NERDELLO.COM - Key Persons
Alan Kennedy is a Managing Director based in the firm's London office. He has nearly two decades of experience in conducting investigations across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Alan's practice includes reputation management and libel matters, international arbitration and asset tracing, sanctions exposure analyses, and FCPA-related investigations. His clients include family offices, public companies, litigation funders, and sovereign wealth funds.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director
- Managing Director & Head of the Washington, DC Office
Allison Everhardt is a Managing Director based in Washington, DC. With regional expertise in the Americas, she has extensive experience managing complex cross-jurisdictional investigations on behalf of large multinational corporations, law firms, and financial institutions. She routinely manages and leads reputational due diligence, white-collar criminal and litigation support, anti-corruption, asset tracing, and internal investigations, during which she draws on her extensive experience living and working in Latin America and Europe. Notable Latin American investigations in which Allison has played a key role include investigations into alleged violations of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, significant pre-acquisition due diligence matters, and internal investigations.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Managing Director & Head of the Los Angeles Office
- Managing Director at Nardello & Co
Amie Chang is a Managing Director at Nardello & Co. and the Head of the firm's Los Angeles office, where she leads complex, multi-jurisdictional due diligence, strategic intelligence, fraud, asset tracing and litigation support investigations. Prior to her return to the US, Amie lived and worked in Asia for over a decade.
Amie's experience includes overseeing multiple due diligence investigations on behalf of financial institutions that sought to better understand the owners of prospective investment targets or acquisition partners, oftentimes high-net-worth individuals in their own right with mysterious sources of wealth and political connections. She has also managed a civil litigation support matter on behalf of an Asia-based investor who sought to recover their investment into a fraudulent real estate investment scheme in the US that involved defendants with touchpoints in the US and Asia.
Job Titles:
- Certified Information Privacy Manager ( CIPM ), Internation Association of Privacy Professionals ( IAPP )
Job Titles:
- Head
- Managing Director
- Managing Director & Head of the New York Office
Chris Ribeiro is a Managing Director and the head of Nardello & Co.'s New York office. He has two decades of experience conducting sophisticated fact-finding and intelligence-collection investigations for government agencies, law firms, multinational corporations, investment funds, and nonprofit organizations.
Chris helps clients uncover hidden insights that enable smarter, more effective decision-making in the context of investments and transactions, high-stakes disputes, and internal or external threats. He has expertise in strategic intelligence collection and analysis, complex litigation support, fraud and corruption investigations, multi-jurisdictional due diligence, and technology-enabled research that includes threat monitoring and mitigation.
Chris has led engagements on six continents, serving clients across a wide range of industries, including entertainment, media and technology, retail, food and beverage, manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, and education.
Job Titles:
- Regional Managing Director of EMEA
Regional Managing Director of EMEA Chris Morgan Jones has over twenty-five years' experience leading complex multi-jurisdictional engagements, amongst them dispute support matters, fraud and corruption investigations, cybersecurity investigations, activist defense work, asset tracing/problematic debt recovery/enforcement matters, and reputational investigations. He has also conducted a large number of assignments for clients looking to better understand acquisition targets, competitor behavior, market dynamics and specific aspects of political or regulatory risk. As head of Nardello & Co.'s EMEA region, Morgan Jones oversees a team of investigators that advises and supports law firms, corporations, banks, governments, private equity firms, hedge funds, and high-net-worth individuals.
Morgan Jones led a broad and complex investigation into suspected corruption by the former management of a Middle Eastern state-owned company. This involved the simultaneous application of the full suite of investigative methods, including email review, interviewing, source intelligence, forensic accounting, analysis of financial flows, asset-tracing, open-source investigation, and extensive liaison with local law enforcement and the public prosecutor's office. The effort produced clear, admissible evidence of corruption and a comprehensive exposure of those who had instigated the scheme and benefited from it.
Morgan Jones investigated the legitimacy of a prominent insolvency administration process that some claimed had been intentionally skewed by a European government in favor of certain creditors for political purposes. The inquiry, which developed evidence of bias and secured the cooperation of witnesses who could support the case, formed the backbone of the client's case in arbitration.
Morgan Jones was engaged to demonstrate that the counterparty in a prominent piece of cross-territory litigation was funded, in part, by the criminal proceeds of high-level corruption in the country in question. This involved extensive identification and debriefing of witnesses, patient unpicking of complex offshore structures, and establishing to evidential standard the predicate crimes that generated the tainted funds.
In the context of a shadow hostile takeover, Morgan Jones led an investigation into the possibility of collusion between several new shareholders in a listed natural resources company. This inquiry established that the shareholders were, in fact, being controlled by a single entity that wished to disguise its interest and circumvent stock exchange regulations. Evidence of this allowed the client to mount a more focused and effective defense.
Chris Jones is the former worldwide Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of J Walter Thompson Co, one of the world's largest international advertising groups. He was the youngest person and first non-American to hold this position in the company's 140-year history. Chris is currently a trustee for the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and is a member of its Finance and Audit Committees. He is also a trustee of the Pew Charitable Trust.
Chris has developed an extensive range of business interests around the world. In financial services, he is an outside member of the Partner Board at pan-European private equity firm Motion Equity Partners and the Chairman of Results International, a global M&A advisory house specializing in marketing services. In healthcare, he is a member of the Board of Becton Dickinson and Co, a world leader in the manufacture of medical devices, diagnostic equipment and bio-science hardware, and a board member of the Oxford Musculo-Skeletal Clinic. Chris has also served - at various times - as a board member or adviser to: Central Trust plc, Xenogen of Alameda California, the Pavilion Clinic, Freedom Holdings, Webs Inc, Commarco, Debeers Diamond Jewellery and Marakon Associates.
In addition to his roles at IISS and Pew in the not-for-profit sector, Chris is Chair of the Governors at the Dragon School and of the Finance Committee at St Edward's School and a Trustee of the Ashmolean Museum. He sits on the Advisory Committee to the University Library at Cambridge, the Health Advisory Board at John Hopkins School of Public Health, and is Chair of the board at the Blackbird Academy Trust.
Chris is a graduate of Cambridge University.
Christopher Urben is a Managing Director based in Nardello & Co.'s Washington, DC office. With 25 years of global investigative experience with the US Drug Enforcement Administration, Chris has an incredible track record of leading sophisticated international money laundering and threat finance investigations.
Prior to joining the firm, Chris was responsible for developing and leading sensitive global undercover DEA operations that dismantled several of the most significant transnational criminal organizations. Having extensive working relationships with the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, he is proficient in building successful cases resulting in either plea deals or convictions.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Chief Executive Officer
- Chairman and CEO of Nardello & Co
- Our Founder
, served as an Assistant US Attorney in the Criminal Division of the Southern District of New York. When Dan created Nardello & Co., he used this experience to define the skills and attitudes which would be needed to make Nardello & Co. the best investigations firm in the world.
We believe that every client and every issue is unique and we place the highest value on our understanding of each and every client and our responsiveness to their needs. Eschewing formulaic approaches, Nardello & Co. develops bespoke, cost-effective investigative plans that place a premium on creativity, thoroughness, corroboration and analysis.
Dan Nardello is the Chairman and CEO of Nardello & Co., which Chambers and Partners rates as the preeminent investigative firm in the United States. Dan founded the firm in London in 2003, and it has since expanded to New York, its headquarters, Washington DC, Hong Kong, Dubai, Singapore and Los Angeles. He maintains an active presence in the firm's highest profile matters including activist defense, complex litigation and special investigations.
Dan has been consistently recognized as a Band 1 leading investigator by Chambers and Partners, which calls him "the gold standard for private investigators" and "the best in the business." According to Chambers, "talking to Dan is like talking to another lawyer at your firm who has expertise in investigative matters. He's a great sounding board. You think you want something, and he'll tell you what you actually want, and that's invaluable." Chambers also notes that Dan "is a particularly insightful strategist who "can be counted on to navigate challenging legal and business issues while maintaining the highest standards of professionalism and integrity."
Among his significant public matters, Dan was appointed by the government of Abu Dhabi as the independent investigator of allegations of abusive labour practices in the construction of New York University's Abu Dhabi campus. Dan was also named as the independent investigator to resolve issues arising from the settlement agreement between the State of New York and leading tobacco manufacturers. Currently, Dan leads the Nardello & Co. team engaged by the new leadership of FTX to investigate, among other things, the circumstances of its collapse and the location of its assets.
Dan has written and spoken on a wide range of topics, including the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, defending corporations from activist attacks, vetting board candidates in the #MeToo era, and conducting defense investigations in white collar cases. He created and teaches a New York- and California-certified CLE ethics course entitled Retaining Private Investigators: Ethical Considerations and Concern s.
Dan was named as the independent investigator to resolve conflicts arising from the settlement agreement between the State of New York and leading tobacco manufacturers.
Daria Plakhova-Freshville is a Managing Director based in the firm's London office. She has nearly two decades of investigative experience, including international asset tracing and judgement enforcement, fraud investigations, complex litigation support, disputes, integrity, competitor and reverse due diligence, reputation management, and political analysis. Daria has particular expertise in conducting global asset tracing investigations for leading law firms, high-net-worth individuals, international financial institutions, and major corporates. With a primary focus on Russia and the FSU, Daria's geographical expertise spans the wider EMEA region and North America. as well as multiple offshore jurisdictions.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director
- Federal Agent
- Managing Director, Latin America
Edgar Zurita is a Managing Director based in Nardello & Co.'s Washington, DC office. With over 20 years of global investigative, litigation, public policy, and law enforcement experience, Edgar possess an in-depth knowledge of Latin America's cultural and business landscape, as well as a solid track record of managing sophisticated projects with US and international law enforcement agencies.
Edgar's expertise includes coordinating complex multi-language and multi-jurisdictional international operations, including the supervision of matters involving government background checks, transnational investigations, and cybersecurity collaborations throughout the American continent.
Geoff Cruikshanks has assisted the firm in developing and implementing its international growth strategy since 2014. Based in Brussels and London, Geoff has extensive, multi-national experience in legal services, regulatory affairs, compliance policy and risk management. That experience, together with his deep knowledge of the legal and compliance issues facing multi-national corporations, is critical to ensuring Nardello & Co.'s services continue to meet the needs of General Counsels and compliance officers.
Geoff was General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer for Deutsche Post AG. He enjoyed a successful 32-year career at DHL and its parent company, Deutsche Post AG. Geoff began that career in 1982 as the organization's first international legal counsel and was instrumental in establishing its early legal and tax structure. He played a pivotal role as the company financed and built its early infrastructure of subsidiaries, agents, hubs, gateways and aircraft throughout the world. Geoff was influential in negotiating DHL's key strategic and business partnerships in the 1980s and 90s, many of which still exist today. In 2003, Geoff was appointed Executive Vice President, Legal Services Logistics, Insurance and Risk Management for the Deutsche Post Group and in 2011 became General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer. His most recent achievements include building and leading Deutsche Post's world-class compliance organization.
Geoff, a graduate of Cambridge University, is a qualified UK solicitor and is fluent in French. He started his professional career with the London law firm Rowe & Maw.
Job Titles:
- Adjunct Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School
- Partner & Counsel to the CEO
Based in Nardello & Co.'s New York office, Howard is a Partner and Counsel to the CEO of Nardello & Co. Howard supports the firm's global practices, including white collar criminal defense; anti-corruption and fraud investigations; civil litigation and arbitration support; and monitorship and compliance efforts. Howard also advises the firm on major strategic initiatives. He has led investigations for cryptocurrency exchange FTX and the unsecured creditors of Infowars creator Alex Jones, as well as other significant matters for corporate and individual clients in criminal, litigation, and bankruptcy proceedings.
Howard joined Nardello & Co. after an acclaimed career as a leader, investigator, and trial lawyer in federal, state, and local prosecutors' offices. At the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, where he served as a white collar crime prosecutor and later as Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division and Criminal Health Care Fraud Coordinator, Howard investigated and prosecuted individual and corporate wrongdoers responsible for major corruption scandals and financial crimes, including those involved in the largest fraud, kickback, and money laundering scheme ever perpetrated against New York City; Sheldon Silver, the longtime leader of the New York State Legislature, who received millions of dollars in bribes; and corporate executives at a major pharmaceutical company who carried out a $10 million kickback and money laundering scheme. Howard later served as Senior Enforcement Counsel to the New York State Attorney General, where he led investigations into workplace misconduct at The Weinstein Company, wrongdoing by opioid manufacturers and distributors, and other significant matters. Subsequently, Howard became Special Counsel to the District Attorney of Suffolk County, New York, where he supervised all corruption, fraud, and money laundering investigations and created the office's hate crime and wrongful conviction review units.
Since 2016, Howard has been an Adjunct Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, where he teaches an advanced seminar on corruption law. He has spoken and written frequently on investigation- and corruption-related topics. He also serves as a Commissioner of the New York City Mayor's Commission to Combat Police Corruption.
Howard is a graduate of Yale University and the New York University School of Law, and a former law clerk to the Hon. José A. Cabranes of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the Hon. Victor Marrero of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
A Managing Director based in New York, James Nauwens is a respected and tenacious problem solver. His insight and know-how are a tremendous resource for Nardello & Co., where Jim leads investigative teams on litigation support and security-related matters.
At Nardello & Co. and throughout his private sector career, Jim has successfully applied his public service expertise to a range of matters, including corporate and financial fraud, international investigations, civil and criminal litigation support, internal theft, electronic surveillance countermeasures, and security consulting. He is an expert interviewer, having conducted thousands of witness interviews over the course of his career, and has experience in collecting physical and electronic evidence and presenting trial testimony based on his investigations.
Jenna Burton is a Managing Director based in the firm's London office. She has more than a decade of experience in business intelligence, investigations, and litigation/arbitration support, with a particular focus on the Middle East, Africa, and Europe. Specializing in complex global disputes, her work includes leading investigations in support of international arbitrations heard in ICSID, the ICC, UNCITRAL, the LCIA, and local tribunals, with individual claims ranging in value from millions to approximately $1 billion. Jenna has also lead investigations and provided evidence for litigation in the US, UK, and other jurisdictions. This includes successful disclosure applications under §1782. She has also provided statements and evidence submitted to OFAC, the NCA, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and other government and multilateral authorities, both in support and in defense of allegations.
Jenna's investigations have involved government corruption, bribery (including FCPA and UK Bribery Act), money laundering, terrorism financing, sanctions violations, embezzlement, and self-dealing. She has worked extensively on matters concerning Iraq and Kurdistan, as well as the energy and telecommunications sectors.
Jenna has conducted asset-tracing investigations spanning offshore jurisdictions, MENA, Africa, Europe, and the US, including against debtors undergoing restructuring or liquidation. She has extensive experience in recovery against sovereigns, identifying assets exempt from sovereign immunity and in enforcement-friendly jurisdictions.
Her fieldwork includes identifying witnesses and whistleblowers and conducting dozens of interviews in English and Arabic. She has also worked closely with communications teams in supporting clients' PR strategies.
John Auerbach, a Managing Director in the New York office, has over 20 years of experience managing complex domestic and international corporate investigations and litigation, compliance, and M&A advisory projects. He specializes in corporate integrity inquiries related to third-party risk management, financial fraud, and anti-bribery/corruption, anti-money laundering, and sanctions compliance. As a forensic investigator and business intelligence specialist, he has led numerous high-profile investigations, compliance reviews, and accounting restatement matters around the world in response to US and overseas regulatory enforcement actions, including those related to securities fraud, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and anti-money laundering, anti-trust, anti-dumping, and sanctions violations. He has led notable engagements within the life sciences, financial services, consumer product, and technology sectors.
Job Titles:
- Adjunct Professor
- Managing Director
- Managing Director, Digital Investigations & Cyber Defense
Managing Director Joseph Pochron works in the Digital Investigations & Cyber Defense practice of Nardello & Co. With more than 20 years of experience in digital forensics, cybercrime investigations, eDiscovery, and cyber incident response, Joe has investigated or managed thousands of cases involving the collection and analysis of computer, mobile device, network, and cloud-based data.
Joe routinely consults with clients regarding digital forensics, insider threats, data privacy, incident response and electronic discovery matters and has testified as a digital forensics expert numerous times in local, state, and federal cases. Additionally, he frequently provides clients with expert affidavits or expert forensic reports in support of their digital or cyber investigative needs. He has managed the preservation, analysis, and review of electronically stored information in a wide range of matters including investigations, independent litigation, regulatory compliance, and internal inquiries.
A frequent speaker at technical and legal conferences, Joe has served as an adjunct professor for several years, teaching college-level courses on digital forensics, cybercrime, and data privacy. He helped start a degree program in digital forensics and was the director of digital forensics for a university.
Joe is a graduate of Moravian College, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice, and of DeSales University. where he earned his Master of Arts in Criminal Justice.
King Chan - Managing Director
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Managing Director
- Associate Managing Director in Nardello & Co
King Chan is an Associate Managing Director in Nardello & Co.'s Hong Kong office, where he leads due diligence, asset tracing, fraud, and litigation-support investigations.
Job Titles:
- Non - Executive Chairman of Nardello & Co
Kohtaro Miyagi is the non-executive Chairman of Nardello & Co.'s Asia Pacific Practice. Kohtaro has a wealth of global corporate experience accumulated during more than 40 years working for Canon Inc., one of Japan's most prestigious corporations. This included serving as a member of the Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed company's board of directors from 1995 to 2001. Kohtaro spent approximately half of his career with Canon overseas, initially in Holland before further assignments as Managing Director and CEO of Canon Australia, Canon Singapore and Canon Hong Kong. He also sat on the board of the Japan Corporate Auditors Association from 2001 to 2004. Upon his retirement from Canon in 2004, Kohtaro was an official Advisor to the company for five years, and concurrently spent two years lecturing MBA students at Tokyo's Aoyama Gakuin University in strategic marketing. In 2006, he was appointed a non-executive director of Tokyo-listed Sumida Corporation, a global manufacturer of inductive components and modules. He held this position until 2014.
Job Titles:
- Latin Lawyer - GIR Live Anti - Corruption & Investigations
Liam Hanlon is a Managing Director based in New York. With experience managing complex investigations on behalf of law firms, financial institutions, and multinational corporations, Liam lends his expertise to matters involving white collar criminal litigation support, asset tracing, fraud investigations, reputational due diligence, and corporate control contests. He also plays a vital role in the firm's bankruptcy and insolvency practice, leading investigations to recover assets and uncover fraud.
Liam is helping to lead the firm's work as a financial advisor to creditors of Infowars creator Alex Jones, where he is helping family members of victims of the Sandy Hook massacre maximize their recovery from Jones in bankruptcy proceedings.
He has a strong grasp on the spectrum of open-source research techniques and works on some of the firm's most multifaceted US investigations. Liam has developed innovative social media techniques in support of trial and witness preparation and has experience navigating the new and decentralized social media landscape.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Nardello & Co
Lucy Fato has been a member of the Nardello & Co. Advisory Board since December 2017, shortly after she stepped down as Head of the Americas and General Counsel to the firm. From October 2023 through March 2024, Lucy was Vice Chair of AIG. For six years prior to that, she oversaw the global legal, compliance, regulatory, communications and government affairs functions of AIG as Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Global Head of Communications & Government Affairs. In 2014 and 2015, Lucy was Executive Vice President & General Counsel of McGraw Hill Financial, now S&P Global, and, for nine years prior to that, was Vice President, Deputy General Counsel & Corporate Secretary at Marsh McLennan. Lucy began her career in 1991 at Davis Polk & Wardwell, where she spent fourteen years, including five as a partner in the capital markets group.
In 2009, Lucy was inducted into the YWCA-NYC Academy of Women Leaders. She is a trustee of the Randall's Island Park Alliance, a non-profit organization that works with the City of New York and local communities to maintain the park. Owing to her dedication to corporate ethics, she was named by Ethisphere Magazine as one of the "Attorneys Who Matter" in 2015 and again in 2017. From 2018 through 2021, Lucy was named by the National Association of Corporate Directors as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the Boardroom. In 2021, she joined the Board of the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation. In 2023, she was named a Legend in the Law by the Burton Awards and became a member of the Advisory Board for the Harvard Law School Center on the Legal Profession.
Lucy is a frequent speaker on topics such as risk and crisis management and communications, corporate governance, and legal, compliance and regulatory best practices. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Pittsburgh with a BA in business and economics, and received her JD from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.
Matt Symonds is a former senior partner at the strategy consulting firm Bain & Co, where he ran the UK Financial Services practice. Matt is also Chair of Nottingham Contemporary, a leading UK contemporary art institution, and is a trustee for the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), where he is a member of its Finance and Audit Committees. He is also on the Board of Trustees for Action for ME, a UK-based charity.
Matt has an extensive range of business interests. In financial services, he is the Senior Independent Director and RemCo Chair for Chetwood, one of the UK's leading fintech challenger banks. In search, he is Vice Chair at Stonehaven International, a leading global executive search boutique. Matt also independently advises investors, boards, and management teams on issues of strategy, organization, growth, and crisis management.
Matt co-founded Alice Black Art in 2017, a contemporary art gallery based in Soho, London. The gallery works with a range of emerging and established artists in paint, sculpture, video, and performance arts, and has won wide acclaim for its program and approach.
Matt is a graduate of Oxford University and has an MBA from INSEAD.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Managing Director
- Associate Managing Director & Head of Political Risk and Strategic Intelligence, APAC
Max Abbott is an Associate Managing Director and leads Nardello & Co.'s Political Risk Strategic Intelligence practice for the Asia-Pacific region. Based in Asia for the past decade, he also plays a key role in the firm's litigation & arbitration support, criminal defense, and anti-corruption due diligence investigations.
A lawyer by training, Max has a background in international law, development, and government relations. He has conducted complex investigations in over a dozen jurisdictions across APAC, working collaboratively with global and regional law firms, multinational corporations, financial institutions and intergovernmental organizations. Max has developed particular expertise helping clients navigate the political risks associated with permitting and licensing, forming joint ventures with local partners, and identifying hidden government interests in private corporations
Job Titles:
- Partner & Chief Risk and Compliance Officer
Based in New York, Michael Ramos is a Partner & Chief Risk and Compliance Officer at Nardello & Co. A member of the firm's Litigation Support Practice, Michael's legal and investigative career has spanned 30 years. At Nardello & Co., he has managed large litigation support investigations across multiple jurisdictions involving internal fraud, defense against RICO actions, libel cases, and criminal defense matters.
Michael James is a Senior Counsel based in the New York office where he is responsible for conducting compliance reviews to evaluate effectiveness of corporate compliance programs, identify gaps, strengthen processes, and resolve issues with clear practical solutions.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director
- Managing Director & Head of the Hong Kong Office
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer
- Partner
- President
Job Titles:
- Managing Director & Head of the Singapore Office
Job Titles:
- Chief Professional Officer
- Partner, Chief Professional Officer & Regional Head, Americas
- Regional Office
Financial Times July 22, 2019 If women are so great why don't more of them run the place?
Job Titles:
- Chief Legal Officer
- Partner