Banking / Lender Liability Expert Witnesses: 7

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 types of derivatives and securities.

Background Experience Includes: Acting on behalf of 40,000 investors in $1.6 billion class action suit against bankrupt sponsor of special purpose issuer of notes secured by notes issued by CDO and credit default swaps with sponsor; acting on behalf of class led by two major pension funds against a major bank and numerous large underwriters involving mortgage-backed securities issued by several vehices established by the bank, and securities issued by the bank; acting on behalf of large investment bank defendant in arbitration proceeding brought by another large investment bank involving nine CDOS established by defendant; acting on behalf of large bank that had invested in now-worthless notes issued by SIV established by defendant banks; acting on behalf of large bank against another large bank that had sold the former CDOs and CDS.

Areas of Expertise:

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

Areas of Expertise:

Steve M. McGurl, CMB, has been a Master Certified Mortgage Banker as designated by The Mortgage Bankers Association of America. A Certified Reverse Mortgage Consultant and an Accredited Mortgage Professional, he has over 35 years of Mortgage Banking experience.

Litigation Support - Steve has been on 12 or more expert cases that involve required mortgage expertise in MBS litigation, Fees, Reverse Mortgage requirements and more. He has been a Subject Matter Expert or Expert Witness on over 30 significant Mortgage Engagements.

Steve's primary focus has been providing solutions in the Regulatory Compliance and Fair Lending space for Mortgage Lenders, Banks, Credit Unions, and Law Firms. He has been an Executive in Operations, Sales, Credit, and Compliance at several Top 10 Lenders.

 Areas of Expertise:

Degrees / Certifications:

• Project Management Certificate, Villanova University, 2010
• Management Certificate, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, 2023
• Scaling a Unicorn, $1Billion Business

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 250 times as an expert in 25 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.

Thomas A. Tarter, President of The Andela Consulting Group, Inc., Management, Financial and Advisory Services Involving Corporate Governance, Management, Compensation, Financial and Banking Matters. He has served on boards, assisted in corporate restructures and provided advisory services to a diverse group of clients including corporations, law firms, financial institutions and government agencies - including U.S. Small Business Administration and FDIC. Involved in over 1000 cases - national and international. 

Litigation Support - Mr. Tarter provides expert witness services to attorneys representing plaintiff and defense. His services include document review, thorough reporting, depositions, mediation, and trial testimony as needed.

Areas of Expertise:

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

Education:

• Princeton, 1964 (B.A., Economics, with honors)
• NYU Business School, 1966 (MBA, Top of class)

Expertise: Mr. Purcell has over 50 years of experience in every area of investment banking including the following:

• Mergers & Acquisitions
• Leveraged Buyouts and Recapitalizations
• Fairness Opinions and Fairness Issues
• Adequacy Opinions
• Solvency Opinions
• Bankruptcy issues, including fraudulent conveyance
• Valuations
• Advice to Special Committees of Boards
• Due Diligence and Disclosure Issues
• Fiduciary Issues
• Damage issues and analysis
• Lender Liability
• Fee issues
• Document Interpretation and Standards from investment banking point of views
• Criminal cases involving alleged securities violations and insider trading
• Financing of Debt and Equity (both public and private, taxable and tax-exempt, including structured financings)
• Venture Capital
• Leasing and Real Estate Financing

Background: William H. Purcell has been an Investment Banker for over 50 years. He was a Managing Director at Dillon Read for almost 25 years and has been a Senior Advisor to a number of medium-sized investment banks. Mr. Pucell has been a Senior Advisor and Director of Seale & Associates since 2001, an investment bank in the Washington DC area. He also has served as interim CEO of a public company and has served on Boards of Directors. 

Mr. Purcell is currently Senior Director to the Investment Banking Firm of Seale & Associates, Washington, DC. area. Mr. Purcell has been an expert in more than 200 cases with over 180 Law Firms, including cases for the SEC, IRS and the DOJ. Has testified in court trials and arbitration trials over 40 times. He represents both plaintiffs and defendants. Subjects include all areas mentioned above.

 View Consulting Profile.