships. In addition, Ms. Durham has assisted multiple clients in analyzing and responding to inquiries from federal, state, and local regulatory agencies related to, among other things, contracting practices (including FCPA and ITAR inquiries), billing practices and rates, and incurred cost submissions.
  In addition to her work in compliance and receivership matters, Ms. Durham has extensive experience in the cannabis industry, having served as the Director of Operations and Compliance for a vertically integrated cannabis enterprise. Her cannabis experience also includes management of multiple receiverships involving cannabis operators and other cannabis related businesses.

• Peter Zlotnick Moritt Hock & Hamroff LLP | New York, NY
  

  Peter Zlotnick

  Moritt Hock & Hamroff LLP | New York, NY

  Peter B. Zlotnick is a Partner in the firm’s Litigation Practice Group and Co-Chair of its Real Estate Condominium and Cooperative Practice Group. Practicing for more than 25 years, Mr. Zlotnick focuses his practice on real estate matters and complex construction defect litigation as well as complex commercial and healthcare disputes. His clients include commercial and residential real estate developers, co-op and condominium boards, design professionals, for-profit and not-for-profit business entities, private equity firms and high net worth individuals. He also litigates corporate governance, business torts, tax, bankruptcy and other types of business disputes. In addition, Mr. Zlotnick serves as a federal equity receiver and public fiduciary in consumer fraud and related federal equity receiverships brought by the Federal Trade Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and other federal regulatory agencies.
  In 2015, Mr. Zlotnick was selected to serve as a member of the Fourth cohort of the Berrie Fellows Leadership Program (BFLP) affiliated with the Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and with the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey. The highly-selective, eighteen-month program is dedicated to developing Fellows’ leadership and organizational skills to be applied to their community, religious and professional organizations.

• Richard Foelber CFTC, Office of Cooperative Enforcement | Washington, DC
  

  Richard Foelber

  CFTC, Office of Cooperative Enforcement | Washington, DC

  Richard Foelber currently holds the position of Chief of the Office of Cooperative Enforcement at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Mr. Foelber engages in joint prosecutions involving unlawful derivatives and securities practices with other federal and state criminal and civil agencies. In connection with these prosecutions, Mr. Foelber has served as lead trial counsel in CFTC civil prosecutions and as a Special Appointed Assistant U.S. Attorney in related federal criminal cases. Mr. Foelber previously served as Chief Trial Attorney in the CFTC’s Division of Enforcement and Counsel to the Chairman of the CFTC. He also served as a Special Counsel in the U.S. Senate where he worked on legislation reforming the laws governing the financial markets. Prior to joining the CFTC, Mr. Foelber engaged in financial litigation and appellate practice with a law firm in Chicago.

• Robert Mosier (Producer) Mosier & Company, Inc. | Costa Mesa, CA
  

  Robert Mosier (Producer)

  Mosier & Company, Inc. | Costa Mesa, CA

  Robert P. Mosier is President and Chief Executive Officer of Mosier & Company. His specialty since 1974 has been turnarounds and dissolutions. Total Court assignments exceed 600 cases in a variety of capacities ranging from President and CEO, Chief Responsible Officer, Receiver, Trustee, Examiner, Examiner with Expanded Powers, and Provisional Director. He has served as the Court’s own Referee, Special Master, and Expert Witness.

  Mr. Mosier has also served as a court-approved President & CEO of two Chapter 11 Debtors. Mr. Mosier is also a frequent lecturer on the subject of Receivership and insolvency.

• Ron Peterson Jenner & Block LLP | Chicago, IL
  

  Ron Peterson

  Jenner & Block LLP | Chicago, IL

  RONALD R. PETERSON is a Partner in the law firm of Jenner & Block LLP in Chicago, Illinois. He concentrates his practice in the areas of commercial, insolvency and bankruptcy law. Mr. Peterson has presided over numerous complex commercial cases, including Stotler & Co., the country’s 10th largest commodities house, and Lancelot Investors Fund, L.P., a $1.7 billion Ponzi scheme. He is the Chairman of the Creditors’ Committee in Thomas J. Petters, a $3.5 billion Ponzi scheme. Mr. Peterson served as the examiner in the chapter 11 case of Robert Lund, a large real estate developer.
  Mr. Peterson has been a member of the panel of Chapter 7 Trustees for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, since 1987. He is the immediate past President of the National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees.
  Mr. Peterson is a fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute. He is a member of the Business Bankruptcy Committee of the Business Law Section and the Bankruptcy Litigation Committee of the Litigation Section of the American Bar Association. He is a member of the International Association of Restructuring, Insolvency & Bankruptcy Professionals and the Commercial Law League of America. In 2014, the Commercial Law League of America awarded Mr. Peterson the Lawrence P. King Award.

• Rosemary Hollinger Partner Up LLC | Barrington Hills, IL
  

  Rosemary Hollinger

  Partner Up LLC | Barrington Hills, IL

  She graduated from Georgetown University Law Center and practiced law for over 30 years as a legal aid attorney, an associate in a law firm and finally as an enforcement attorney and manager for the US government. Rosemary started at the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission as a trial attorney and eventually headed the Enforcement Division in the Chicago Regional Office for 16 years and served as the Chicago Regional Administrator for 9 years. During her time at the CFTC she personally handled numerous Ponzi scheme and other retail fraud cases. She has spoken at several international regulator conferences on the investigation and prosecution of commodity fraud and taught regulators in Thailand, Jamaica, Ethiopia, Taiwan, Chile and Columbia. More recently, she has become an International Coach Federation associate certified coach, and she is currently in training to become a certified ADHD coach. Rosemary is married, has 3 sons and enjoys skiing, hiking, biking, photography and travel.

• Shawn Christianson Buchalter Nemer, A Professional Law Corporation | San Francisco, CA
  

  Shawn Christianson

  Buchalter Nemer, A Professional Law Corporation | San Francisco, CA

  Shawn M. Christianson focuses her practice on insolvency, receiverships, and complex litigation with an emphasis on technology related issues. She represents financial institutions, secured and unsecured creditors, technology companies, receivers, and bankruptcy trustees. Her practice spans the state, federal and bankruptcy courts, as well as out of court proceedings and mediation. She argued, at every level from the trial court through the Ninth Circuit, a seminal case on the topic of perfection of security interests in unregistered copyrights, In re: World Auxiliary Power.

• Tara Norgard Carlson Caspers | Minneapolis, MN
  

  Tara Norgard

  Carlson Caspers | Minneapolis, MN

  Drawing on her extensive experience in complex litigation, technology, and business, Tara Norgard helps her clients leverage and defend their intellectual property inside and outside the courtroom. With a keen strategic view, and relentless attention to details that matter, Tara is a powerful advocate for each client she serves.
  Tara focuses on intellectual property and high-stakes business litigation. She has secured victories in district and appellate courts and arbitrations across the country, and negotiated multimillion-dollar, client-favorable settlements in matters involving a wide spectrum of technologies, including medical devices, financial systems, radiation therapy systems, dental treatments, glass coatings, and consumer goods.
  Tara serves as general counsel for the Receiver in the $190 million Trevor Cook Ponzi scheme, the second-largest fraud in Minnesota history, where she is leading the effort to repatriate assets from around the globe that were stolen under the guise of an international investment program.1 She also served as general counsel in the Inter-Mark receivership, where she oversaw the return of $26 million to individuals around the world.
  Tara brings first-hand business experience to every matter she handles, having worked for a global consulting firm before becoming a lawyer. Prior to joining Carlson Caspers, Tara clerked for the Honorable Donald P. Lay of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and practiced with Sidley, an international law firm headquartered in Chicago.

• Ted Fates (Producer) Allen Matkins | San Diego, CA
  

  Ted Fates (Producer)

  Allen Matkins | San Diego, CA

  Ted Fates is a partner in the San Diego office of Allen Matkins, a preeminent full-service business and real estate law firm with more than 200 attorneys throughout five offices in California. Ted has extensive expertise in handling all aspects of equity receiverships initiated by federal regulatory agencies, including pursuing litigation against professionals, financial institutions, and recipients of profits from fraudulent schemes. His clients include equity receivers appointed for various securities trading and investment firms, real estate and healthcare industry lenders, internet-based investment programs, and Ponzi schemes. Collectively, these entities raised more than $3.5 billion from their participants. His clients also include state court receivers appointed to manage or sell real estate and other business assets. In equity receiverships, Ted’s work often involves selling unique and complex assets—from movie rights, intellectual property, and luxury real estate, yachts, and cars to non-traditional manufacturing facilities and business operations. He handles negotiations, documents deals, and obtains court approval of sale transactions and advises on related contract and insurance coverage issues. Ted has handled cases involving tens of thousands of victim claims, establishing an orderly, efficient process for validating claims and resolving claim disputes, as well as obtaining court approval of distribution plans tailored to the unique equities of the case.

• Thomas Seaman Thomas Seaman Company | Irvine, CA
  

  Thomas Seaman

  Thomas Seaman Company | Irvine, CA

  Thomas A. Seaman is Principal and sole shareholder of Thomas Seaman Company, a California corporation. Thomas Seaman Company provides business management services in civil matters which require a neutral third party to serve as receiver, referee, provisional director, Special Master, or administrator. Thomas Seaman Company was formed in 1996 and has the capability to manage and administer a broad range of asset classes including operating companies, financial assets, real property and construction projects.
  Mr. Seaman has 40 years of business experience both in private industry and as a court appointed fiduciary. Mr. Seaman is a former CFO and Controller, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). Mr. Seaman entered the insolvency arena in 1989 and has served as receiver in approximately 250 matters since formation of Thomas Seaman Company. He has operated distressed businesses that were the subject of a State Court Receivership, Chapter 11 Bankruptcy estate, Federal regulatory action, partnership dispute, partition action, dissolution proceeding, probate matter, or in other litigation requiring a fiduciary.
  Thomas Seaman Company has operated companies in numerous industries including manufacturing, distribution, construction, healthcare, Assisted Living, service, restaurant, hospitality and others. Mr. Seaman is experienced at seizing assets, stabilizing operations, and formulating & implementing business solutions.