MEMBERS

BURTON W. WIAND

Burt_Wiand

Burt Wiand began his legal career by spending almost 14 years with the SEC’s Division of Enforcement in Washington, D.C. In 1989 he joined one of Florida’s largest and most prestigious law firms and built a nationally recognized financial services and complex litigation practice. In 2009 members of that practice formed Wiand Guerra King.

After more than 35 years of practice, Burt Wiand has become known as a lawyer that businesses and individuals involved in business turn to when dealing with the most difficult of legal circumstances. His practice includes white collar criminal defense, defense of regulatory matters involving governmental agencies and self-regulatory organizations and complex litigation matters that threaten the business and reputation of his clients.

In recent years, Burt’s practice has involved the defense of the president of a brokerage firm in a major anti-trust Grand Jury investigation conducted by the Anti-Trust Division’s New York office, the defense and trial of a major administrative proceeding brought by the SEC against a New York Stock Exchange member, the defense and trial of a FINRA proceeding brought against the chief executive officer of a mid-western municipal bond dealer, the defense and trial of a number of SEC enforcement proceedings, the defense of a senior executive of a payment processor in an FTC federal court action, the defense of securities and other financial services class actions and derivative lawsuits, and the representation and defense of financial institution clients in state regulatory investigations and proceedings throughout the country. He has also handled over a hundred arbitration proceedings.

Burt has broad experience in FCPA matters that began before the law was enacted. After bringing many “foreign payments” cases for the SEC he assisted with the creation of the FCPA and was lead counsel on the first FCPA case filed by the SEC. He has continued throughout his career representing clients in FCPA matters.

In addition to representing clients in defense litigation, regulatory and law enforcement actions, Burt is often called upon by his clients to provide advice with respect to compliance and corporate governance matters and to conduct internal investigations regarding corporate misconduct involving potential major liabilities. He also provides expert testimony in connection with such matters and has been asked by regulators to review matters of corporate and regulatory compliance.

Recently at the suggestion of the SEC, Burt was appointed by the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida as the Receiver for the $400 million Ponzi scheme of Arthur Nadel. He has also served as a receiver in other SEC cases, at the request of the FTC and in similar capacities at the request of state regulators.

A frequent speaker to financial services and regulatory groups, Burt was the 2009 keynote speaker for the North American Securities Administrators Association’s national broker-dealer training conference. He is a contributing editor to the Securities Litigation Commentator. Burt received a B.A. in history from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee and his law degree from the University of Georgia. He lives on the beach, is married, has four children, and is an avid soccer fan.