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Regulators and prosecutors often work together when building a case. It is important to approach any regulatory matter using the same methodology as your regulator. It is critical to be aware of all facets of a criminal or regulatory inquiry. Developing a good relationship, communicating and working in lockstep with all agencies involved is critical to the outcome of any inquiry. Tendy Law Office represents both corporate and individual clients in a wide range of regulatory matters. Many of our matters involve parallel investigations by authorities in the United States and around the world.

Noteworthy Matters

  • Presently representing the chairman of the board of a failed New York bank regarding all criminal and regulatory matters.
  • Analyzed and drafted policies and implementing procedures relating to the anti-money laundering compliance of a global bank. The matter was the result of regulatory and government scrutiny in the wake of a global money laundering scandal. Collaborated with and interviewed all levels of management and staff to ensure no gaps existed in the design and implementation of procedures.
  • Advised the compliance officers of several small financial institutions in response to issues ranging from significant crises to traditional bank regulatory matters.

Regulatory Relationship Management

  • We support client’s relationships with regulators by fostering the essence of the regulatory relationship – trust. We practice before all major bank and securities regulators, including the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the New York State Banking Department, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Securities and Exchange Commission and the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD).

Anti-money Laundering Programs

  • Know Your Customer and Suspicious Activity
    AML programs should provide easy to understand guidance to everyone in your institution.
  • The best money an institution can spend is to obtain an independent assessment of its AML program. Financial Institutions ideally should take a proactive approach to identify internal weaknesses in evaluating customer information.
  • Sometimes, no matter what programs are in place, things go wrong.
  • Tendy Law Office works with institutions to respond quickly and aggressively to a regulatory inquiry and take corrective action.
  • Our programs are individually tailored to each financial institution and take into account the critical aspects of Know Your Customer obligations. We then develop a program that includes a practical approach to compliance. We can help you analyze your existing program to create a risk based protocol. We use a practical, holistic approach to develop or restructure AML policies. Our goal is to create policies and procedures that are easy to understand and user friendly.
  • Whether to identify weakness in an existing anti-money laundering program or to create a program from the ground up, we put together teams of experts who can identify and analyze all areas of vulnerability.

Securities Industry Investigations

  • Tendy Law Office helps broker/dealers respond to a current inquiry by state or federal regulators. We have extensive experience with the investigative and compliance aspects of the following securities-related issues: Insider Trading, Supervision, Market Timing/Late Trading, Sales Practice, Financial Operations, Order Handling and Fraud & Misconduct. Sheila Tendy can draw on her extensive industry knowledge to assist clients in assessing its compliance infrastructure.

Mortgage Banks

  • Tendy Law Office has a special expertise in mortgage backed securities and mortgage fraud. While at the New York State Banking Department, she started a multi-agency mortgage fraud task force in collaboration with the FBI. Her article, “Protecting Wholesalers from Fraud”, Mortgage Banking Magazine, December 1998 has proven timeless in its approach to the problem of mortgage fraud.  “Consider what might happen if a multibillion-dollar hedge fund suddenly found its huge portfolio of mortgage-backed securities was filled with bad paper.  If it could not absorb the losses, the federal government and ultimately the tax payers, might be forced into a bailout, or the fund’s failure could launch a destructive tsunami that drowns the economy.”
  • Ms. Tendy has worked on major mortgage fraud investigations as both a regulator and in the private sector. Tendy has spoken on the subject of mortgage fraud to the Mortgage Guarantee Insurance Company and The Mortgage Brokers Association.

Money Transmitters

  • Tendy Law Office has an in depth understanding of issues faced by the money transmitter community. Money transmitters have suffered tremendously in the post 9/11 world. They struggle to keep their doors open and struggle to maintain relationships with banks while providing a critical service to the millions of immigrants that keep the United States running everyday. Ms. Tendy has worked with money transmitters facing regulatory scrutiny and loss of banking services. She has created compliance and anti-money laundering programs and has conducted independent due diligence of money transmitters to provide to their bankers.

Small Financial Institutions

  • Tendy Law Office is committed to meeting the needs of smaller financial institutions who are under served by the legal and compliance community. We work within every budget. Please call for a consultation.