Investigations Archives – Page 3 of 6

Irma Raza

Irma Raza is a Chartered Accountant with nearly 15 years of experience. She has assisted the named expert on several occasions.

Irma has provided expert witness support to lawyers and clients on various arbitral proceedings and at the UK High Court. She has acted as project lead on numerous cases with testifying experts and produced over 40 reports for legal proceedings, including expert reports and submissions for expert determinations with disputed values of up to $1 billion.

Irma’s wider forensics experience includes high-profile investigations of whistleblowing and professional negligence cases. She has delivered advisory services regarding generative AI tools and the impact of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues.

Irma specialises in quantifying damages and loss in investor-state and commercial and transaction related disputes. She has provided expert witness support for loss of profits, breach of contract, earn-out and shareholder disputes.

Irma holds a master’s degree in management and a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accounts and is currently completing her advanced professional award in expert witness evidence (APAEWE) examinations.

Matthew Byford

Matthew Byford (Matt) is a Chartered Financial Analyst with over 15 years of experience. He has been appointed as an economic damages expert or assisted the named expert in over 100 cases.

Matt has testified at deposition and trial. He has supported legal counsel and corporate clients on economic damages and other business matters.

Matt has extensive experience determining lost profits, unjust enrichment (head start, avoided costs, and disgorgement of ill-gotten gains), and reasonable royalties in many contexts. He has worked across a diverse range of industries including semiconductors, LEDs, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, oil and gas, and retail and consumer products.

Matt specializes in intellectual property damages in complex matters for clients. His expertise includes trade secret misappropriation, patent infringement, trademark infringement, trade dress infringement, false advertising, breach of contract, and commercial damages, among other things. He is well-versed in issues concerning the economic prong of domestic industry, remedy, and bonding as part of Section 337 ITC investigations.

Matt is a Certified Fraud Examiner and an Accredited Senior Appraiser. He is a member of the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute, the Chartered Financial Analyst Society (Nevada), the American Society of Appraisers, and the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

Franco Benza

Franco Benza is a Certified Valuation Analyst and Certified Cost Professional with more than 15 years of experience. He has been appointed as an expert regarding financial and economics matters of numerous occasions.

Franco has provided expert witness testimony in arbitration and has extensive experience supporting cases in ICC, ICSID, and UNCITRAL arbitrations. He has signed expert reports and supported litigation cases in English and Spanish and has acted as the named expert for disputed projects with values of up to $700 million.

Franco has managed financial, forensic investigations, fraud, internal audit, and process improvement cases. He has supported a variety of international clients regarding the investigation of financial, economic, and accounting data, led retail banking process improvement initiatives, and has also implemented cost reduction projects in Peru and Colombia.

Franco specializes in quantifying economic and financial damages, lost profits, and business valuations. He also assesses cost overruns and productivity loss for construction related disputes. He has undertaken analysis for renewable energy, oil and gas, transportation infrastructure, food industry, and other construction projects in Latin America and the United States.

Franco is a member of the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA) and the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering International (AACE). He is bilingual in English and Spanish.

Anna Kelly

Anna Kelly is a Chartered Accountant with over ten years of experience. She has been appointed as a forensic accounting expert or assisted the named expert on more than 30 occasions. 

Anna has acted as an expert for proceedings at the Supreme Court of New South Wales and has assisted the named expert on disputes of up to $850 million.  She has delivered expert services in litigation and international arbitration under HKIAC, ICSID, LCIA, SIAC, SCC, and UNCITRAL rules, and in Australian, UK, and Singapore courts. 

Anna has experience across a range of sectors, including cryptocurrency, oil and gas, energy, construction, telecommunications, banking, agriculture, and sports and media rights. Prior to joining HKA, she started her career in the investment banking sector before working in the disputes practice of an international consulting and expert services firm.

Anna specialises in quantifying commercial damages and valuations, which includes financial modelling and complex financial analysis. She has advised on disputes across Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East, and Oceania.

Anna holds a degree in economics with French. She is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants England and Wales, the Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, and a board member of Arbitral Women.

Jenny Dominguez

Jenny Dominguez is a Certified Public Accountant with nearly 25 years of experience. She has been appointed as a forensic accounting expert on multiple occasions.

Jenny has testified in civil litigation, arbitration and on behalf of the San Diego District Attorney’s Office in a preliminary hearing of a criminal prosecution. She has prepared numerous expert reports and investigated frauds with values of up to $126 million.

Jenny has supported clients in financial fraud investigations across state and local government and the higher education, construction, real estate, nonprofit, and healthcare sectors. Her experience includes investigating employee embezzlement, conflicts of interest, vendor and procurement fraud, fraudulent financial statements, and other accounting irregularities.

Jenny specializes in comprehensive analyses of financial data, utilizing organizational data and publicly available information in conjunction with advanced data analysis tools and techniques to conduct thorough comparisons with bank activities, disbursements, and other financial outflows to identify potential fraud that warrants further investigation. She has conducted internal control assessments and fraud risk evaluations and has led numerous forensic accounting and investigation engagements for two prominent national accounting firms.

Jenny is a Certified Fraud Examiner and Certified in Financial Forensics. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (forensic and valuation services section), the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, and the California Society of CPAs.

Ramon de Legorburu

Ramon de Legorburu (Ray) is a Certified Public Accountant with over 25 years of experience. He has been appointed as a forensic accounting expert on multiple occasions.

Ray has testified in both depositions and trials as an expert witness on matters involving economic damages and business valuation with disputed values of up to $100million. He has presented to the US Securities and Exchange Commission regarding a financial statement restatement for a large publicly traded packaging company.

Ray has assisted financial services clients during the acquisition of foreign entities and in detecting and deterring elaborate money-laundering schemes at the target entities internationally. His sector experience includes construction, manufacturing, financial services, transportation, healthcare, consumer goods industries, and media and entertainment.

Ray specialises in dispute services including damages and lost profit calculations, and has investigated allegations of suspected FCPA violations, management fraud, financial statement misrepresentation and embezzlements. Having been a former financial statement auditor, he has assisted in the defense of public accounting firms involved in accounting malpractice suits.

Ray holds a degree in accounting and is a member of both the American Institute and Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He is bilingual in English and Spanish.

Scott Van Meter

Scott Van Meter is a Certified Public Accountant and attorney with over 35 years of professional experience. He has been appointed as an expert witness on over 100 occasions.

Scott has testified in federal and state courts throughout the United States, and in arbitrations under International Chamber of Commerce, American Arbitration Association, and JAMS rules. He has been appointed as an expert on matters of economic damages and quantum, valuation, accounting and auditing standards, corporate governance, and forensic accounting with disputed values of up to $4 billion.

Scott’s experience includes litigation consulting, bankruptcy and restructuring, forensic accounting, and law. In addition to his expert work, Scott provides financial advisory and restructuring services to companies in financial distress, lenders, official committees, and equity holders in bankruptcy matters.  Prior to joining HKA, he was a practicing attorney in Texas and Florida, served as general counsel to several companies, and held senior leadership positions in for-profit and not-for-profit companies.

Scott has expertise in bankruptcy-related disputes, including avoidance matters, valuation and solvency, along with managing investigations of ‘who killed the company’, where issues of corporate governance, breach of fiduciary duty, professional malpractice and malfeasance were prevalent. His experience covers a variety of industries including mining and extraction (upstream and midstream oil, gas, and coal), manufacturing, healthcare, construction, telecommunications, transportation, and professional services. He has also served as the post-confirmation trustee responsible for administering plans of reorganization and pursuing recovery actions.  

Scott is Certified in both Financial Forensics and as an Insolvency and Restructuring Advisor. He is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors, the Texas Society of CPAs, and the Turnaround Management Association.

Maxime Girard

Maxime Girard is a Chartered Professional Accountant with over 20 years of experience. He has been appointed as an expert in matters of forensic accounting and the assessment of economic loss on over 15 occasions.

Maxime has testified in arbitration and local courts on several occasions, including delivering concurrent evidence. He has prepared more than 150 assessments of economic loss and substantive business valuations for contentious and non-contentious matters in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Maxime’s valuation experience spans most industries, including energy, real estate, telecommunications aviation, shipping, manufacturing, real estate, hospitality, retail, and services sectors. He trained as an auditor in one of the big four firms and has been based in the UAE for the last 8 years, having also worked in North America and the UK.

Maxime specialises in damage quantification, business valuation, fraud investigation, accounting, and auditing. His expertise ranges from the quantification of damages claims in international commercial and investment treaty disputes, contentious valuations and expert determinations to shareholder, joint-venture and post-transaction disputes, financial and fraud investigations, and other types of forensic accounting assignments.

Maxime is a Chartered Financial Analyst, a certified accountant in the UK, USA, and Canada, is Certified in Financial Forensics, and is a Chartered Business Valuator. He holds a diploma in investigative and forensic accounting and is bilingual in English and French.

Joyce Tay

Joyce Tay is a Chartered Accountant with nearly 10 years of experience. She has been appointed as a forensic accounting expert or assisted the named expert on more than 25 occasions.

Joyce has delivered expert services in international arbitration under DIFC-LCIA, HKIAC, ICC, ICSID, SIAC rules, and court litigation. She has assisted on various cases with disputed values of up to US$800 million.

Joyce has experience in various industries including automotive, construction, cryptocurrency, hospitality, manufacturing, media, oil and gas, power and utilities, and retail across Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Middle East. She started her career at one of the big four accounting firms and subsequently gained forensic accounting expertise at an international accounting firm.

Joyce specialises in the quantification of financial damages arising from breaches of contracts or agreements, disputes, personal injury claims, and the investigation of fraud cases. Her expertise also includes the assessment and valuation of insurance claims related to business interruption, lost profits, and stock losses.

Joyce holds a BBA in accountancy and is an Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants Financial Forensic Professional. She is a member of the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants and is bilingual in English and Chinese.

Alexander Lee

Alexander Lee has over 15 years of experience in business valuations and the quantification of damages. He has been appointed as an expert or assisted the named expert on multiple occasions.

Alexander Lee is a highly rated expert who “really understands the changing way quantum is addressed by tribunals” in mining disputes. Sources are also left impressed with his “grasp of problems and the underlying reasoning behind proposed solutions”.

Lexology Index – Mining – Thought Leader

Alexander has experience on large NAFTA, ICSID, ICC, SCC, LCIA, and PCA arbitrations and in litigation in Canadian and US courts. He has prepared expert reports for individual, corporate, and government clients on projects with disputed values of up to $50 million.

Alexander has led teams conducting economic analyses of mineral properties and their associated assets in North America, South America, Africa, and Asia. His practice covers multiple sectors including metals and mining, petroleum extraction and refining, banking, commodities trading, and real estate development.

Alexander specializes in business valuations and damages quantification, mainly related to mining and metals. He works closely with counsel and technical experts to fully develop economic models to assess and quantify damages.

Alexander holds a master’s in accounting and is a Chartered Professional Accountant and Chartered Business Valuator. He is a member of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario and the Chartered Business Valuator Institute.

“Alex is diligent and efficient. He possesses a prolific knowledge of quantum in mining disputes. Alex is very responsive and on top of key developments. His expert evidence is of great added value for the tribunal.

Lexology Index – Arbitration – Future Leader

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