Arbitration FINRA Expert Witnesses: 6

James (Jim) K. Ellis is a retired FBI Agent with more than 33 years of complex investigation experience.  He is a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), a Private Investigator, and FINRA Arbitrator. 

During his 29-year career as an FBI Agent stationed in Dallas, Texas, Mr. Ellis earned over 20 awards and commendations. He led investigations on hundreds of complex criminal violations including fraud, money laundering, violent crime, homicide and narcotics trafficking.  He served for ten years on the FBI’s highly acclaimed Evidence Response Team before retiring from the FBI on December 31, 2015.

Litigation Support - After retirement, Mr. Ellis became a Private Investigator specializing in complex fraud investigations and expert witness support for attorneys. He has participated as the lead investigator in dozens of trials at both the federal and local levels. He has years of experience actively working all stages of the litigation process. From running investigations, to the filing of a legal action, to the presentation of the matter in a trial before a jury, Mr. Ellis is exceptionally qualified to help attorneys for both plaintiff and defendant deal with the arduous tasks of preparing for litigation. He is located in Texas but is available nationwide.  

Services Include:

Areas of Expertise:

View JKE Texas Private Investigations' Consulting Profile.

Errold Moody, PhD, MSFP, LLB, has over 50 years of experience analyzing Personal Financial issues including real estate, stocks, bonds, limited partnerships, divorce, taxes, estate planning, retirement planning, ethics, social security, medicare, behavioral economics- literally all elements impacting an individual. 

Dr. Moody's current website, Financial and Economic Daily Commentary 2021, has been hailed by USA Today as, "...a high-powered personal bookmark list that spans the spectrum of the truly useful," and Forbes as a site, "...to find some great information." Dr. Moody's vast knowledge base comes from years of practice in the aforementioned fields and from having served for decades in the Instruction of:

• Licensing for Securities Licenses, (4, 7, 8, 24, 27, 52, 63, etc.);
• Real Estate courses for University of California Irvine, plus continuing education;
• Financial Planning courses for University of California at Irvine and Berkeley as well as others;
• Courses accepted by the California Bar for continuing legal education in Investing and Insurance- the first ever by a State Bar. 

Litigation Support - Dr. Moody has acted as a Securities Arbitrator for the NASD and as an Expert Witness numerous times over his career. He serves as a consultant researching and preparing reports for CPAs, attorneys, and individuals for real estate and investing and insurance issues, and has acted as a Financial Planner for individuals and businesses. 

Dr. Moody is an expert in Breach of Fiduciary Duty. His background experience allows for unparalleled skill at distinguishing the duty of a fiduciary - identifying potential Risk of Loss before purchase and then establishing how much risk the client would truly accept.

Dr. Moody cautions that the fundamentals of investing have never been taught to brokers or RIAs. He addresses this nebulous, confrontational, and error riddled element of investment and insurance risk in his three books, No Nonsense Finance, Financial Planning Fiduciary Standards under Dodd Frank, and The Failure of Securities Arbitration. 

Areas of Expertise:

"In my 30 years in the business, I have never seen an authoritative, objective, prudent expert speak so clearly on the use of insurance. What Errold can do is unique in the industry."  Steven Winks

View Dr. Errold Moody's Consulting Profile.

Donald M. May PhD, CPA, Managing Partner at DMA Economics, LLC, possesses over 30 years of Valuation and Economic Damages experience. He implements a broad range of damage analyses and valuations for clients, including billion-dollar investment funds under SEC investigation as well as multi-national firms involved in intellectual property disputes, consumers in product mislabeling cases, and small to mid-sized businesses involved in complex commercial litigation. 

Background Experience - Prior to founding DMA Economics LLC, Dr. May was Managing Director at Berkley Research Group and the Principal in charge of valuation and litigation support services for a regional accounting firm, a Managing Director for PricewaterhouseCoopers, and a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Sloan School of Management. He has performed over 200 valuations of closely held businesses across numerous industries for financial reporting and estate planning. Dr. May has been published in several distinguished academic and practitioner journals such as The Journal of Finance, The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Hedge Fund Law Review, and is currently an editorial board member of The Journal of Business Valuation and Economic Loss Analysis. 

Litigation Support - Dr. May is a world class expert in the Valuation of Damages. Dr. May has prepared expert reports and testified in federal and state courts as well as AAA, JAMS, and FINRA arbitration hearings, and has also effectively communicated as an expert witness testifier and consultant in several multi-million dollar cases. 

Recent Litigation Matters:

• Misrepresentations in Leveraged Buyout (“LBO”) Financing Practices
• Theft of Trade Secrets, Trade Dress, and Intellectual Property
• Food Product Mislabeling
• Securities Fraud Under SEC Section 10b-5 and Section 11
• Accounting Misstatements in Public and Private Company Acquisitions
• Lost Profits and Lost Enterprise Value Associated with Product Defects and Breach of Contract

View DMA Economics' Consulting Profile.

Frank Carr has extensive background and experience as an Investment Industry Employment and Compensation Expert Witness, especially Investment Management Firms, Mutual Funds, Hedge Funds, Wealth Managers, and Broker-Dealers. Mr. Carr is a former corporate banker, investment firm Chief Financial Officer and a 20 year veteran of executive search for the Investment Management industry. He has written articles for and has been frequently quoted by publications such as Bloomberg News, CNN Money, Fund Fire, Ignites, Absolute Return, Hedge Fund Alert, and Hedge Fund Manager Week. Prior to entering the executive search field, he was the Chief Financial Officer of a Connecticut-based hedge fund and Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA). Mr. Carr started his career in commercial bank lending, initially with Citigroup in their Wall Street Commodities division and later specialized in financing independent feature film producers, TV producers, and television station owners on behalf of European American Bank in New York. 

Litigation Support - Frank Carr is an Investment Industry Employment and Compensation Expert Witness who has been retained by both plaintiffs and defendants for American Arbitration Association, JAMS and FINRA arbitration, mediation, and federal court litigation. Mr. Carr has over 30 years of experience in Financial Services, Investment Management, and Banking and his areas of coverage include Traditional and Alternative Investments – Equities, Fixed Income, Mutual Funds, Hedge Funds, Private Equity, and Managed Futures. Specialist in Wall Street Divorce. 

Areas of Expertise:

Prior Expert Witness Assignments:

• Represented a hedge fund portfolio manager as an expert rebuttal witness in a high profile hedge fund employment/compensation lawsuit. Prepared a rebuttal opinion letter submitted to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
• Represented a $12 billion Texas-based SEC Registered Investment Adviser and leading global alternative credit manager in a JAMS arbitration regarding a terminated employee. Prepared a rebuttal expert witness report and provided live testimony at the JAMS arbitration hearing.
• Represented a financial advisor in a FINRA arbitration against one of the top 5 U.S. wealth management firms. The scope of the opinion included projected career advancement, compensation analysis and calculation of lost earnings.
• Represented a portfolio manager/ investment analyst in a wrongful termination action against one of the largest U.S. Broker-Dealers with over $600 billion in assets. The scope of the opinion included projected career advancement and compensation analysis. Prepared an expert witness report and provided live testimony at the FINRA arbitration hearing.

Education - Mr. Carr is a graduate of Williams College where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Economy. He completed the Management Training Program at Citigroup in New York, including courses in accounting, finance, and capital markets. He has previously held FINRA licenses, Series 3, 6, and 63 and has completed Level I of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) program.

View Frank Carr's Consultant Profile.

John T. Foster is the President and CEO of Bedford and Main Financial Consulting, which provides specialized consulting services primarily for broker-dealers and RIAs. Bedford and Main is listed in the FINRA Compliance Vendor Directory. 

Mr. Foster calls upon his in-depth knowledge of broker-dealer management, operations and compliance to offer expert opinions and testimony. He has testified for both sides of the legal table in civil cases and FINRA arbitrations, promoting high standards of fairness for broker-dealers. 

Mr. Foster specializes in clearing services and industry infrastructure litigation, along with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) issues for broker-dealers. Prior to founding Bedford and Main in 2011, he worked for 13 years in level positions for a large, multi-national clearing firm, allowing him to develop expertise with foreign accounts and anti-money laundering issues. He later served as the President/CEO of an independent broker-dealer, where he was responsible for a retail-based business and online brokerage services. The experience provided John with a uniquely relevant understanding of core SEC and FINRA compliance issues, such as suitability, supervision, senior issues, churning, and written supervisory procedures. He is proficient in matters related to client and firm interactions with both Financial Advisors and Online firms.

Advantages of our litigation services:

• Senior Level Experience - Decades of diverse high-ranking management experience in the broker-dealer industry.
• Previously held Series, 3,7,24, 27, 63.
• Still Actively Engaged – John's expert witness business is a natural extension of his core consulting services. He is a CAMS Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist who annually conducts many independent AML reviews. John is also certified as a FINRA Dispute Resolution Arbitrator

- It would not be possible to hold to our standards of supporting the industry if we were not selective as to specific issues and our ability to ethically provide an expert opinion.

Areas of Expertise:

View John T. Foster's Consulting Profile.

Bob Lawson,  AIF®, CFE®, MRFC®, LUTCF®, is a Securities & FINRA Expert Witness retained for FINRA arbitration, mediation, and federal/civil court litigation. Mr. Lawson possesses over 35 years of experience within the securities and insurance industries. In 1988, Mr. Lawson founded Barrington Capital Management, Inc., a Registered Investment Advisory firm and Insurance Agency, and currently serves as the Managing Principal of Barrington Financial Consulting Group, Inc, a 12-person Securities Litigation and Consulting Expert firm.

In addition, Mr. Lawson serves as a FINRA Mediator and presides as a FINRA & NFA Dispute Resolution Chairman for disputes concerning investors, financial services professionals, broker-dealers, and dually-registered investment advisers. Claims often arise regarding breach of fiduciary duties, securities fraud, employment disputes, conflicts of interest, churning, unsuitable investments, and failure to supervise, among others. Mr. Lawson also serves as a public mediator and is a Qualified Neutral under Minnesota Rule 114 of Standard Practice in Mediation and Arbitration. His breadth of experience includes managing and supervising FINRA broker-dealer branch offices as a Registered Securities Principal, Options Principal, and Chief Compliance Officer.

Mr. Lawson also has considerable experience with insurance products including variable annuities, fixed and indexed annuities, long term care, and life insurance. Mr. Lawson possesses numerous accolades and is an Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIF®), Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE®), Master Registered Financial Consultant (MRFC), and a Life Underwriter Training Council Fellow (LUTCF®).

Retaining Mr. Lawson as an Expert Witness and Litigation Consultant will clarify and address relevant issues pertaining to your case from an insider's point of view. Upon a thorough examination and analysis of the case material, Mr. Lawson’s conclusions and opinions are impartial, objective, and predicated upon years of industry expertise and experience. Expert testimony and reports are supported by thorough and detailed research through case-specific analysis.

Bob is active in the following organizations:  Vice-Chairman - Master Registered Financial Consultants |  Mentorship and Practice Management Chair - Securities Experts Roundtable | Twin Cities Certified Fraud Examiners Association, Membership Chair - Minnesota State Bar Association ADR Section

Areas of Expertise:

• FINRA Expert Witness
• Securities Expert Witness
• FINRA Arbitration
• Breach of Fiduciary Duty
• Liability Expert
• Promissory Notes
• Securities Fraud Investigations
• Ponzi Schemes
• Options, Stocks & Bonds
• Due Diligence
• Professional Malpractice
• Economic Damages & Losses
• Employment Discrimination & Termination

Services:

• Litigation Consulting
• Unbiased Case Analysis
• Discovery Review & Recommendations
• Portfolio Risk Reports
• Securities Fraud Investigation
• Damage Calculations
• Expert Testimony

View Bob Lawson's Consulting Profile.