About the Authors and Editor

• Jurisdiction: United States

About the Authors and Editor

Editor, Author of Chapters 1 and 6

Kathy Bazoian Phelps is a partner in the Los Angeles office of law firm Diamond McCarthy, LLP and has 24 years of experience as a lawyer in bankruptcy law and fraud litigation. Her practice includes representing trustees and receivers, debtors, and secured and unsecured creditors in bankruptcy cases and other insolvency proceedings. She has served as chapter 11 trustee and frequently represents operating and liquidating trustees and receivers in the U.S. District Court, U.S. Bankruptcy Court and the Superior Court of the State of California. She also represents defendants in bankruptcy litigation, including fraudulent transfer defendants in Ponzi scheme cases, and has extensive litigation experience in a variety of bankruptcy litigation matters. Ms. Phelps has spoken and written widely on a broad range of fraud and bankruptcy-related matters, and co-authored The Ponzi Book: A Legal Resource for Unraveling Ponzi Schemes (LexisNexis® 2012) with Hon. Steven W. Rhodes (ret.). Her other recent publications include Ponzi-Proof Your Investments: An Investor's Guide to Avoiding Ponzi Schemes and Other Fraudulent Scams (IRR Publishing 2013); The Depths of Deepening Insolvency: Damage Exposure for Officers, Directors and Others (American Bankruptcy Institute 2013) with Jack Williams; and "Equity Receivers and the In Pari Delicto Defense," The Business Lawyer (American Bar Association, May 2014). Ms. Phelps is a member of the board of directors of the California Receivers Forum, National Association of Federal Equity Receivers, Financial Lawyers Conference, ABI, National Association of Bankruptcy Trustees, Los Angeles Bankruptcy Forum, and the Los Angeles County, Beverly Hills and Armenian Bar Associations. She also serves as editor-in-chief of the Receivership News and co-chairs ABI's Commercial Fraud Committee, and she is a mediator on the Bankruptcy Mediation Panel for the Central District of California. Ms. Phelps received her B.A. in international relations from Pomona College and her J.D. from University of California, Los Angeles in 1991.

Chapter 2 Authors

Jeffrey E. Brandlin, CIRA, CFF is the founder of Brandlin & Associates in Los Angeles and provides consultative accounting and financial advisory services. His clients have included top-tier banks, private-equity firms, and non-bank senior and mezzanine lenders, and he assists middle-market companies with gathering the financial information they need to make intelligent decisions, both in advance of an investment and when a company's performance deteriorates. He is also experienced in forensic accounting, concise reporting and expert witness testimony in helping to resolve highly contentious situations. Throughout his 40-year career, Mr. Brandlin has uncovered numerous financial frauds, accounting malpractice and complex grafts. He often remains involved in these situations to provide forensic accounting services and litigation support or to assist with financial restructurings or workouts. He has also provided thorough financial due diligence in support of hundreds of successful M&A transactions for equity and debt capital providers, and has saved clients from committing to money-losing investments on numerous occasions. Previously, Mr. Brandlin was a Big 4 audit manager. He is experienced in such industries as entertainment, manufacturing, wholesale distribution, retail, technology, apparel, oil and gas, food service, health care, construction, automotive, financial services and professional services. Mr. Brandlin is a frequent speaker to industry organizations, financial institutions and law firms on the topics of fraud, forensic accounting and financial statement analysis, and has been licensed to practice accountancy in California since April 1976. He received his B.S. in 1972 from San Diego State University.

David R. Bell, CPA is a senior consultant with Brandlin & Associates in Los Angeles and has more than 20 years of experience in public accounting, private industry and transactional services. Since joining the firm in 2003, he has assisted in over 100 mergers-and-acquisitions transactions ranging in value from $5 million to $250 million. He has also contributed to several litigation support and forensic accounting assignments for senior and mezzanine lenders. Mr. Bell has provided expert testimony in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles regarding fraud, conversion and civil conspiracy matters. Among several successful outcomes involving litigation, his work and testimony were instrumental in obtaining a $40 million judgment against the defendant's principals in a civil matter. In another matter, he provided expert testimony for the bankruptcy trustee's prosecution of accounts receivable debtors, leading to a series of default judgments and negotiated settlements. Previously, Mr. Bell was manger of financial reporting for the mortgage division of one of the nation's largest publicly held residential builders, where he was responsible for financial planning and budgeting, due diligence and compliance reporting. He was also an audit manager with Ernst & Young LLP in Los Angeles, where his clients included both private and public companies of varying sizes and industries, including financial services, pension plans, software and manufacturing. Mr. Bell received his B.S. in accounting in 1992 from the University of Southern California.

Garret L. Martucci is a consultant with Brandlin & Associates in Los Angeles, where he uses his knowledge of process improvement methodologies to identify the budgetary impact of operational business decisions. He analyzes performance data from company-specific issues to long-term industry outlooks. Mr. Martucci earned his Six Sigma Green Belt Certification (CSSGB) from the American Society for Quality (ASQ). Prior to joining Brandlin & Associates, he was a senior associate with Grant Thornton's Advisory Practice in Alexandria, Va., where he assessed the operations of public sector entities and established and implemented process-improvement initiatives. Mr. Martucci received his B.A. in political science from The American University.

Chapter 3 Authors

Maryellen K. Sebold, CPA/CFF, CIRA is a managing director with BDO USA LLP in Los Angeles and oversees the firm's West Coast Litigation Consulting and Forensic Services group. She has nearly 30 years of experience in forensic accounting and fraud investigations, litigation consulting, bankruptcy and corporate restructuring, and has significant experience in calculating economic damages, evaluating shareholder and partnership disputes, analyzing budget overruns, determining lost profits, evaluating alter-ego issues, tracing assets and calculating royalties. In addition, she has performed investigations into allegations of fraud and mismanagement and conducted operational assessments for businesses struggling with underperformance issues. She also has experience performing shadow investigations. In the bankruptcy arena, Ms. Sebold has worked in various capacities, including acting as accountant to trustees and creditors' committees in chapter 7 and 11 matters, performing asset-tracing, preference and fraudulent transfer analyses, insolvency analyses, claims evaluations and plans of reorganization, and overseeing the operations of a business in chapter 11. She has also worked with bank syndications in efforts to restructure multimillion-dollar loans made to companies on the brink of collapse. Ms. Sebold has testified numerous times as an expert witness in trials, depositions and arbitrations, applying her specialized knowledge to a wide range of issues and industries. Some of the issues in which she has testified include lost profits, rescission claims, tracing of assets and partnership disputes, often stemming from breach-of-contract allegations. The industries she has experience in include manufacturing, construction, entertainment, franchises, health care, insurance, publishing, real estate, securities, solar and transportation. Ms. Sebold has presented to various professional organizations on a wide range of accounting, fraud and litigation consulting topics. Previously, she worked with large public accounting firms and regional firms, and had her own firm. Ms. Sebold is a councilmember of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. In addition, she sits on the board of directors for CalCPA and is a former board member of CalCPA's Education Foundation, for which she has held various officer positions, including president. She is also a member of the Association of Insolvency & Restructuring Advisors. Ms. Sebold received her B.S. from Ithaca College in 1986.

Judith K. Spry, CPA is a consulting...