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Bates News  |  12-01-15

Meet Our New Experts

U.S. and INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONAL AND REGULATORY COMPLIANCE

Charles Morten - Charles Morten brings over 40 years of experience in the securities industry including senior management positions in the United States and London. This experience included responsibility for operational and regulatory compliance across regulatory and legal borders worldwide. In addition to providing consulting and expert witness testimony for Bates Group, he is also a current FINRA arbitrator. Mr. Morten spent over 28 years at Merrill Lynch, ultimately managing the operational support for the firm's International Private Client Group, which entailed oversight of over 1500 global employees and a budget of $65 million. He had operational responsibility for successfully integrating Merrill Lynch's global acquisitions in Japan, Canada and the UK. He has spent the past 10 years establishing a Family Office and has handled all operational and regulatory and compliance responsibilities of the registered investment adviser.

MUNICIPAL SECURITIES, UNDERWRITING, DUE DILIGENCE, OFFERING DOCUMENTS, RULES/PRACTICE

Pamela Peterson - Based in New Jersey, Pam Peterson is a Bates Affiliate Expert who uses her decades of legal and compliance experience in the municipal securities industry for advice and expert testimony in arbitration or litigation. Ms. Peterson is extremely familiar with municipal securities underwriting and due diligence for new issues, as well as the rules and practices involved primary or secondary sale of municipal bonds, especially with regard to fair disclosure and fair pricing in such transactions. During the last fifteen years, Ms. Peterson has reviewed thousands of offering documents and acted as counsel to both municipal investment bankers and underwriters of competitively-bid municipal securities offerings.

FORENSIC ACCOUNTING, REGULATORY and COMPLIANCE, AML and FCPA

Ali Ansari - Ali Ansari is a Bates Affiliate Expert located in Oakbrook, Illinois, with over 22 years of experience in forensic accounting. Mr. Ansari is a highly seasoned professional experienced in all facets of Regulatory Compliance, AML and FCPA reviews and investigations, Crisis and Risk Management, Securities Litigation, Forensic Accounting, fraud prevention and detection. He is a guest lecturer at Florida Atlantic University and an approved speaker for the Florida Bar to conduct courses in the areas of Internal Audit, AML/FCPA, Litigation Consulting and Ethics for CLE credits to various financial institutions and law firms. He is a former Board member of Florida ACFE Chapter and well versed in IT systems, including creating proprietary models as part of testimony in various litigation cases as an expert witness as well as process flows in creating, developing and executing AML/FCPA engagements, IA projects, Risk Management Systems and initiatives, in the US, Latin America, Europe, Middle East and South Asia.

COMPLIANCE AND REGULATORY, CCO, FORMER REGULATOR

Erik Aschenbrenner - Erik Aschenbrenner is a Bates Compliance Solutions Consultant based in New York, with over 40 years of experience in the securities industry. Mr. Aschenbrenner began his career as an attorney with the SEC and subsequently moved to the private sector where he served as the Director of Investor Services for Integrated Resources, Associate General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer for The Equitable Life Assurance Society, Senior Vice President and Director of Compliance for Oppenheimer & Co., Senior VP and Corporate Compliance Officer for NationsBank, and Managing Director of Legal, Compliance and Regulatory Affairs for BlueStone Capital, also serving as the Chief Operating Officer of its online trading division. Mr. Aschenbrenner has also served as an Assistant Director of the NASD (FINRA) District 10 Office in New York City.

Carlos Morales - Carlos Morales is Bates Affiliate Expert with a broad and deep experience in providing legal advice and compliance support on a wide range of legal matters and products, businesses, services and operations for broker dealers, investment advisers and banks, including advice and specific expertise on the federal securities laws and rules and market practices, and banking laws and regulations. Mr. Morales began his career as a Staff Attorney at the SEC. During his long tenure at Merrill Lynch, Mr. Morales provided strategic legal advice and leadership for Strategic Initiatives, Global Markets and Investment Banking. He managed the legal and compliance functions-regulatory and transactional-for the ML Bank Group, ML Global Research and ML Investment Management. More recently, Mr. Morales has acted as corporate, legal, regulatory and compliance advisor for major financial services companies. He holds a Juris Doctorate from the Columbia University School of Law and a Master of Public Administration from the Woodrow Wilson School for Public and International affairs at Princeton University.

ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT STRATEGIES, RETAIL and INSTITUTIONAL DERIVATIVES, FUTURES

Richard Roscelli - Richard K. Roscelli is a Bates Affiliate Expert based in Henderson, NV. He brings to Bates over 20 years of experience in the development, execution, and education of alternative investment strategies, tactical financial planning and risk management. He has managed operations and colleagues for institutional and retail derivatives desks throughout the United States. Mr. Roscelli has also consulted in the development of trading and financial analysis software. He is a published commentator of articles, newsletters, and trading recommendations specializing in futures and other alternative investments. Additionally, Mr. Roscelli has created, taught and moderated a variety of live online webinars specializing in futures trading, market analysis and portfolio diversification.

Robert Schroeder - Bob Schroeder is a Bates Affiliate Expert in the areas of Financial Services Auditing and Compliance. Mr. Schroeder uses his 30-plus years of financial industry and CPA experience to provide consulting and expert testimony in the areas of Risk Governance Standards, Internal Control/FFEIC Requirements, Risk Management, Operational Risk & Efficiency, Anti-Money Laundering and Regulatory Compliance. He also has broad experience working with regulators and collaborating / interfacing with Management Committees in building and directing groups in Compliance and Internal Audit within US and international markets.

Jonathan Harris - Jon Harris is a Bates Affiliate Expert based in Minneapolis, MN. Over the course of his career, he has developed an exceptional depth of knowledge concerning the industry, its nuances and intricacies, and the law applicable to it. Mr. Harris' broad exposure to issues attendant to the offer and sale of securities and advisory services has led to his participation in numerous depositions, hearings and testimony appearances before various federal, state and industry tribunals. Mr. Harris is experienced in the management and operation of a registered Broker-Dealer and skilled in the handling of regulatory investigations and industry disputes. He also has experience drafting and implementing Compliance Policy and Procedures Manuals and provisions, and Best Practices guidelines. He has held position as the SEC and with the Brooklyn, NY district attorney's office and has served on the executive committee of the Legal and Compliance Division of SIFMA. He has held multiple senior in-house counsel positions with major financial firms, and positions with the SEC and with the Brooklyn, NY district attorney's office. He has also served on the executive committee of SIFMA-CL.

COMMERCIAL BANKING & SECURITIES TO LIFE INSURANCE AND STRUCTURED SETTLEMENTS

John Cochran - Mr. Cochran is a Bates Affiliate Expert based in Troy, Alabama. He uses his broad experience across industries to provide expert testimony and consult in matters ranging from Commercial Banking & Securities to Life Insurance and Structured Settlements. Mr. Cochran is co-founder and president of Structured Funding Group, a regional structured settlement firm. Since 1989, he has been engaged in the development and offering of the firm's services, analyzing case values, preparing settlement proposals and attending mediations. In addition to these day-to-day responsibilities, Mr. Cochran is also active as an expert witness in the area of structured settlements and annuities. He has appeared as such in structured settlement matters in numerous state and federal courts at hearings to approve settlements for minors and/or incompetent claimants. Mr. Cochran is also active as an expert witness in the area of structured settlements and annuities, appearing in numerous state and federal courts at hearings to approve structured matters settlements for minors and/or incompetent claimants.