Digital Assets and Cryptocurrency - SEC Regulation and Enforcement

Scott Walker is the Chief Compliance Officer at Andreessen Horowitz. Scott is responsible for a16z's regulatory compliance. The CCO Dept. supports the enterprise and investing verticals (e.g., Crypto, Biotech-Health, Gaming, Consumer, Growth, etc.) within the firm.

Ken Herzinger is a partner in the Investigations and White Collar Defense practice of Paul Hastings and is based in the firm’s San Francisco office. His practice focuses on Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigations and enforcement actions, internal investigations, and securities class actions.
Mr. Herzinger has 20 years of experience in private practice and has handled a wide range of cases and investigations, including in cybersecurity, blockchain, cryptocurrency, and SEC BSA/AML enforcement, as well as more traditional areas such as accounting and financial statement fraud, financial reporting and controls, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), insider trading, and Dodd-Frank and SOX whistleblower retaliation claims. He served as an attorney in the SEC’s Enforcement Division prior to joining private practice.

A co-leader of the firm's Blockchain team, Teresa Goody Guill?n has a broad securities, litigation/investigations and corporate practice that includes representing businesses and individuals in securities enforcement and other government investigations and conducting investigations for corporate board committees and companies. She is a former litigation counsel for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in its Office of the General Counsel, nationally regarded for the depth of her knowledge of the federal securities laws. Teresa also counsels on general corporate, securities and compliance issues, as well as capital raises under Regulations S, D, A and CF. Teresa’s experience includes emerging issues associated with blockchain, cryptocurrencies and digital assets, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), web 3.0, DeFi platforms and alternative trading systems (ATSs).
Teresa has extensive experience in representing private and public companies, financial institutions, investment managers, boards of directors, corporate officers and others in complex financial, disclosure and corporate governance matters. As a certified fraud examiner and holding an MBA, she brings her financial expertise and business acumen to her investigations and defense strategies, as well as to her corporate practice. Clients often call on her combined business and legal background, along with her astute judgment and solutions-oriented, pragmatic approach. As a recognized leader in securities enforcement, regulatory compliance, corporate governance and crisis management, Teresa has appeared on CNBC, Fox Business Channel and Bloomberg. She is called upon to serve as an expert in court cases on corporate governance and fiduciary duties, and lectures at Georgetown McDonough School of Business on corporate governance, mitigating corporate risk and entrepreneurship. Teresa is a Cryptocurrency Tracing Certified Examiner (CTCE).

Abe Chernin’s primary areas of focus include consumer finance, banking, and real estate. Mr. Chernin has extensive experience with FinTech, asset-backed securities, private equity and venture capital, corporate and asset valuation, and general damages.

Mr. Chernin is the head of Cornerstone Research’s consumer finance practice. He has provided expertise for mortgage originators, servicers, and appraisers; credit card companies; student lenders; small dollar lenders; insurers; and retail and consumer banks. Across numerous consulting engagements, Mr. Chernin has analyzed business practices, credit decisions, payment/ACH issues, loss causation, damages, class certification issues, professional liability claims, and regulatory investigations. These projects have required careful evaluation of large datasets, sizable document production, or both.

Mr. Chernin plays a key role in the firm’s real estate practice, consulting on a wide variety of commercial and residential real estate transactions. He has significant experience with equity and debt project financing, real estate investments, and structured asset-backed securities. Mr. Chernin has assessed development projects in the context of industry standards and evaluated damages claims. His work on real estate investment trusts (REITs) includes extensive consulting on cases involving valuation, financial statements, and industry trends.

In support of Cornerstone Research’s FinTech capabilities, Mr. Chernin leads matters related to crypto token categorization, cryptocurrency exchanges, initial coin offerings (ICOs) and other forms of equity crowdfunding, peer-to-peer lending, and commercial uses for blockchain technology.

Mr. Chernin has given presentations on the economics of ICOs and cryptocurrency exchanges, and coauthored publications on the topic, including “Economic Considerations for ICO Regulation and Litigation” in Bloomberg Securities Law Daily. In addition, he has published research on the regulation of failed banks. His coauthored chapter, “Bank Failures: Regulatory Actions and Litigation,” appears in the fifth edition of Litigation Services Handbook: The Role of the Financial Expert.

Mr. Chernin serves on the governing board of the Shriver Center on Poverty Law, a nonprofit focused on bringing economic justice to communities affected by poverty.

Prior to joining Cornerstone Research, Mr. Chernin worked in the capital markets section of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and at Citigroup Asset Management.

Steven Buchholz is an Assistant Regional Director for Enforcement in the SEC’s San Francisco Regional Office. He has been on the SEC’s Enforcement staff since 2004 and a member of the Market Abuse Unit since its formation in 2010. Steven is also a member of the SEC’s Cyber Unit. His matters have included investigations and enforcement actions involving market access violations, insider trading, account intrusions and market manipulation, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations, offering frauds, and broker-dealer registration and recordkeeping violations.
Before joining the Commission, Steven was a litigator with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in Palo Alto. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Minnesota Law School and was a law clerk for Chief Judge Roger Wollman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Before law school, he was a Fulbright scholar at the Universit?t G?ttingen in Germany.