Video

Featuring Students from the Memphis University Duberstein Moot Court Team

This is the first of three webinars stemming from ABI's recently published book Fraud and Forensics: Piercing Through the Deception in a Commercial Fraud Case. Each webinar takes an in-depth look at areas of specialty, challenge and reward for forensic accountants and the professionals who work with them in commercial fraud cases. The second and third webinars will be: FRAUD AND FORENSICS: THE EXPERT WITNESS IN A COMMERCIAL FRAUD CASE - DECEMBER 9, 2015, 1:30 - 2:45 PM ET FRAUD AND FORENSICS: THE LAWYER AND FORENSIC ACCOUNTANT WORKING TOGETHER - JANUARY TBD This webinar will highlight important aspects of the investigation phase of a commercial fraud case from the perspective of a forensic accountant. Featuring three authors of the recently published Fraud and Forensics: Piercing the Deception in a Commercial Fraud Case, the presentation will cover different types of commercial fraud and how to detect it, along with the investigative techniques necessary to leverage witness information and the cache of data available on social media outlets. The panelists will also discuss cash-flow analysis, data-collection techniques, and methodologies for creating a database.

G. Eric Brunstad, Jr. (Dechert) and Dylan Trache (Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP) will discuss the Supreme Court’s ASARCO opinion, the practical impact of the opinion on your practice, and developing case law and arguments to be made in defending your fees. Is there a "work-around" where the retention agreement legally permits professionals to be compensated for defending fee awards? ABI will seek 1.25 hours of general CLE credit in 60-minute-hour states and 1.5 hours of credit in 50-minute-hour states. CLE-Approved States: ABI’s live webinars and teleconferences ordinarily receive CLE credit in AL, CA, DE, GA, IL, MN, NE, NH, NJ, NY (approved jurisdiction policy), PA, TN and TX. ABI will obtain approval in additional states. Credit hours granted are subject to approval from each state, which may not be determined prior to the program.

This webinar will discuss the effect of the hanging paragraph under § 523(a)(1), post-petition issues, considerations in filing tax returns for the individual chapter 11 debtor, and tax implications for trustees in administering debtors’ estates. The panel will also address the following questions: 1)Are any tax debts dischargeable in chapter 7? 2)What happens to installment agreements during the pendency of a bankruptcy case? 3)What happens when debtors default on offer and compromise agreements? 4)How does the IRS compute and impose fines and penalties post-petition, and where can the debtor access this information?

Disclosing assets and verifying a debtor’s information is the calling card of any conscientious debtor’s counsel. But how do the rules governing professional responsibility interplay with debtor’s counsel’s obligations under the Code? A real housewife in New Jersey recently blamed her attorney for her prison sentence following her guilty plea for bankruptcy fraud. Did her attorney commit an ethical violation? This panel will examine the record behind this headline-making case, as well as other recent bankruptcy court decisions that examine the ethical conduct and obligations of debtor’s counsel.

Commission Recommendations on Resolving Court Splits: Coming Soon to a Judicial Opinion Near You ABI's Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11 identified more than 30 splits in case law on important issues. Such a split of authority results in delay, increased litigation costs and above all, uncertainty -- imposing a kind of "ambiguity tax" on the system, as one witness put it in testimony before the Commission. The recommendations contained in the Commission's final report, in many cases, can be implemented by judicial opinion at the bankruptcy court or court of appeals level, without need for action by Congress. This program featuring some of the most experienced and thoughtful judges on the bench today, will assess the Commission recommendations, and identify some that might be effected soon.