Mr. Westerman is a leading forensic accounting and internal investigations expert with more than 25 years of experience working on engagements in the US and around the world. He leads Secretariat’s Global Investigations & Disputes practice, which includes consulting and expert services that address complex business challenges regarding financial reporting and accounting issues, governmental and regulatory inquires, fraud and corruption, and white-collar crime.
San Francisco
Mr. Westerman is a leading forensic accounting and internal investigations expert with more than 25 years of global experience, and he currently leads Secretariat’s Global Investigations & Disputes practice.
Mr. Westerman has extensive experience handling high-profile matters, and he is frequently engaged by outside counsel, companies and board of director committees to investigate issues that arise from whistleblower allegations, government inquiries, short sellers and independent auditor concerns related to accounting fraud, financial reporting misconduct, and misappropriation of assets. Mr. Westerman has led projects across the U.S. and abroad, covering issues such as revenue recognition, reserves, taxes, embezzlement, insider trading, FCPA violations and other bribery allegations, sanctions and export controls, asset tracing, theft of intellectual property, and M&A fraud. He also assists companies with materiality assessments, financial restatements, and internal control and remediation measures.
Mr. Westerman is also regularly retained in various securities litigation, white-collar defense and other dispute matters surrounding auditing, accounting issues and alleged fraud.
Throughout his career, he has assisted counsel, buyers, and sellers with working capital adjustments, post-closing balance sheet adjustments, earn out calculations, and breaches of reps and warranties of all sizes, including disputed amounts in excess of a billion dollars. In addition, he has served as the neutral accounting arbiter adjudicating these disputes.
Mr. Westerman has provided expert testimony in depositions, arbitrations, and Federal and state courts, and he has served as an arbiter, special master, and third-party neutral in various engagements. Throughout his career, he has participated in numerous speaking panels and other presentations regarding forensic accounting topics.
In a notable recent engagement, Mr Westerman led a forensic team assisting outside counsel and Supermicro’s Special Committee of the board of directors to investigate and address concerns related to management integrity, revenue recognition, related parties, and export controls and sanctions.
Before joining Secretariat, Mr. Westerman held leadership roles at FTI Consulting, and he was a partner in Deloitte’s forensic accounting practice.
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