Wire Transfer Fraud and Legal Liability: Understanding UCC Article 4A and emerging fraud trends and tactics

Shelli Clarkston, JD, LLM | Spencer Fane LLP

Shelli Clarkston is an attorney with Spencer Fane LLP where she provides financial institutions with proactive legal counsel on regulatory and compliance matters. She received her law degrees from the University of Missouri – Kansas City and her undergraduate degree from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. In addition, she has a Master’s degree from Doane University.

Before joining Spencer Fane, she was the Risk and Compliance Officer for a financial services technology platform with one of the world’s largest technology companies, where she oversaw the regulatory compliance requirements of the platform and handled all risk-related matters. She also was General Counsel for a community bank, where she managed all legal, regulatory, compliance, and corporate matters.

William Huttenbach | Crain, Caton & James, P.C.

William (“Pat”) Huttenbach is a litigation attorney concentrating on civil matters at Crain, Caton & James, P.C. He has been asked to be an expert witness on issues concerning UCC sections 3, 4, and 4A. He has answered over 210 lawsuits involving UCC sections 3, 4, and/or 4A issues. He has also personally answered over 2,000 garnishment lawsuits. Pat has many training sessions for banks to try to protect banks from fraud losses. Pat has written numerous articles on banking topics and has given speeches to the banking industry on how to better protect banks in litigation through updated deposit agreements. Pat also routinely handles many other types of lawsuits against banks including lender liability claims, FCRA claims, FDCPA claims, Texas Finance Code claims, tortious interference claims, insurance claim litigation, fidelity and surety insurance coverage, DTPA claims, injunctions, employment law, landlord-tenant disputes, probate matters, property disputes, real estate tax litigation, breach of contract, business torts, construction law disputes, defamation, libel and slander, and other general business matters.

Session I – Understanding UCC Article 4A: Risk Allocation and Remedies in Funds Transfers | 1:00pm – 2:00pm

• The scope and requirements of UCC Article 4A
• The rights and responsibilities of each party: The sender and the financial institution
• The requirements for security procedures and the allocation of risk
• Defenses and remedies that can be used by each party

Break | 2:00pm – 2:10pm

Session II – Bank Fraud Today: Trends, Tactics, and Legal Responses | 2:10pm – 3:10pm

• Statistics on bank fraud
• Emerging fraud trends and tactics
• Strategies to reduce fraud losses
• Review of recent and landmark fraud cases