Burt Wiand began his legal career by spending almost 14 years with the SEC’s Division of Enforcement in Washington, D.C. In 1989 he joined one of Florida’s largest and most prestigious law firms and built a nationally recognized financial services and complex litigation practice. In 2009 members of that practice formed Wiand Guerra King P.A. After leading WGK for 11 years, Burton W. Wiand PA was formed where Mr. Wiand continues limited aspects of his former practice.

After more than 40 years of practice, Mr. Wiand is known as a lawyer that businesses and individuals involved in business turn to when dealing with the most difficult of legal circumstances. His practice has included white collar criminal defense, defense of regulatory matters involving governmental agencies and self-regulatory organizations and complex litigation matters that threatened the business and reputation of his clients.

Burt’s practice has involved the defense of the president of a brokerage firm in a major anti-trust Grand Jury investigation conducted by the Anti-Trust Division’s New York office, the defense and trial of a major administrative proceeding brought by the SEC against a New York Stock Exchange member, the defense and trial of a FINRA proceeding brought against the chief executive officer of a mid-western municipal bond dealer, the defense and trial of a number of SEC enforcement proceedings, the defense of a senior executive of a payment processor in an FTC federal court action, the defense of securities and other financial services class actions and derivative lawsuits, and the representation and defense of financial institution clients in state regulatory investigations and proceedings throughout the country. He has also handled over a hundred arbitration proceedings.  Mr. Wiand has also won million-dollar jury verdicts and settlements for plaintiffs he represented.

Burt has broad experience in FCPA matters that began before the law was enacted. After bringing many “foreign payments” cases for the SEC he assisted with the creation of the FCPA and was lead counsel on the first FCPA case filed by the SEC. He continued throughout his career representing clients in FCPA matters.

In addition to representing clients in defense litigation, regulatory and law enforcement actions, Burt is often called upon by his clients to provide advice with respect to compliance and corporate governance matters and to conduct internal investigations regarding corporate misconduct involving potential major liabilities. He also provides expert testimony in connection with such matters and has been asked by regulators to review matters of corporate and regulatory compliance.

Beginning shortly after he left the SEC at the suggestion of the SEC, Burt was appointed by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida as the Receiver in a securities fraud action brought by the Commission.  More recently he as at the suggestion of the SEC, FTC, CFTC and the Florida Office of Financial Regulation been appointed by state and federal courts as a receiver in matters involving Ponzi schemes and consumer frauds.  These cases have involved hundreds of millions of dollars, Mr. Wiand’s efforts have resulted in the recovery of distribution of millions of dollars investor and consumer victims.  His receivership cases have also resulted in establishing major legal precedents relating to receiverships and fraudulent transfer recoveries. 

A frequent speaker to financial services and regulatory groups, Burt was the 2009 keynote speaker for the North American Securities Administrators Association’s national broker-dealer training conference. He was a contributing editor to the Securities Litigation Commentator. He is the author of Securities Arbitration, Practice and Forms, 3d Edition (Juris Publishing 2020).  Burt received a B.A. in history from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, and his law degree from the University of Georgia. He lives on the beach, is married, has four children, two grandchildren and is an avid soccer fan.

REPRESENTATIVE EXPERIENCE

  • Appointed Receiver for the $400 million Arthur Nadel ponzi investment fraud in 2009
  • Appointed Receiver for matters instituted by the State of Florida, the Federal Trade Commission, CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission
  • Represented corporations and directors in securities class actions
  • Defended securities actions that resulted in a ruling that indexed annuities are not securities
  • Successfully defended a major New York Stock Exchange brokerage firm in an SEC administrative proceeding involving defalcation by representatives and supervision
  • Represented brokerage firms and individuals in hundreds of arbitration proceedings before the NYSE, FINRA, AAA, and MSRB
  • Regularly handled the defense of SEC and SRO regulatory investigations and defends brokerage firms and associated individuals in connection with SEC and SRO actions
  • Defended a brokerage firm and its president in connection with major DOJ antitrust investigations relating to municipal bond offerings
  • Defended a corporate executive in an FTC injunctive action relating to deceptive trade practices
  • Has handled over 100 arbitration proceedings and is a recognized authority regarding arbitration and the law of arbitration
  • Broad experience in FCPA matters for over 35 years  

SIGNIFICANT REPORTED DECISIONS

  • Washington Square Sec. Inc. v. Aune, 385 F.3d 432 (4th Cir. 2004)
  • Ungerleider v. Gordon, 214 F.3d 1279 (11th Cir. 2000)
  • Tourdo v. Merrill Lynch Pierce, 1998 WL 304133 (11th Cir. May 28, 1998 ); affirming, Tourdo v. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, No. 93-484-CIV-T-24, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22847 (M.D. Fla. Dec. 17, 1996 )
  • Jones v. Childers, 18 F.3d 899 (11th Cir. 1994)
  • Greening v. Western Reserve Life Assurance Co., — F. Supp. 2d —, 2006 LEXIS 52876 (M.D. La. July 20, 2006)
  • Malone v. Addison Ins. Mktg., No. 3:01-CV-259(H), 225 F. Supp. 2d 743 (W.D. Ky. 2002);motion to dismiss granted by Malone v. Addison Ins. Mktg., 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19543 (W.D. Ky., Sept. 30, 2002)
  • Investors Capital Corp. v. Brown, 145 F. Supp. 2d 1302 (M.D. Fla. 2001)
  • SEC v. Digital Lightwave, 196 F.R.D. 698 (M.D. Fla. 2000)
  • SEC v. Carter Hawley Hales Stores, Inc., F.Supp. 1248,(C.D. Cal. 1984)
  • Raymond James Fin. Servs. v. Saldukas, 896 So. 2d 707 (Fla. 2005)
  • In re Raymond James Fin. Servs., Inc., No. 3-11692, Release No. 296, 2005 SEC LEXIS 2368 (Sept. 15, 2005)
  • Dist. Bus. Conduct Comm. v. Merten, Complaint No. C8A950030, 1997 NASD Discipl. LEXIS 71
  • (NBCC Oct. 31, 1997)

RECEIVERSHIP DECISIONS

  • Wiand v. Dancing $, LLC, United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit. March 10, 2016 645 Fed.Appx. 891 2016 WL 909369
  • Wiand v. Dancing $, LLC, United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit. August 27, 2014 578 Fed.Appx. 938 2014 WL 4215102
  • Lee v. Wiand, United States District Court, M.D. Florida, Tampa Division. July 03, 2018 603 B.R. 161 2018 WL 8548946
  • Wiand v. Meeker,  United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit. July 15, 2014 572 Fed.Appx. 689 2014 WL 3411070
  • Wiand v. Lee, United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit. June 02, 2014 753 F.3d 1194 2014 WL 2446084
  • Wiand v. Cloud, United States District Court, M.D. Florida, Tampa Division. January 23, 2013 919 F.Supp.2d 1319 2013 WL 247004
  • Wiand v. Buhl, United States District Court, M.D. Florida, Tampa Division. January 11, 2013 Not Reported in Fed. Supp. 2013 WL 12198453
  • Wiand v. EFG Bank, United States District Court, M.D. Florida, Tampa Division. February 08, 2012 Not Reported in F.Supp.2d 2012 WL 750447

RECEIVERSHIPS APPOINTMENTS

  • SEC v. Captain Crab, Inc., 655 F. Supp. 615 (S.D.N.Y. 1986)
  • SEC v. HKW Trading, LLC, et al., Case No. 8:05-cv-1076-T-24MSS [Appointed 2/22/06]
  • Federal Trade Commission v. Mortgage Foreclosure Solutions et al., Case No. 8:08-cv-388-T-23EAJ(M.D. Fla.) [Appointed 1/8/09]
  • Securities and Exchange Commission v. A. Nadel, et al., Case No. 8:09-cv-0087-T-26TBM (M.D. Fla.) [Appointed 1/21.09]
  • Federal Trade Commission v. Resort Solution Trust, Inc., Lincoln Renwick II, & Anthony Talavera, Case No. 8:13-cv-01329-T-33TMB (M.D. Fla.). [Appointed 7/19/11]
  • Federal Trade Commission v. National Solutions, LLC, et al., Case No. 11-cv-1131-ORL-22-GJK (M.D. Fla.) [Appointed 8/9/11]
  • State of Florida, Office of Financial Regulation v. Tri-Med Corp. et al., Case No. 14-1695-CI (Sixth Judicial Cir. Court, Florida)[Appointed 3/5/14]
  • FTC v. EM Systems & Services, LLC et al., Case No. 8:15-cv-01417-SDM-AEP (M.D. Fla.) [Appointed 6/16/15]
  • State of Florida, Office of Financial Regulation, v. Universal Luxury Coaches, LLC, Case No. 04-CA-2130-16-W (18th Judicial Circuit Court, Seminole County, Florida) [Appointed 9/15/16]
  • Federal Trade Commission v. NPB Advertising, Inc. et al., Case No. 8:14-cv-1155-T-23TGW (M.D. Fla.) [Appointed 11/23/16]
  • Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Oasis International Group, Limited et al., Case No. 8:19-cv-00886 (M.D. Fla) [Appointed 4/19]
  • SEC v. EquiAlt LLC et al., 8:20-cv-325-T-35AEP (M.D. Fla 2020) [Appointed 2/14/20]

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

  • Fowler White Boggs, Shareholder and Leader of Financial Services Practice Group 1989-2009
  • Macfarlane, Ferguson, Allison and Kelly
    Partner 1984-1989
  • United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Division of Enforcement
    1971-1984; Assistant Chief Trial Counsel; Senior Counsel to Associate Director; Branch Chief, Branch of Criminal References and Special Proceedings; Special Counsel to Assistant Director

PRESENTATIONS

  • “Federal Equity Receiverships—Toto we are not in Bankruptcy anymore” Federal Bar Association Annual Conference 2019
  • NAFER Regional Conference, Miami, Florida 2017—Federal Equity Receiverships
  • NAFER Annual Conference, Washington, DC.  “The End Game: Fairness in Distributing Receivership Funds” 2016
  • “Dealing with Regulators in an Environment of Financial Crises,” Co-Speaker, ACC West Central Florida Chapter Meeting, Tampa, FL, June 18, 2009
  • 2009 Broker Dealer Training Conference., Keynote Speaker, North American Securities Administrators Association, Tampa, FL, June 10-12, 2009
  • “Arbitration – An Alternative Method of Dispute Resolution with Teeth,” Civil Seminar for the Federal Bar Association Tampa Bay Chapter 2008.
  • “Trouble: How To Avoid It And What To Do When It Arrives,” Florida Securities Dealers Association, Regional Conference, 2007
  • Interview on CNBC regarding Insider Trading with CNBC’s Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, December 4, 2006.
  • Accounting Controls Seminar, Panelist, Executive Enterprises, Inc.
  • University of Tulsa, Principal Speaker, Third Annual Conference of Accountants
  • Annual Convention, Principal Speaker, Dallas Society of Certified Public Accountants
  • Federal Bar Association Conference on White Collar Crime, Principal Speaker
  • Securities Regulation, Guest Lecturer, Penn State University
  • Sixth Annual Conference of Legal Problems and Bank Regulation, Panelist, Law Journal Seminar-Press
  • National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc., Arbitration & Mediation – Instructor NASD Advanced Arbitrator Training Courses

PUBLICATIONS

  • Contributing Legal Editor, Securities Litigation Commentator
  • Author, Securities Arbitration, Practice and Forms 3d Edition (Juris Publishing 2020)

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

  • American Bar Association, Subcommittee on Broker-Dealer Litigation
  • Association of Securities and Exchange Commission Alumni, Inc., Trustee, Atlanta Division
  • District of Columbia Bar Association
  • Arbitrator, FINRA
  • Arbitrator, National Futures Association
  • SIFMA, Legal and Compliance Division
  • Stetson University College of Law, Adjunct Professor, Securities Regulation (1987-1990)

PRACTICE AREAS

  • Securities and Financial Services Litigation and Arbitration
  • Securities Law and Corporate Finance
  • Federal, State and SRO Regulatory matters
  • White Collar Crime, Government Investigations, Corporate Compliance and Ethics
  • Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
  • Class Action Litigation
  • Receiverships
  • Mediation

EDUCATION

  • J.D., University of Georgia School of Law, 1971
  • B.A., University of the South, 1968

BAR ADMISSIONS

  • Florida
  • District of Columbia
  • Georgia (Emeritus)

COURT ADMISSIONS

  • Supreme Court of the United States
  • Florida Supreme Court
  • Florida State Courts
  • Georgia State Courts
  • District of Columbia; Superior Court, Court of Appeals
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit
  • U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
  • U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida
  • U.S. District Court, Northern District of Florida
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida
  • U.S. District Court, Southern District of Georgia
  • U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia
  • U.S. Tax Court
  • U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Middle District of Florida

DISTINCTIONS

  • AV Preeminent Rating™ Martindale-Hubbell (25 years)
  • The Best Lawyers in America
  • Certified Mediator, Florida Supreme Court
  • Florida Legal Elite, Florida Trend Magazine
  • Florida Super Lawyers
  • Tampa Bay’s Top Lawyers by Tampa Bay Magazine,