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My story began in Stamford Connecticut, a small
suburban town about thirty-five miles northeast of Manhattan. As a
baseball lover and Yankee fan, Sundays found me glued to the television
screen watching doubleheaders. That was before the Dodgers and Giants left
New York for California, and before the Mets came to town. In high school,
I became passionate about playing football. After graduation, however, the
fun and games came to a close.
In the summer of 1966 at seventeen years old I
learned that my high school football coach had been unable to secure an
athletic scholarship for me. Lacking funds and aware of the GI Bill, with
its promise of university benefits, I enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. I
spent my first year at the Presidio of Monterey in California studying
Chinese. That assignment resulted from scoring high on a language aptitude
test during basic training, and then passing a proficiency test for
Chinese, after being motivated by the knowledge that the alternative was
Vietnamese.
As it turned out, however, the particular language
made no difference. Having studied Chinese or Vietnamese, even Russian or
Korean, my fellow airmen and I all ended up on the same airplane, flying
reconnaissance missions over the Gulf of Tonkin along the coast of North
Vietnam and over Laos along the western border of North Vietnam. My
initial assignment was as a Chinese linguist, and evolved into being a
communications intelligence analyst, which gave me a broader perspective
as to the objectives of our missions. Nonetheless, it wasn’t until I sat
down to write these words that I realized the still ongoing legacy of my
work in the Air Force. As a communications intelligence analyst, I
gathered and analyzed information, formed conclusions, and communicated my
findings, which is much like what I am doing now as a forensic accountant,
only against a different adversary.
After returning from overseas, I was stationed in
Omaha, Nebraska with little to do other than a few temporary duty
assignments back to Southeast Asia. Little did I realize it at the time,
but my decision to take a correspondence course in accounting during my
last year in the service would prove an influential one. Upon my discharge
in the summer of 1970, at age 21, I went directly to Los Angeles and began
my collegiate studies in accounting and business administration. Receiving
my undergraduate degree from Cal State L.A., I went on to earn a Masters
in Business Administration at USC. I worked as an operations officer and
loan officer for Security Pacific Bank (since acquired by Bank of America)
as an undergraduate and halfway through graduate school. For the remainder
of my graduate school days I moved to Arthur Young & Company (since merged
with Ernst & Ernst to become Ernst & Young). The financial support that
both companies provided proved an invaluable opportunity, for which I
remain grateful.
My accounting career began in 1976 in the audit
department of Arthur Young & Company. After a few years, a desire for
independence prompted me to move to a local CPA firm. My time there
broadened my experience and two years later entrepreneurism hit. In 1982,
I partnered with Michael Sigman, who had worked in the same local
firm and focused on taxation. We opened the office of LoBuglio & Sigman
and, together with our small staff, are still in business today.
From the beginning, our firm has worked on
receivership cases. My first assignment was an SEC case with Peter
Davidson, involving securities fraud. While working with Peter, I met
Edy Bronston, David Ray, and later David Pasternak.
The four of them drafted me to join in founding the California Receivers
Forum. My first assignments was to handle the incorporations and tax
exemption applications for both the Los Angeles/Orange County Chapter and
the State Organization. My service to the organizations as their CPA and
tax preparer, an LA/OC board member and chapter officer and now as a state
Treasurer have continued since the organization’s inception in the
mid-1990s.
As a member of the CRF, I have worked for many
receivers and continue to meet receivers in Los Angeles, Orange County,
and throughout the state. It’s been a pleasure to participate on panels
for local chapters and the Loyola statewide programs. Our accountancy
practice also includes service to bankruptcy trustees and as an expert
witness. I have been retained by the SEC a number of times as their expert
witness on Ponzi scheme and securities fraud cases, and by the Department
of Justice as their expert witness on a Ponzi scheme case.
Certified in Financial Forensics, I have testified in
both the Superior Court and the U.S. District Court as an expert witness,
and have provided expert declarations to these courts, as well as the U.S.
Bankruptcy Court. My professional memberships include the American
Institute of C.P.A.s and the California Society of C.P.A.s. My partner,
Michael Sigman, focuses on accounting and taxation. The firm is
located in Century City, where we offer big firm experience with hands-on
service.
While I do not have a specific mentor, I have learned
a great deal through working with receivers and their attorneys. They are
all different in their approaches, as are their cases, but they usually
get to the same place by the time they file their final reports.
It’s been my pleasure to serve as Chief Financial
Officer of two Los Angeles-based charitable organizations. Stop Cancer was
founded by David Ray and funds cancer research at USC, UCLA, and City of
Hope. The California Jazz Foundation was founded by Edy Bronston and
provides aid to jazz musicians in need.
For fun, I like to play golf, work out at the gym,
and recently began yoga to deal with a back injury. I watch all sports,
still like the Yankees, and love movies…I think NetFlix is great.
I have three children. Dominic, 23, recently
graduated from UCSB, and is about to begin a career in commercial real
estate. Marisa, 20, is completing her second year at UCLA as a psychology
major. Patrick,13, is in the seventh grade, and playing a lot of baseball. |
