Antonio Rega

Antonio Rega is a Managing Director at Bates Group with more than twenty years of experience providing expert consulting, advisory, and subject matter expertise to global corporations and law firms in digital forensics, information security and privacy, emerging technology, and eDiscovery. He leads complex investigations spanning the full investigation and litigation lifecycle, conducting in-depth examinations and remediation of electronically stored information (ESI) across cloud, local device, web, and mobile repositories. Antonio is a recognized testifying expert, having presented written and oral expert reports in matters involving digital forensics, IP/trade secrets misappropriation and remediation, cryptocurrency-related transactions, Business Email Compromise (BEC) and Account Takeover (ATO) incidents, data privacy and standard of care considerations, and metadata analysis encompassing document forgery, spoliation, and spoofing allegations.

Antonio's approach pairs deep technical fluency with practical, defensible methodology, helping clients navigate the complexities of investigations, litigation, and regulatory response — from proactive compliance and regulatory assessments to responses to government subpoenas and orders issued by regulatory agencies. He serves as a trusted adviser to counsel, corporations, and regulatory agencies, leading high-impact engagements that include:

• Digital Forensics & Complex Investigations: Leading proactive and reactive discovery, preservation, and forensic analysis of ESI across cloud, mobile, web, and local environments, including IP theft misappropriations and data exfiltration investigations, source code and trade secrets disputes, and money laundering and FCPA investigations.
• Expert Witness Testimony & Neutral Services: Providing expert reports, declarations, affirmations, and sworn testimony in litigation and arbitrations, including court-appointed and neutral expert roles.
• Cryptocurrency & Digital Assets: Conducting digital asset tracing, wallet recovery and analysis, exchange log review, dark web analysis, digital asset artifact recovery and related digital forensics methodologies in matters involving SIM-swap attacks, fraud, receiverships, and other engagements involving digital assets.
• Data Security, Privacy & Breach Response: Assessing breach response policies and procedures, identifying vulnerabilities and gaps in coverage, advising on data privacy, assessing AI/LLM-related internal frameworks and information security standard of care, and supporting matters involving Regulation S-P, ECPA and Stored Communications Act allegations, as examples.
• eDiscovery & Data Governance: Managing end-to-end eDiscovery workflows, including Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Second Requests, large-scale defensible remediation for organizations subject to HIPAA, PII/PHI, and PCI mandates, and negotiations with the DOJ, FTC, and other regulators, as well as various data governance-related engagements.
• Regulatory Compliance & Monitoring Advisory: Supporting Independent Compliance Consultant (ICC) roles and monitorship capacities, including off-channel communications compliance reviews, proactive monitoring program design, and formal reporting to federal agencies.
• Expert Engagements and Testimony: Antonio's testifying experience spans federal and state courts, FINRA and private arbitration, and matters supporting the U.S. Department of Justice. Representative engagements include expert testimony on behalf of a major cryptocurrency exchange in a SIM-swap matter involving the theft of digital assets valued at more than $3 million; testimony in arbitrations involving Business Email Compromise and Account Takeover incidents; an expert declaration submitted on behalf of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California involving document metadata and Internet Archive analysis; and rebuttal reporting in ongoing litigation concerning alleged Electronic Communications Privacy Act and Stored Communications Act violations.