Banking - Banks (General) Expert Witnesses

MCS Associates is a nationally recognized consulting group that has provided financial, operations and regulatory/compliance consulting services nationwide to financial institutions, insurance companies and regulatory agencies as well as real estate and financial services organizations for over 40 years. Expert Witness and Litigation Consulting are a primary focus of our services. We undertake expert witness assignments throughout the United States and our clients include several hundred leading law firms around the country, working on behalf of both plaintiff and defendant financial institutions, borrowers, depositors, investors, developers, insurance companies and their insured, securities/insurance/real estate brokers/agents, regulators and government agencies, and individuals. 

Together with MCS Associates’ specialized resources in banking, financial services and real estate, we also draw on key strategic alliances in insurance, economics, academia and the securities industry to meet a wide range of expert witness needs. Our litigation experts include experienced bankers, lenders, consultants, regulators, managers, brokers & agents in insurance, real estate, and securities; insurance claims and underwriting managers; economists, accountants, appraisers, real estate analysts, and academics. 

Areas of Expertise Include:

• Banking Operations/Administration
• Check Fraud
• Lending Policies, Custom and Practice
• Loan Underwriting & Credit Administration
• Loan Securitizations & Servicing
• Bankruptcy, Foreclosures and Workouts
• Trust & Fiduciary Issues / Operations
• Securities Brokerage & Investments
• Valuations & Damages Analysis
• Forensic Accounting
• Employment / Compensation
• Real Estate Brokerage & Management
• Title Insurance & Escrow
• Real Estate Appraisal & Transactions
• Insurance Industry Custom & Practice
• Insurance Coverages / Claims Handling
• Insurance Bad Faith

Dr. Richard D. Bateson: Expert in Quantitative Finance, AI, and Complex Financial Markets

Dr. Richard D. Bateson is a preeminent authority on quantitative finance, artificial intelligence (AI), and systematic trading. With a unique career spanning senior hedge fund leadership and a foundational doctorate in Physics from Cambridge, he provides expert witness testimony on technically complex financial disputes.

Core Expert Specialisms:

• AI & Systematic Trading: Proprietary technology, strategy development, and performance of algorithmic and machine learning systems. Dr. Bateson provides forensic analysis of proprietary algorithms and source code to compare and evaluate investment strategies.
• Hedge Fund & Investment Management: Governance, trading practices, valuation, and institutional standards of care.
• Financial Derivatives & Structured Products: Pricing, risk management, and market practice across asset classes.
• Complex Market Misconduct: Analysis of practices in algorithmic trading, alternative data usage, and market manipulation. 

Expert Witness Experience:

Instructed as an expert since 2017 on landmark UK and US cases, including:

• Bridgewater Associates v. Tekmerion (proprietary technology misappropriation).
• The UK's first major AI/machine learning case (The Lawyer's Top 20 Cases of 2020).
• Engaged by UBS/Credit Suisse as claimant in Australian Federal Court litigation against insurers and Marsh arising from the Greensill collapse, resulting in an approximately US$800 million settlement for UBS.
• Further instructions on hedge fund IP, valuation, and shareholder disputes.

Professional Background:

Founder & CEO of Bateson Asset Management (FCA-regulated AIFM). Former Head of the $5bn AHL Dimension fund (Man Group), Managing Director at RBC, and CEO of $2bn hedge fund MGIM. Holds a Ph.D. in Physics from Cambridge University.
 
Publications & Authority:

Author of "Quantitative Hedge Funds" (World Scientific, 2022) and the best-selling textbook "Financial Derivative Investments" (Imperial College Press, 2011). Also authored over 25 peer-reviewed papers in top physics journals during his prior research career.

Dr. Bateson is currently preparing an updated edition of "Quantitative Hedge Funds" and is under commission to author a new book on bonds and bond markets, further extending his published authority in finance. 

Coleman & Horowitt, LLP is a Civil Litigation and Transactions Firm. It provides a wide variety of services to businesses and individuals through its two departments. By concentrating in these areas, members of the firm have become exceptionally proficient in dealing with all phases of preventive law, litigation, alternative dispute resolution and the negotiation and preparation of documentation to meet the needs of today's businesses. The firm has a varied client base ranging from small family operations to large, publicly traded corporations.

Darryl Horowitt, Esq. has conducted all phases of litigation in the areas of Banking, Business Disputes, Securities Fraud (class action and individual), Construction, Real Estate, Environmental, Casualty Insurance Defense, Personal Injury and Commercial Collections, from initial client contact to settlement, mediation, arbitration and trial - court and jury (State and Federal Court) and administrative proceedings (before the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Agriculture, National Labor Relations Board, California Department of Fair Housing and Employment, Worker's Compensation Appeals Board and Agricultural Labor Relations Board).

Mr. Horowitt has also assisted in transactions, including incorporation, purchase and sale agreements, secured and unsecured transactions, and employment contracts. In the field of alternative dispute resolution, he has served as an arbitrator (for the American Arbitration Association, NASD Regulation, Inc., Better Business Bureau Dispute Resolution Center, and the Fresno and Madera County Superior Courts), mediator (privately and for the Better Business Bureau Dispute Resolution Center), special master (for Judge James Ware, United States District Court, Northern District of California) and judge pro tem (Fresno County Courts).

Firm's Areas of Practice Include

Banking

Commercial Real Estate

Business

Casualty Insurance Defense

Construction Litigation and Transactions

Insurance Coverage

Environmental Law

Commercial Collections

Personal Injury Litigation

Alternative Dispute Resolution (mediation, arbitration and mini-trials)

Estate / Tax Planning

David L. Peterson is a nationally recognized expert witness in electronic banking and payments, with more than 40 years of experience across banking technology, payments, internet banking and correspondent banking. He is Chief Innovation Officer of First National Bankers Bank in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a bankers' bank serving more than 650 community banks across the Southeast, and Chief Strategic Officer of i7strategies, providing expert witness services in electronic banking and payments litigation.

His career spans community bank operations, correspondent banking and fintech leadership, including President of U.S. Dataworks, founder of Goldleaf Technologies, co-founder of Treev, and former Board Chairman of PaymentsFirst.

Peterson has experience with expert reports, depositions and trial testimony. He is also an international keynote speaker, bestselling author of Grounded (2016), and faculty at the Graduate Schools of Banking at LSU and Colorado.

Areas of Specialization:

View David Peterson's Consulting Profile.

Jay Hibert was in the Commercial Banking Industry for over 25 years before leaving to form his own company, a real estate lending and consulting company. The company provides services to banks, non-banks, and individuals in need of creative financing solutions.  Still an ACTIVE lender in the industry, Jay stays updated on current customs and practices and has transacted hundreds of real estate and non-real estate loan negotiations in times of economic growth as well as downturns in the economy. His extensive credit background arms him with the understanding of how banks and other lenders operate internally.  

Litigation Experience - Mr. Hibert has been providing expert witness and consulting services since 2010. He has been designated over 360 times as an expert in 27 different states concerning matters relating to commercial lending, real estate, construction finance, SBA loans, brokerage, hard money loan expert and investment issues. His experience includes both Federal and State court cases where he has provided deposition testimony, trial testimony and arbitration testimony. 

Jay is a licensed Real Estate Broker (Cal DRE #01523) and for 10 years his company was a California Finance Lender and Broker through the California Department of Business Oversight. He is experienced in trial and deposition testimony and his services are available to counsel representing both Plaintiff and Defense. 

Key areas of expertise in litigation work include:

• SBA Real Estate Loans
• Hard Money Loans
• Lending Policies, Custom and Practice/Lender Liability
• Broker Standards of Care and Fiduciary Responsibility
• Loan Underwriting and Credit Administration
• Loan Process and Bank Loan Restructure/Workout Process
• Note Valuations/Collateral Review
• Litigation and Discovery Consulting
• Banking Operations/Administration
• Expert reports adherent to Federal Rule 26
• Hard Money Lending
• SBA Lending
• Loan Syndication/Secondary Market Loan Sales
• Title Insurance Cases
• Private Money Lending
• Predatory Lending
• Financial Elder Abuse
• Covid Related Finance Issues

*****Experienced in trial and deposition testimony*****

View Jay Hibert's Consulting Profile.

Panorama Consulting Group specializes in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems and has multiple testifying experts for failed software litigation. This high-profile firm is called upon to investigate the feasibility of litigation, provide software expert witness testimony, and build background reporting for some of the industry’s highest-profile software lawsuits. They have worked with organizations ranging from multi-national conglomerates to boutique and large law firms, as well as state offices of the Attorney General.

As independent enterprise software experts, Panorama Consulting Group has hands-on experience with hundreds of software vendors. Their firm is not tied to a single law firm or software vendor, allowing them to focus on all types of clients and industries.

Litigation Support: The experts at Panorama Consulting Group work for both plaintiffs and defendants, software vendors and system integrators, and their customers. Their differentiator is using a team-based approach to provide expertise beyond just the testifying expert, which is cost-effective and efficient for their clients. They have multiple software expert witnesses available for provision of reports, depositions, and testimonies.

Allegations Addressed:

View Panorama Consulting Group's Consulting Profile.

Greg Litster has over 18 years of experience in the Banking Industry specializing in Check Fraud Prevention, High-Security Checks, and Expert Witness Services. With his vast knowledge and expertise in the area of fraud, garnered from his experience in developing safeguards against it, Mr. Litster is well-equipped to provide Expert Witness services to organizations and attorneys for both Plaintiff and Defense. He has been retained for matters including:

CHECK FRAUD - EMBEZZLEMENT - CYBER CRIME

Background: As a Senior Vice President and head of his bank’s Financial Services Division, Mr. Litster was charged with responding to a 1990s epidemic rise in fraudulent checks hitting his bank's corporate customers’ accounts. He established stronger internal controls and helped create fraud prevention products, including a completely new type of check called the SAFECheck. Mr. Litster organized the SAFEChecks Division within the bank and over the next three years, fraud losses and attempts dropped by 95%. 

Mr. Litster acquired the SAFEChecks Division from the bank in 1997. SAFEChecks continues to be America’s leader in check fraud prevention. SAFEChecks offers many styles of high security business and personal checks, Positive Pay software, secure check writing software, envelopes, toner, and pressure seal equipment. 

Expert Witness Case Samples:

• Small Bank ($200M) v. (Top 10 bank in the USA)  This case was about a counterfeit Cashier's Check in the amount of $118,000. 
• Regional Bank ($50B) v. (Top 10 bank in the USA)  This case was about a counterfeit check in the amount of $441,000.
• Family Business v. Large Regional Bank ($225B)  This case was about an account takeover and stolen digital credentials used to wire out $860,000.
• Small Regional Bank ($4B) v. (Top 10 bank in the USA)  This case was about a counterfeit check in the amount of $232,000.
• Real Estate/Realty Company v. Large Regional Bank ($200B)  This case was about multiple unauthorized electronic transfers totaling $1.3MM initiated by hackers after obtaining an authorized user's login credentials and token code. 

View SAFEChecks Consulting Profile.

Max Holmes has over 40 years of experience as a portfolio manager, research analyst, board member, lawyer, NYU Professor and expert witness.

Max Holmes has been an Expert Witness in various Federal & State Cases including Jury Trials / AAA, FINRA, ICDR & JAMS Arbitrations / Mediations.

Since 1993, Max Holmes has been an Adjunct Professor of Finance at the Stern Graduate School of Business at New York University, teaching "Bankruptcy and Reorganization."

Max Holmes has been the Chief Investment Officer / Lead Portfolio Manager for two large hedge funds ($2.7 billion and $5.4 billion of peak assets under management) as well as a small insurance company portfolio and a small mutual fund portfolio.

Mr. Holmes has been the Chair, Chief Executive Officer and Director of a life, health and annuity insurer and reinsurer.  Mr. Holmes has been a Vice Chair and Director of a large crypto bitcoin mining company.

Mr. Holmes worked in investment banking, research, trading and capital markets at Drexel Burnham Lambert, Salomon Brothers, NatWest Markets and Royal Bank of Canada.  Since 2015, Max Holmes has been a Senior Advisor to American Industrial Partners LLC, a private equity firm with $17.8 billion of assets under management.    

Max Holmes is a lawyer (member of the NY, TX and DC bars), has served on numerous boards of directors, and has previously held FINRA licenses for securities (Series 3, 7, 9, 19, 16, 24, 56 and 63), RIA, ERISA QPAM, Federal Reserve, FDIC, insurance, mortgage origination and servicing, municipal waste, FERC, ISO, and gaming in Nevada, New York and Canada.

Mr. Holmes is a graduate of Harvard College, Columbia Law School and Columbia Business School.

Areas of Expertise:

When a dispute turns on how software was built, deployed, run, or governed, Bruce Weiner explains what the technology did, what industry standards required, and whether the two matched. In technology since 1988, he has built and run the kinds of systems he now evaluates.

Through Weiner.Net, LLC, retained in 30+ matters since 2011 (U.S. District Courts, PTAB, state courts, arbitration, administrative proceedings, and the Uber MDL No. 3084) by plaintiff and defense counsel. 10+ depositions; live testimony experience. Expert declarations cited in a published Federal Circuit opinion, cxLoyalty v. Maritz, 986 F.3d 1367 (Fed. Cir. 2021). Motion to exclude denied in the Uber MDL (PTO No. 39).

Matters span gig-economy platforms, airline and loyalty technology, e-commerce, banking and enterprise software (BPM, ERP), AI governance, source code analysis, SDLC governance, and billing. Opinions are anchored to ISO/IEC 12207, 25010, and 42001, IEEE 730, and the NIST AI RMF. Also a technical advisor in labor negotiations under NMB mediation.

Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 2012–2026: Vice President, Chief Product Owner - Markets Group, and Operating Sponsor for the Markets Transformation Program; led the Markets Group transition to ISO 20022 and developed and launched SOFR. Princeton BSE, Magna Cum Laude. Named inventor, U.S. Patent 7,203,734. Continuously federally vetted since 2012; most recently granted a Federal Top Secret Security Clearance in May 2026 (DCSA Tier 5).

Craig A. Wolson acts as a Structured Finance and Derivatives Expert Witness and Consultant. He specializes in cases involving credit default swaps (CDS), collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and other derivatives and securities.

See CV for Achievements

Areas of Expertise:

• Securitizations
• Derivatives
• Securities Law and Corporate Finance
• Loans and Credit Facilities
• Due Diligence

Richard George is a Banking Expert Witness with 30 years of experience as a Commercial Banker for a global bank with emphasis in commercial real estate underwriting.  Formerly community bank CEO. Twenty-five years as expert witness.  Have Testified at deposition and at trial more than 50 times for major law firm clients.  Have testified for both Plaintiffs and Defendants.

Ideal Client Engagement - Major law firm acting on behalf of major banks in cases involving board-level issues.