Practice Areas Fraud, Finance & Securities Litigation

Alternative investments
Arbitration and mediation before JAMS, FINRA, and AAA
Breach of representations and warranties
Conversion and civil theft
Cryptocurrency
Breach of fiduciary duty
Misrepresentation and omission
Negligence
Overconcentration
Private placements
Unregistered securities

Fraud and financial disputes often begin with an information gap. For example, funds may move without a clear explanation, or investment representations may not match the records. Other warning signs include a business partner who controls the accounts or a judgment debtor who appears to have transferred assets. Gherman Legal represents businesses, investors, financial professionals, and other parties in Miami and throughout South Florida. When a dispute arises, the firm develops both a legal theory and a practical plan for finding, preserving, and recovering value.

The first task is not to place every troubling fact under the label of fraud. Instead, it is to identify the transaction, duty, representation or omission, and specific property or funds. The analysis then connects those facts to the affected decision and resulting loss. Contract, tort, statutory, securities, and post-judgment remedies have different elements and strategic consequences. Early classification can determine what evidence to preserve and whether a pre-suit demand is required. It can also clarify where the matter belongs and whether urgent relief is realistic.

From suspicion to an evidence plan

A disciplined investigation usually starts with account statements, wire records, subscription documents, offering materials, emails, and text messages. It also examines governing agreements and records showing who owned or controlled the disputed property. The chronology matters. Specifically, counsel examines what was said or omitted and when the claimant acted. The review also traces where the money went and whether the recipient had authority to use it.

If the dispute concerns a specific, identifiable fund, a conversion theory may be available; a simple unpaid debt ordinarily is not enough. The distinction is explained in Florida Conversion Claim for Money. A civil-theft claim requires more than nonperformance and includes a pre-suit demand procedure and a heightened focus on criminal intent. Florida Civil Theft Claim: What Businesses Should Know outlines those differences, including the strategic risk of treating an ordinary contract dispute as theft.

Investment, securities, and arbitration disputes

Investment cases may involve alleged misrepresentations, undisclosed conflicts, unauthorized transfers, or unsuitable concentration. They may also concern private placements, unregistered securities, cryptocurrency transactions, or a professional accused of misconduct. The correct forum and governing rules may turn on account agreements, arbitration provisions, and the status of the instrument. They may also depend on the relationship among the parties.

Federal securities claims require careful attention to the alleged security and the challenged statement or omission. The analysis also considers reliance, state of mind, causation, and damages. Claims based on exaggerated or false assertions about a company’s automation, algorithms, or use of machine learning require the same disciplined analysis. The guide to AI Misrepresentation Lawsuits explains how AI-washing allegations may intersect with securities fraud, Florida misrepresentation claims, regulatory enforcement, and proof of investor loss. The firm’s Securities Fraud series begins with Rule 10b-5 and the interstate-commerce element. In broker disputes, arbitration rules can be important without automatically resolving every fact question. For example, Stockbroker Theft & Conversion discusses common allegations, misconceptions, and documentation practices.

Asset preservation, fraudulent transfers, and collection

A judgment is valuable only to the extent it can be enforced. When assets have been transferred to relatives, insiders, affiliated companies, or newly formed entities, the timing, consideration, control, insolvency, and business records can be central. Florida fraudulent-transfer remedies may allow a creditor to challenge actual or constructive transfers and seek avoidance, attachment, injunctions, or other relief appropriate to the circumstances. See Florida Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act for the distinction between actual and constructive theories.

Florida law treats veil piercing as an extraordinary remedy. The inquiry generally focuses on domination, improper conduct, and a connection between that conduct and the creditor’s injury—not merely whether a company observed every formality. Piercing the Corporate Veil in Florida describes the evidence courts often examine.

After judgment, proceedings supplementary under section 56.29 can bring transferees and related entities into the enforcement process. Discovery may seek account records, ownership evidence, transfers, and control over property. Mobile assets require special urgency and person-directed relief rather than an assumption that a Florida court physically controls property elsewhere. The firm’s guides to Proceedings Supplementary and Miami-Dade Judgment Enforcement of Mobile Assets explain these tools and limits.

Enforcing court-ordered financial disclosure

Financial disputes may require enforcement of orders directing production of records or disclosure of assets. Gherman Legal evaluates civil contempt and related enforcement remedies when a person fails to comply. Available relief depends on the order, the evidence, and the person’s ability to comply.

How these matters usually proceed

Depending on the claim, the matter may begin with a document hold, targeted investigation, demand, statutory notice, emergency-motion analysis, arbitration, or a complaint in state or federal court. Pleadings define the legal theories and defenses. Discovery then tests them through financial records, communications, depositions, third-party subpoenas, and—when the economics justify it—accounting or damages experts.

Some matters are resolved through dismissal, default, mediation, arbitration, summary judgment, or a ruling after trial. A useful strategy accounts for both liability and collectability. It also compares the probable recovery, defense exposure, cost of experts, business disruption, available insurance, fee-shifting provisions, and the leverage created by admissible evidence.

Potential remedies

Available relief depends on the claim and proof. It may include temporary or permanent injunctions, compensatory damages, rescission, restitution, disgorgement, punitive damages where legally available, prejudgment or post-judgment interest, taxable costs, and attorney’s fees when authorized by contract or statute. Post-judgment remedies can include discovery in aid of execution, garnishment, levy, proceedings supplementary, and relief directed to fraudulent transfers or alter-ego conduct.

Treble damages, punitive damages, fee awards, and equitable remedies are not automatic. Their availability can turn on the pleaded cause of action, evidentiary standard, pre-suit procedure, and connection between the misconduct and the requested relief.

Representative matters

The firm’s published Results include a 2019 post-trial verdict of $7,680,000 in an investment-fraud dispute. They also include a 2022 civil-theft judgment of $1,800,429 against an attorney and law firm. In addition, the published Results list a 2023 post-trial judgment of $685,000 in a civil-theft and fraudulent-transfer dispute. Finally, a 2026 bench-trial ruling pierced a company’s veil and imposed joint and several liability for an unpaid judgment exceeding $915,000, including statutory post-judgment interest.

Past results depend on the facts and law of each matter and do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome in any future case.

Attorney perspective

Sergiu Gherman handles commercial, investment, fraud, and judgment-enforcement disputes. His approach emphasizes early evidence preservation, careful separation of contract and tort theories, and a realistic assessment of both the path to judgment and the path to collection.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a fraud or financial dispute cost?

Cost depends on the forum, number of parties, volume of financial records, need for emergency relief, expert testimony, and whether the dispute reaches trial or arbitration. An early case assessment should identify the likely phases, decision points, and proportional budget before the parties commit to the most expensive work.

How long can the matter take?

A default matter may conclude in roughly three to four months; a matter resolved through mediation may take approximately eight to twelve months; and a case requiring trial may take eighteen months or longer. Court schedules, discovery disputes, appeals, and asset-recovery proceedings can materially change those estimates.

Can assets be preserved or recovered?

Potential tools include injunctions, garnishment, attachment where authorized, post-judgment discovery, levy, proceedings supplementary, and claims challenging fraudulent transfers. The facts, timing, ownership record, due-process requirements, and available security can determine whether relief is practical.

Is every dishonest business dispute a fraud or civil-theft case?

No. A broken promise or unpaid contract may support a contract claim without satisfying the separate elements of fraud, conversion, or civil theft. The legal theory should follow the evidence, not substitute a serious label for a missing element.

Related Florida legal guides

General information only; not legal advice. Reading this page or contacting the firm does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Fraud, Finance & Securities Litigation