CERTIFICATIONS
Chartered Accountant, 1980
Certified Public
Accountant, 1988
Certified Fraud Examiner, 1994
Certified Insolvency and
Restructuring Advisor, 2002
Certification in
Distressed Business Valuation, 2006
Continuing Education,
including AICPA, ICPAS, ACFE, AIRA, 1986 to present
Managing Member, 2004 to present
Partner, 2000 to 2004
Principal, 1998 to 1999
Principal, 1996 to 1998
Altschuler, Melvoin and Glasser
Manager to Senior Manager, Litigation Services, 1991 to 1996
Supervisor to Manager, Review and Technical Guidance, 1986
to 1991
Manager, Accounting and Auditing, 1985 to 1986
Manager, Technical and Training Manager, 1985 to 1986
Group Treasurer - Corporate Secretary, 1982 to 1985
Accounting, Auditing, Financial Analysis and Fraud
Detection, 1980 to 1982
Accounting, Auditing and Financial Analysis, 1977 to 1980
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
Member, Business Valuation and
Forensic & Litigation Services Section
Association of
Certified Fraud Examiners,
Immediate Past
President,
Association of
Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors, Member
Chicago International
Dispute Resolution Association, Treasurer,
Working Group
Turnaround Management
Association, Member
Mr. Pakter
focuses his professional practice on financial analysis, forensic accounting,
financial investigations and fraud audits.
He has experience in calculating lost profits, business interruption
losses, other financial and economic damage analyses, investigations and
reconstruction of falsified or incomplete financial information.
Mr. Pakter
provides services to trial lawyers, their clients, business owners and managers
and state and local government. He has
experience in financial analysis of disputed financial information and
transactions in commercial litigation, conducting internal investigations and
investigating fraudulent financial transactions.
Mr. Pakter
has 30 years experience in providing financial analysis, forensic accounting
and investigative services in diverse engagements and industries. He has submitted Expert Reports in several
jurisdictions, testified in Federal and Bankruptcy Courts and made presentations
in public hearings and alternative dispute resolution forums.
Mr. Pakter
has been recognized as an expert in financial analysis. For illustrative purposes only, Mr. Pakter’s
expertise in financial analysis is described in the following areas, industries
and representative engagements:
Forensic Accounting
Financial analysis of
transactions and reconstruction of accounting records
Lost Profits and Damage
Determination
Financial analysis of
damages, including incomplete revenues and lost earnings
Fraud and Financial Investigations
Internal corporate
investigations, employee misconduct, fraud detection and financial analysis of
fraud
Commercial Litigation
Discovery assistance,
financial analysis, litigation support and expert testimony
Bankruptcy and Reorganization
Cash flow projections and
financial analysis for core proceedings, including solvency and preference
analysis
Agreed Upon Procedures
Special purpose financial
analysis using agreed upon procedures methodology
Financial and Accounting Analysis
Financial analysis of
accounting and business processes, performance and internal controls
Transportation and Distribution
Financial analysis of
costs, charge backs and cost accounting methods
Real Estate and Construction
Financial analysis of costs
of construction and rehabilitation and landlord/tenant disputes
State and Local Government
Vendor audits and financial
analysis of program revenues and costs
FORENSIC ACCOUNTING
Mr. Pakter provides trial lawyers and their clients with forensic
accounting services and follow-up testimony to enable financial analysis and
court-ordered accountings in commercial litigation. He focuses on complex multiple-entity
business disputes and evaluating the substance as opposed to the form of
significant business transactions.
·
Engaged
by counsel for family-held businesses to perform a financial analysis of
related corporate defendants over six years to render expert opinion whether
financial and business considerations dictated that personal defendants should
be liable for the corporations’ debts by plaintiffs’ attempt to “pierce the
corporate veil”.
·
Reconstructed,
with disclosed assumptions for unavailable information, all annual financial
statements and financial accounting books and records of rental property,
including all cash received from and/or disbursed to partners, and testified as
to the net amount due from one partner in the real estate venture to the other.
·
Determined
nature and extent of manufacturer’s post-closing purchase-price adjustments
after acquisition by a public company.
The adjustments related to plant and equipment depreciation under GAAP
versus accelerated tax-basis accounting.
·
Investigated, for SEC legal counsel, the substance and form of
specific related-party transactions between hotel operating subsidiaries of a
publicly listed company and the holding company itself. Issues included nature, timing and extent of
transactions that generated significant revenue recognition close to the
year-end date.
·
Assisted counsel in their representation of investors in failed
limited partnerships with significant damage claims, analyzed material
financial transactions, developed financial analysis and investigated
accounting malpractice.
·
Investigated all significant and/or unusual changes in the methods
and patterns of cash disbursements in months prior to and weeks following the
sudden and as yet unresolved disappearance of the company’s sole owner manager.
·
Traced and segregated cash flows, profits and resulting net assets
between legal and illegal activities to enable the Court to determine the
extent of illegal activities. Engaged on
behalf of high profile Defendant seeking to reduce sentence under Federal
Sentencing Guidelines.
·
Performed various forensic accounting procedures to analyze and support an expert
opinion in marital dissolution proceedings regarding the marital or non-marital
character of certain assets. Traced
currently owned assets back to assets acquired before the marriage or acquired
during the marriage by gift, inheritance or descent.
·
Managed,
for counsel for cellular communications company, voluminous financial and
non-financial data regarding cellular sites and the pattern and rate at which
sites were established. Designed and
implemented data management systems to cost-effectively organize, manage,
analyze and present complex data to the Court.
LOST PROFITS
AND DAMAGE DETERMINATION
Mr. Pakter provides trial lawyers and their clients with
consulting services and expert testimony to determine damages and estimate lost
revenues, profits or earnings. He
focuses on financial analysis before, after and “but for” breaches of contracts
in commercial litigation and loss events.
·
Submitted
Expert Report and testified as to damages claimed by printing company due to
alleged malfunction of company’s only printing press. Investigated the impact on company’s earnings
from economic, industry, customer and factors other than the alleged
malfunction and evaluated damages determined by opposing expert.
·
Submitted
Rebuttal Report and testified at deposition on present value of lost income
from customer contracts allegedly lost due to a corporation’s misconduct
providing residential and commercial solid waste collection, hauling, disposal
and recycling
·
Reviewed
transactions acquiring and managing skilled nursing facilities and related
businesses and prepared Rebuttal Report with methodology, financial analysis,
findings and opinions concerning management fees, “earn out” calculations and
profits earned on charges exceeding the fair market value of goods and
services.
·
Evaluated
damages suffered by manufacturer as a result of a distributor’s breach of an
exclusive private-label food production contract. Submitted a responsive expert report and
testified that opposing expert’s methodology and calculations were flawed,
resulting in specific significant and quantifiable overstatements of damages.
·
Rebut
expert report on present value of lost profits associated with alleged failure
to renew franchise agreements, proving the damages claim was unsubstantiated
and unsupported, the claim was speculative and that there were no damages.
·
Submitted
rebuttal report on damages alleged as a result of an acid spill, including
financial analysis of insurance company claim report and witness
depositions. Plaintiff alleged property
damages in a local plant producing raw materials and business interruption
losses in a foreign plant producing finished goods.
·
Prepared and validated property damage and business interruption
claims arising from nursing home roof collapse and enabled corporation counsel
to rebut fraud allegations. Presented
financial analysis at mediation with retired judge.
·
Testified regarding lost profits suffered by a professional
service company as a result of breach of consultant outsourcing contracts. Reconstructed accounting periods with
incomplete or misstated financial information.
·
Submitted expert report estimating lost revenues a service
provider would sustain to comply with Americans with Disabilities Act. Performed financial analysis based on surveys
of marketplace to determine the financial impact on the service provider.
·
Supported expert in international breach of contract arbitration
regarding Fortune 500 Company’s determination of damages sustained by its
supplier. Calculating lost profits and
analyzed opposing expert’s damage calculation and testimony.
FRAUD AND FINANCIAL INVESTIGATIONS
Mr. Pakter conducts internal investigations working with trial
lawyers and their clients to investigative and report on employee/officer
misconduct and fraudulent financial transactions and activities. He focuses on financial analysis, examining
documents, interviewing personnel, gathering evidence and performing risk-based
procedures to determine specific findings as to the nature, timing and extent
of fraud perpetrated.
·
On
behalf of the Board of Directors, conducted a financial investigation of
accounting for certain receivables, loans and advances, suspense accounts and
related transactions. Interviewed
directors, officers and senior personnel, including the whistle-blower, and examined more than 1,000 accounting entries
contained in accounting schedules, general ledger accounts, account analyses
and a handwritten “second set of books.”
Performed several
financial analyses, forensic accounting and investigation analyses, including
tracings, reconciliations and examinations and gathered, reviewed and
controlled more than 3,000 documents for trial.
Concluded that the former CFO had created, directed and controlled a
financial reporting system that systematically and fraudulently manipulated and
concealed the true financial condition from the Board of Directors,
shareholders, auditors, lenders and revenue authorities for more than ten
years.
·
On behalf of counsel for minority shareholders, identified
selected classes of transactions for in-depth investigation to ensure properly
reflected in a manufacturing and distribution company’s financial books and
records to establish the business’ true financial condition for settlement
negotiations and business valuation purposes.
·
Conducted an internal corporate investigation for a corporation's
new management to determine the nature, timing and extent of fraud and
embezzlement perpetrated by the former general manager and controller. Conducted forensic procedures to detect fraud
and quantify the extent of fraudulent financial reporting and employee
misconduct.
·
Conducted an investigation into the falsified expense reports of a
foreign national senior director of a large steel company. Uncovered and proved that the director had
submitted expenses for reimbursement for travel to cities that he had not been
in on dates presented. Uncovered the
pattern of alleged fraud and the officer’s motives through an analysis of
telephone bills submitted for reimbursement.
·
Investigated
thefts of unclaimed cash wages and other elements of payroll fraud. Designed and implemented internal accounting
controls to prevent the reoccurrence of such fraud. Defended report and findings during an
investigation by a governmental accounting oversight review board.
·
Employed
by a Chapter 7 Trustee to investigate allegedly unsubstantiated and/or
fraudulent reporting by a consolidated health care provider. Provided the Trustee and its counsel with
forensic accounting and litigation accounting support, including reconstruction
of incomplete and/or falsified financial records.
COMMERCIAL LITIGATION
Mr. Pakter provides trial lawyers and their clients with financial
analysis in all phases of the commercial litigation process to assist with
discovery and preparation for deposition and trial. He focuses on financial analysis and
evaluating material financial transactions and the conduct of directors,
offices, employees and professional advisors.
·
Performed a financial analysis, submitted an expert report,
testified at deposition and submitted a rebuttal report of other expert
opinions regarding the nature, form and substance of a merger and other
transactions. Rendered opinions as to
the form and substance of the merger and that the transaction resulted in a
wrongful dividend. The dispute centered
on the entity’s assets, conditions precedent in the merger agreement and funds
no longer available in the entity’s treasury after the merger.
·
Supported
SEC enforcement counsel and its expert witness in administrative proceedings
under SEC Rules of Practice to determine violations of Federal securities
laws. Analyze CPA’s professional conduct
regarding improper revenue recognition of material “bill and hold” transactions
and resultant improper public filings.
·
Provided
counsel with discovery, financial analysis and document requests relating to
their client’s termination of a merger agreement in reliance on a material
adverse change clause. Prepared trial
binders relating to the target company’s earnings, revenue recognition
methodology, due diligence issues and causes of business failure.
·
Evaluated company documents, SEC reports, accountant's work
product and analysts' files in a Section 10(b) 5 securities litigation. Provided counsel with financial analysis and
discovery concerning the directors' and officers' knowledge of material
misrepresentations to the market during the class period.
·
Assisted
a national accountants’ malpractice insurance carrier, and its counsel and
claims specialists, to assess the merits of claims brought against
accountants. Evaluated and reported on
the work product of over 50 public accounting firms and enabled the insurance
carrier to reduce professional liability risks.
·
Named
as expert to investigate and analyze a Debtor's pending claims and adversary
proceedings against shareholders, lenders and professional advisors to the
Debtor concerning a LBO transaction involving fraudulent conveyance
issues. The Court ruled in the Debtor’s
favor during Motion for Summary Judgment.
·
Investigated
complex international real estate transactions in a matrimonial dispute and
integrated the work of
BANKRUPTCY AND REORGANIZATION
Mr.
Pakter provides trustees and trial lawyers and the debtors or creditors they
represent with bankruptcy and reorganization services, primarily in core
proceedings. He focuses on performing
analysis of material transactions, fraudulent conveyances, solvency and
preference analyses, cash flow projections and the forensic reconstruction of
accounting books and records.
·
Testified
as to the Debtors’ financial condition after assuming certain liabilities, that
Debtors did not receive quantifiable benefit from assuming liabilities and that
Debtors issued checks to each other that did not result in issuing checks to
third parties.
·
Provided
consulting services in an LBO failure involving fraudulent conveyance issues,
determination of solvency and review of business combinations. Performed an analysis of the material
transactions that combined business entities and the work of all professional
advisors.
·
Testified
that the Debtor’s Cash Flow Projections were a well-prepared forecast of future
operations, based on reasonable assumptions that took into consideration the
changes expected as a result of the Plan Confirmation and would enable the
Debtor to fund the Plan’s cash flow requirements.
·
Assisted
counsel in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court with the presentation of objections of
creditors. Developed support for the
Debtor’s request for the Court's denial of post petition financing and
reconstructed incomplete financial records.
·
Provided
litigation services in an action filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on behalf of
unsecured creditors seeking recovery of pre-petition fraudulent
conveyances. Performed a financial
analysis of the form of business combination transactions to ascertain the
economic substance thereof.
·
Completed
solvency, preference and liquidation analyses to support counsel’s actions
against lenders, management and professional advisors resulting from a
diversified corporation's default on its bank loans.
·
Supported
expert witness challenging a merger transaction as a fraudulent conveyance and
developed evidence that the entity received reasonably equivalent value in
exchange for payments made in connection with the merger transaction.
·
Performed
preference analysis relating to vendors and insiders of privately held business
and provided Trustee with litigation support.
Proved the foundation for preference actions and secured original
checks, invoices and wire transfers as evidence. Completed debtors’ amended income tax returns
for the Plan Trustee.
·
Assisted
the owner of a manufacturing company and legal counsel with post-bankruptcy
reorganization and restoration of operations.
Issues included transfer and resumption of business operations,
preserving government contracts, ensuring the ongoing economic viability of new
company, restructuring real estate entities and other administrative aspects of
accounting records and income tax compliance.
AGREED UPON PROCEDURES
Mr. Pakter provides owners and managers of business and investors
and lenders with special purpose financial analysis, accounting, auditing and
due diligence procedures. He focuses on
completing independent “agreed upon procedure” engagements required by
business, state and local entities and/or the directors, officers, managers or
legal counsel that represents them.
·
Investigated, on behalf of
·
Performed
agreed upon procedures, on behalf of Special Counsel to the Board of
Commissioners of a large, developing Illinois county, to assist the elected
officials to analyze the financial condition of the provider of a Guaranty
relative to the current and future financial performance obligations of the
provider’s corporations developing and operating a waste disposal facility
located in the county.
·
Investigated
a landlord/tenant dispute as to the amount of rent and common area maintenance
costs charged to the tenant and other issues alleged in the Complaint. Traced all available invoices, summaries of
costs, general ledgers, trial balances and check registers and computed the
annual allocations of common area maintenance costs by reference to the terms
and conditions stated in the original lease, subsequent lease amendments, a
reclamation agreement and correspondence between the parties.
·
Performed
financial analysis and specific agreed upon procedures for a large, privately held holding-entity that operated
a manufacturing division and managed a corporate office. Determined and attested to the
sufficiency of assets to meet liabilities, including additional worker’s
compensation judgment liability and issued an independent report detailing work
performed and findings reached.
·
Determined
the completeness of revenues due by a manufacturer and distributor of electronic
equipment under a royalty and licensing agreement. Investigated and reconstructed the manner in
which the royalty revenues were calculated.
·
Performed
specific procedures on behalf of industrial property company in support of
substantive lease restructuring discussions.
The company had built and leased a state-of-the-art corporate
headquarters and national distribution warehouse. The tenant entered into a series of ill-fated
acquisitions culminating in financial difficulties likely to result in a
potential bankruptcy filing. The
analyses of the tenant’s financial condition were an integral part of the
property owner’s strategic responses.
·
Performed
special-purpose vendor compliance examinations on behalf of a city’s department
of operations and audited vendors’ charges to ensure billings were in
accordance with tariffs and contractual conditions. Determined vendor overcharges and contractual
violations and assisted in recovering significant refunds due the city.
FINANCIAL AND ACCOUNTING ANALYSIS
Mr. Pakter provides owners and managers of businesses with
financial analysis and consulting services to operate accounting and businesses
more effectively and efficiently. He
focuses on profits and cash flows, expense reduction, business processes,
business performance measurement, internal controls and special-purpose
financial analysis and business studies.
·
Analyzed multi-year, multi-million dollar construction program to
modernize a city’s physical school facilities.
Investigated and performed financial analysis of capital improvement
program on behalf of inspector general.
Developed benchmarks for fixed cost bids and change orders by school,
contractor and project type and selected contracts with significant variances
for additional review and checking.
·
Developed and implemented, in close cooperation with owners and
senior management, monthly executive committee meetings to address the primary
business needs of a specialty distributor.
Developed action plans and implemented corrective action and business
solutions, including restoring several divisions to profitability and advising
on corporate restructuring.
·
Performed financial analysis of all program revenues and
expenditures for a large city services department. Established internal control systems and
financial reporting systems to provide program managers with early warning of
significant over/under utilization of program revenues. Attested to examinations of program revenues
and costs, including financial compliance with federal programs.
·
Developed a business plan for a specialized distributor. Developed threshold rates of returns for
individual business segments and identified target companies for merger or
acquisition. Assisted directors and
officers structure acquisitions of target companies.
·
Reviewed functions, duties and responsibilities of president and
senior management of a multi-division food processing company. Analyzed nature of prior corporate
acquisitions and divestitures.
Identified and implemented organizational changes and revised scopes of
responsibilities, established working committees of middle management and
implemented recommendations of organizational psychologists.
·
Evaluated
contracts to outsource operations to outside vendors, reviewed bid results and assessed
the performance of vendors under contracts, including inspections to determine
vendors’ compliance with specific elements of contracts. Determined damages, identified operational
efficiencies and reported findings to management.
·
Developed
a comparative financial analysis of a privately held company’s current and
prior five years’ financial performance, including trends in key financial
ratios, comparisons to peer company benchmarks and “normalizing” adjustments.
·
Enabled
large coffee distributor to reduce the costs of doing business using an expense
reduction approach that integrated non-payroll overhead audits, payroll
reviews, information technology teams, reengineering of operational procedures
and establishing and monitoring budgets.
TRANSPORTATION AND
DISTRIBUTION
Mr. Pakter
provides manufacturing and distribution companies with financial analysis
regarding costs of transportation, damages and related issues. He focus on issues related to disclosures,
adequacy of documentation, cost charge-backs, costing systems, special purpose
examinations, purpose of business expenditures and related issues..
·
Assisted
counsel for truck drivers’ association to determine damages, including
excessive charge-backs for fuel, suffered by a class
of independent owner-operators as a
result of actions by a regulated motor carrier.
Damage analysis necessitated reconstructing an accounting of all fuel
purchases and sales during the class period.
·
Performed, on behalf of Inspector General, an in-depth
investigation, evaluation and management study of a school transportation
program. Evaluated program manager’s
performance and vendors’ contract compliance.
Performed unannounced inspections of school busses for driver and bus
safety requirements and compliance. Provided
numerous efficiency initiatives and management recommendations.
·
Testified as to damages sustained by an
·
Conducted an investigation of the activities of the chief
financial officer of a distribution company, interviewed senior members of
management and reviewed documentation.
Took possession of and supervised forensic examinations of computers
using predetermined criteria for searches of electronic media. Conducted interviews of the target and
selected employees and memorialized these for counsel. Integrated additional searches for company documentation
including online public records database searches. Determined the entity’s losses by type of
fraud scheme and presented the fraudulent activities to senior management and
legal counsel.
·
Engaged by insurance company to investigate contractor’s
claim for increased transportation and material handling costs of performance
of environmental remediation during conversion of a military base to
residential redevelopment. Prepared
analysis of construction claims and liens.
·
Investigated diversion of assets by principal stockholders and
senior management from a refrigerated truckload carrier using related party
leases and other financial schemes.
Evaluated the audits performed by a national CPA firm prior to discovery
of the wrongdoing and the investigative work performed by the same CPA firm
after the fraud was uncovered.
·
Engaged
by legal counsel to investigate and evaluate vendors’ claim for amounts owed
and increased costs of performance incurred in performing a transit
project. Reviewed other experts’
reports, all contracts, correspondence, financial and accounting records,
deposition transcripts and pleadings relating to the project.
REAL ESTATE AND
CONSTRUCTION
Mr. Pakter
provides developers, owners and tenants/users of property and equipment with
financial analysis and consulting services to resolve disputes. He focuses on landlord/tenant issues and
environmental remediation and works with architects, engineers and legal
counsel to examine, analyze and prove up costs.
·
Performed a financial analysis of a lump sum engineering,
procurement and construction contract for a high-tech steel production plant to
determine amounts owed to vendors.
Categorized, traced and verified internal and third party charges,
pass-through costs and change orders to support drawdowns on letters of credit.
·
Performed a court-ordered accounting of six years of profits and
losses of ten real estate developments in different stages of construction with
varying partnership interests. Reported
profits, losses and extent of partners’ compliance with partnership agreements
to the Court and prepared amended financial statements and tax returns.
·
Reviewed
documentation and interviewed contractors regarding the rehabilitation of
homeless shelters and developed strategic responses to resolve outstanding
issues. Performed analysis of contractor and subcontractor invoices and worked
with architects and engineers to establish the scope of work for binding
arbitration.
·
Analyzed Landlord’s calculation of
Additional Rent defined in the Building Lease and rendered expert opinion that
Landlord failed to provide Tenant with sufficient complete and supportable
information and documentation to verify expenses included in the
calculation. Computed, to the extent
Landlord’s limited information and documentation was reliable, annual aggregate
overcharges of Additional Rent.
·
Determined lost profits, sunk costs and other damages in a dispute
between a real estate developer and its client over air rights. Damages included real estate development
costs incurred and direct and indirect overhead of land parcels.
·
Prepared financial
analysis of asbestos abatement expenditures in accordance with regulatory
requirements, verified expenditures and reimbursement requests, reconciled costs to contracts and change orders, responded to adverse EPA findings and
segregated costs between original scope of work and unforeseen site conditions.
·
Assisted counsel for a major law firm in recovering significant
revenue in a case involving operating expenses on a lease. Discovered and developed a proof of the
lessor’s pattern of overcharging on common area expenses.
·
Analyzed key processes in a city’s ongoing capital improvement
program, especially construction management policies and procedures. Conducted construction document reviews of a
sample of new construction and major renovation projects with emphasis on the
nature, extent and pattern of change orders.
STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Mr. Pakter
provides managers of state and local governmental units with financial analysis
and consulting to create efficient and effective operations and
accountability. He focuses on
investigating and analyzing vendors’ contracts with governmental units to
establish allowability, allocability and reasonableness of program or project
revenues and costs.
·
Performed an audit and analysis of the city hall renovation
program to determine construction and other costs incurred by the city since
inception. Evaluated all allocations of
costs to the project for reasonableness in accordance with appropriate
accounting and cost principles and other allocation criteria.
·
Conducted
fraud investigation on behalf of chief operating officer of unit of city
government into financial activities of delegate agency. Found that the delegate agency filed false
and misleading financial reports, breached federal, state and city mandates and
was insolvent. Provided inspector
general with support for agency termination.
·
Investigated and identified suspicious cash and credit card
disbursements of a park district using specific investigative criteria and
integrated findings into spreadsheets, calendars and other demonstrative
presentations. Supported special
counsel’s investigation into executive director’s activities and its interviews
of commissioners and senior management and implemented additional internal
control procedures.
·
Analyzed
a real estate developer’s financing and other carrying costs associated with
acquiring, holding and developing property awaiting annexation by a
village. Determined these costs arose
primarily because of the way in which the property was originally acquired and
transactions were originally structured.
Concluded that the costs were not primarily related to alleged delays in
the village’s processes and that claims for damages were speculative,
insufficiently detailed and overreaching.
·