is centered on helping financial firms grasp the realities of today’s complex regulatory landscape and how day-to-day decisions at the owner, trader, and compliance level can either diminish or maximize a firm’s ability to thrive from a regulatory and business perspective.
Having spent the last two decades living, breathing and navigating the high-risk intersection of law, finance and government regulation from both a trader, fund manager and the defendant side of the battlefield, there is no one else out there with this unique and valuable perspective.
While you might have a robust compliance department and program, is it understood at the front-lines of business where rules, policies and procedures meet the behaviors? My experience and journey is here to help you calibrate those programs to such realities, and to leave a lasting reminder.
Please e-mail me at mike@apextradecraft to learn more or book a free consultation to see if Tradecraft can help complement your existing compliance efforts.
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I’ve also privately consulted and mentored dozens of high profile traders who were investigated or arrested, giving me intricate, first-hand knowledge of nearly every major securities fraud case over the last decade.
As a complement to existing legal, audit, and regulatory compliance, I provide owners, traders, and compliance departments with a vivid and stark reminder of the stakes involved. I do this through a dramatic re-telling of my story to frame the brutal consequences that black, or even ‘gray’ behavior can have. This stark reminder brings home the realities of the trading desk, giving greater meaning to the hypothetical world of law firm memos and compliance procedures.
Mike Kimelam
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Based on my decades of experience and the incredible story described in the bestselling memoir,
the conduct training presentation typically takes 45-60 minutes followed by Q&A
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Opening story about my fateful surprise meeting in the Steam Room @Equinox
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$100,000 cash under the table!
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Raj Rajaratnam’s journey from our greatest ally to a devastating albatross
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My personal & professional background
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How I rationalized isolated decisions that ultimately led to me being an FBI target
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The pre-dawn FBI Swat raid and arrest at my family’s home
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The govt’s sweetheart offer - plead guilty to one count and receive no jail time and no fine
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My decision to go to trial
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Life in ‘suspended animation’ - the years between my 2009 arrest and my 2011 trial
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The Trial and Sentencing - “This really could’ve gone either way.” - Judge Sullivan
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The controversial Judge Sullivan decision and him being overruled by Newman
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Best practices for improving decision making and avoiding ethical lapses
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Life consequences of a felony conviction
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Current high risk areas for MNPI and other ethical breaches
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Q&A
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There wasn’t a day of my life up until the minute this happened that I ever thought something like this could happen. It was unimaginable.
David Ganek, FORMER OWNER OF LEVEL GLOBAL AFTER HIS FUND WAS RAIDED AND CLOSED SHORTLY THEREAFTER.
After all, I was not charged with any pattern of illegal trading. I was charged with a single trade so unremarkable that I could barely remember it. And still, it destroyed my life.
What I will convey in a training session is exactly what it feels like when a routine work decision made years before — which you don’t even remember very well — becomes the sole focus of your existence and the linchpin of your fate and your family’s future, what it feels like when the crushing pressure of a federal indictment comes down with all its force.
BY SHARING THE UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE OF MY OWN PERFECT STORM, I HELP FIRMSBETTER UNDERSATND THE COST AND CONSEQUENCES OF ETHICAL LAPSES AND HOW TO CONFRONY AND ADDRESS THE BLIND SPOTS CALIBRATED TO THOSE REALITIES.
THE PROBLEM
The front line of running a hedge fund or investment firm has never been a more complicated and hazardous environment in terms of the potential confrontation with regulators and risk.
Given the enforcement environment in the US and UK, it has never been more critical that those in the trenches receive a consistent ethical message, targeted training, and the occasional brutal ‘warning shot,’ to drive the message home.
The ultimate challenge today is to develop a vigorous and bulletproof compliance regime. It must optimize business performance and maximize the odds that a firm can prevent or withstand a rogue employee or incident.
Tradecraft Advisers
Tradecraft Advisers is a consultancy that looks to engage with financial firms that seek to enhance their compliance efforts beyond the traditional “bolt-on” set of rules and procedures.
Mere ‘check the box’ lectures from law firm partners on rules and regulations are mind-numbing and fail to put the rules in their proper context. As any former prosecutor or defense lawyer worth his salt will tell you, the Rules as they are Written can be very different from the Rules as they are Implemented. And the difference can sometimes be measured in decades.
No other law firm, compliance department, or consultancy has the unique combination of skills and experience – what I call The Tradecraft Triangle™ — to educate, mitigate, and insulate owners, traders, and compliance from a potentially devastating regulatory event.
As a former big firm lawyer with Sullivan & Cromwell, a successful PM and hedge fund owner with over a decade of ‘trading desk’ experience, and a high profile criminal defendant for the last 8 years, no one out there has the level of legal skills, trading experience, and real world criminal justice experience I do. That is the Tradecraft advantage.
I work closely with compliance leadership to ensure that my presentation is best suited for their firm, customized in order to address issues that are most relevant, current and salient to the particular firm’s potential compliance challenges. Any of the points above can be combined, eliminated or weighted to bring the most value to the client. Throughout my presentation, I supplement my story with academic anecdotes that provide insight into the “whys” and “hows” of human behavior. "
"Invaluable. Provided a riveting perspective on regulatory enforcement as it affects each of the relevant stakeholders. This is now an annual event."
-$4B Multi-Strategy Hedge Fund
"Kimelman put a much needed human face behind the regulatory warnings. Should be mandatory for anyone running money. "
-$7B Credit Hedge Fund
"Of all the compliance training I've done over a lifetime in the business, this is the only session by a long shot that will be forever seared into my brain."
-BD Wirehouse Firm
Here's What People Are Saying
From inquiries and the identity of our clients, to the many key aspects of our engagements, everything is kept in the strictest of confidence.
I present at Hedge Funds and financial firms on a frequent basis, where I enjoy engaging with principals and other industry thought leaders, through Keynotes, Trainings or Question & Answer sessions.
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Download my Financial Firm Abstract for more information on what to expect.
A complete portfolio of speaking and writing engagements, including symposium references, is available by contacting me at michael@apextradecraft.com or book a call.
