Steven Hilfer

Steven Hilfer is a Senior Managing Director at Ankura based in New York, specializing in the capital markets. He has submitted expert reports and provided expert testimony in matters related to CDOs, RMBS, CMBS, municipals, fixed income market practice, investment management, trading, derivatives, financing, bond structuring, and valuation. He has a unique mix of quantitative, trading, risk, sales, documentation, and structuring expertise.

EXPERIENCE

Steven’s professional experience includes:

• Capital markets consulting and testifying expert for numerous matters related to investment management, investment banking, residential mortgage loan origination, leveraged loans, CLOs, CDOs, TRUP CDOs, RMBS, CMBS, credit default swaps, municipals, and other financial products.
• Supervisory principal for a FINRA registered investment bank, representing clients in M&A advisory, debt financing, litigation funding, intellectual property, and asset sales (residential and multifamily loans).
• Provided analytical and capital markets expertise in disputes and investigations related to the trading of municipal securities, wealth management, accounting, and regulatory capital.
• Opined in an expert report and in deposition on underwriting due diligence, investor disclosure, municipals, and investment advisor standard of care.
• Opined as a testifying expert in two matters on data and statistics regarding deferred principal loss balances in RMBS transactions and the performance of the loans underlying the deferred principal loss balances.
• Consulting expert for a manufactured housing lender in a restatement of its valuation of mortgage servicing rights.
• Financial advisor for a large mortgage originator. Advised on operational risk management and successfully negotiated forbearance agreements with the lender’s counterparties for repo agreements and margin calls.
• Advisor for a company in an internal investigation of its account receivable securitization program regarding the investor disclosure of receivable performance, indenture interpretation, and ABS market practice.
• Consulting expert advising on RMBS valuation and market practice as part of a large RMBS related dispute.
• For an expert report, related to a margin call dispute between a lender and a borrower, opined on the amount of damages due the borrower.
• Estimated damages in a municipal bond dispute by developing a cash flow model to calculate lost interest related to an alleged lack of investor disclosure.
• Hired as an expert objecting to a debtor’s reorganization plan; commenting on the appropriate interest rate for the restructured loan.
• Annual quantitative, credit risk, and structural risk assessment of interest rate swaps for a hedge counterparty in structured transactions. Analysis and valuation of numerous ABS, CMBS, RMBS, CLOs, and TRUP CDOs.
• Consulting expert in an arbitration dispute between a direct lender and a pension plan related to the termination of two direct lending funds.
• Consulting expert in an arbitration dispute between the principals of a diversified closed end investment advisor related to market practice for investment management contracts.
• Opined in an expert report on an investment adviser’s asset selection and due diligence procedures.
• Expert in a dispute regarding RMBS documentation of IO payment priorities.
• Testifying expert opining on the reasonableness and the economic consequences of an investment adviser’s process for the liquidation of assets in a commercial real estate fund. Also valued a real estate asset.
• Expert for a global law firm to review another’s expert report defending a rating agency for claims against it regarding ratings for synthetic CDOs.
• Consultant to a large asset management firm, conducting a senior management workshop on CLO and private fund SEC compliance risk.
• Testifying expert defending C-suite executives in a dispute alleging that they failed to disclose challenges in meeting margin calls from repurchase agreements.
• Consulting expert on behalf of wealth management firm in a FINRA arbitration involving a high-net worth investor alleging improper portfolio management and asset allocation of stocks, bonds, hedge funds, and mutual funds.
• Led a team and provided detailed cash flow and comparative valuation analysis of 60 complex mortgage-backed securities for a large mortgage REIT related to an accounting related investigation.
• Sold, traded, valued, and analyzed structured products including CLOs, ABS CDOs, TRUP CDOs, CRE CDOs, and RMBS. Traded securities to hedge funds, asset managers, banks, and insurance companies.
• Head of business development for a capital markets team responsible for creating mortgage products based on credit bureau consumer credit data to heighten transparency in the analysis of whole loan pools and RMBS.
• Managed teams that originated, structured, marketed, and successfully executed over $10 billion of CDOs including mezzanine and high-grade ABS CDOs, synthetic CDOs, TRUP CDOs, CRE CDOs, corporate CDOs, and CLOs. Marketed and sold CDOs to U.S. and global investors.
• Managed structured finance group responsible for structuring new issue mortgage and asset-backed securities including RMBS, CMBS, ABS, and re-securitizations. Responsible for rating agency relationships and transaction management. Coordinated with onsite residential loan underwriters and participated in operational reviews of mortgage originators and servicers.
• Structured agency RMBS, whole-loan RMBS, and ReREMICs. Structured mortgage derivatives including inverse floaters, inverse-IOs, IOs, and POs. Coordinated RMBS transactions with attorneys, rating agencies, traders, trustees, accountants, and investors. Traded residuals and marketed distressed mortgage securities.
• Analyzed and rated various structured transactions including ABS and mortgage-backed securities. Evaluation of mortgage originators and their loan underwriting process. Conducted meetings concerning quantitative, legal, and structural aspects of the rating process.