It has been a productive year for the Commercial Fraud Committee. Our committee published two newsletters, containing six articles, and a third newsletter is currently in the works. A webinar is also planned for 2020. Here are a few highlights of our committee’s activities in 2019, as well as our upcoming plans for the new year:
Committee Panel and Networking Event at the 2019 Annual Spring Meeting
Our Committee paired with the International Committee and presented a well-received panel entitled “How to Find Hidden Foreign Assets Here and There.” The panel members included Patricia A. Redmond (Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson), Ryan Blackney (Freeborn & Peters, LLP), Adam Crane (HSM Chambers) and Ian De Witt (Tanner DeWitt). The panel explored the challenges with foreign asset discovery in chapter 15 proceedings, the rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 2004 and the application of the Hague Convention.
The Commercial Fraud Committee joined with the Asset Sales Committee and hosted a networking event at the Baby Wale.
Networking Event at the Westbrook Bankruptcy Conference
Our Committee hosted a committee networking event at the Westbrook Bankruptcy Conference in Austin, TX at the Four Seasons lobby bar.
Committee Panel and Networking Events at the Winter Leadership Conference
Our Committee teamed up with the real estate committee to present “Ponzi Schemes, EB-5 Schemes and Other Schemes Involving Real Estate” at the Winter Leadership Conference in December. The panelists included Michael Deeba (Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP) Steven M. Hartman (Freeborn & Peters, LLP), Cynthia Nelson (FTI Consulting, Inc.), Mark Pfeiffer (Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC), Alan T. Simpson (U.S. Attorney’s Office Kansas City). The panel discussed the various forms of fraudulent schemes involving real estate pre-bankruptcy and post-bankruptcy, how to detect irregularities using accounting and forensic tools and how to safeguard from these schemes.
The Committee also hosted a networking event at the Winter Leadership Conference.
Pursuing and Proving Fraud When Individual Debtors Hide their Business Assets Webinar – January 2020
The Commercial Fraud Committee will host a webinar on January 14, 2020 with a panel of experts discussing “Pursuing and Proving Fraud When Individual Debtors Hide their Business Assets.” The panelists include Scott Brown (Bast Amron) Grace Robson (Markowtiz Ringel Trusty & Hartog), Peter Davis (Simon Consulting), and Joe Wielebinski (Winstead, PC).
Get Involved!
We invite our committee members to get involved and contribute to our success.
To that end, we encourage you to write articles for our quarterly newsletters. Please contact Michael Napoli at Michael.napoli@akerman.com for more information.
We will be planning additional webinars in 2020. Please let us know if you are interested in participating in a webinar. Contact Adam Crane for more information at acrane@hsmoffice.com.
Committee members can provide written analysis and commentary to our members via the Listserv. We encourage our members to post updates regarding new cases and other issues to our Listserv. Please contact Ginny Tate at gtate@elkpt.com for more information if you have an update or commentary to post.
2019 Commercial Fraud Committee Leadership
Ryan W. Blackney
Co-Chair
Freeborn & Peters, LLP
Chicago
Melissa Davis
Co-Chair
KapilaMukamal, LLP
Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Nathaniel J. Palmer
Membership Relations Director
Reid Collins & Tsai, LLP
Austin, Tex.
Michael D. Napoli
Newsletter Editor
Akerman, LLP
Dallas, Tex.
Adam D. Crane
Special Projects Leader
HSM Chambers
George Town, Grand Cayman