Madoff

A Miami-based international bank steered hundreds of "private" Latin American clients to invest with Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, Inc. Madoff claimed to achieve spectacular results investing in the stock market, missing almost every single market drop over nearly 20 years. Madoff was revealed to be a total fraud. Many clients of the bank, including three of mine, sued the bank for not understanding that Madoff's claims were "too good to be true."

A famous Wall Street Big Law firm represented the Bank. While most institutions in the bank settled with their former clients, not this bank. It tried to run their former "private banking" clients ragged. They dragged their feet and did everything they could to delay or prevent their own clients from getting to a trial--typical tactics designed to make their clients beg for a cheap settlement.

There were over 50 different plaintiffs represented by 9 different lawyers. The plaintiffs' lawyers chose me to be "Liaison Counsel." I was primarily responsible for developing and carrying out our legal strategy. I did everything from legal research and brief-writing to deposition-taking and -defending and to arguing in court.

After almost seven years of the Bank's delay tactics, we defeated the bank's motion for summary judgment--meaning that the bank faced jury trials in Miami. Immediately, the bank sued for peace. Every case settled.

ESM, a tiny government securities dealer in Ft. Lauderdale pulled off one of the biggest securities frauds in history with the active assistance of a partner in ESM's CPA firm, a major national firm. Cities and counties that had placed funds for safe-keeping with the securities dealer lost over $300 million.

Along with a New York law firm, I represented the CPA firm through three years of sustained investigations and litigation. The ESM fraud became national front page news.

I convinced the U.S. Attorney's Office not to indict the firm (the crooked partner pled guilty and went to prison for ten years). I convinced the Florida Board of Accountancy not to take away the firm's license, or that of a number of people at the firm who worked on the audits but did not know of their partner's participation in a fraud. I negotiated the settlement of the SEC investigation, in which the firm's ability to practice before the SEC was preserved. I helped litigate the dozens of civil actions that were settled within the firm's liability insurance.

Most importantly, the CPA firm--composed of hundreds and hundreds of dedicated accountants not involved in this fraud--survived and thrived.

Premium Sales

A father and son from Miami pulled off an elaborate fraud that promised (and seemed to deliver) 45% annual returns from expert trading in the "gray market" for grocery and beauty products. Guess what? It was another total fraud.

Investors flocked to Premium Sales from all over. One man, who came to me when the fraud was discovered, raised over $150 million to put into Premium Sales. He insisted he did not know it had been a fraud. He had seen a warehouse full of grocery items and had hired the world's biggest law firm to advise him.

I successfully steered my client through the years of investigations and litigation. He was never indicted, never sued by the SEC, and never forced to pay a penny in damages. On my insistence, the settlement that the Receiver made with the partnerships my client had created to raise the money was carefully structured to permit the partnership to sue my client's law firm for malpractice, which resulted in a $20 million settlement with that firm.

Denver International Airport-a non-fraud!

I played a lead role in convincing the SEC not to file suit over the design and construction of the Denver International Airport.

The then SEC Chairman had said that the Official Statements for the DIA were a "poster boy for municipal securities fraud." The issue was whether the airport could be opened on a timely basis and within budget, based on employing an automated baggage handling system. (The Mayor delayed the opening because the automated system didn't work as expected.)

The SEC Staff investigated the City, the County and the bond underwriters, all represented by Big Law Firms. They all pointed their fingers towards my client, the Program Manager for the project.

I rolled up my sleeves, learned the facts, and proved to the SEC Staff that the Airport could have opened on time with the backup traditional "tug-and carriage" baggage handling system, and that my client acted in total good faith in saying, two years before, that the Airport could open on time and within budget with an automated baggage system.

The result: the SEC closed the investigation. There was no enforcement action against anyone--my client, the City and County, or the underwriters.

So much for the SEC Chairman's "poster boy for municipal securities fraud"!

I represented a regional broker-dealer that was bankrupted by the clandestine, fraudulent activities of a trusted employee, the head of proprietary fixed income, who hid massive short sales to the Street by entering fictitious "contra" buy orders. The trader was convicted of fraud. The DOJ concluded that the firm was the victim of the employee's trading and no action was taken against the firm or any principal thereof by either FINRA or the SEC. I represented the firm, and then its bankruptcy trustee, in a FINRA arbitration against the firm's clearing broker. The matter was settled on a confidential basis.