Work of forensic investigator leads to third largest antitrust suit settlement in U.S. history

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- In a
world where financial scams, schemes, meltdowns and fraudsters dominate
the headlines, Steve Lee http://www.stevelee.com)
knows when a business deal, transaction or activity simply doesn't pass
the smell test.



As a forensic investigator, Lee helped lay the
groundwork for Discover Financial Services' landmark $2.75 billion
antitrust settlement against credit card giants Visa and MasterCard in
October 2008.



His firm, Steve Lee & Associates (SL&A) is among
the foremost companies involved in worldwide high-stakes litigation and
forensic accounting work. More like an economic swat team, this cadre
of highly skilled professionals solve complex commercial matters in
such areas as corporate and fraud investigations, loan workouts,
insolvency and reorganization, electronic discovery, computer security,
competitive intelligence, class action defense, transaction advisory
services and theft of intellectual property. Headquartered in LA, with
offices in NY, Chicago and London, SL&A has operated in more than
50 countries across the globe.



The Discover case turned on whether Visa and MasterCard
had essentially blackballed their smaller rival from doing business
with the big boys of banking - like Citibank and Bank of America. After
Discover received a favorable ruling on restraint of trade, Lee and his
team ideated and analyzed damages as a result of inequities in the
marketplace. They also undermined the defendant's experts. To do all
this, Lee re-created the financial landscape as if Discover had been
able to freely compete alongside Visa and MasterCard. Rather than face
a losing trial, at the 11th hour the credit card behemoths backed down,
resulting in the third largest antitrust settlement in U.S. history.



"We worked principally with Jeff Shinder, Managing
Partner of Constantine Cannon's New York office. They were litigation
counsel to Discover," Lee says. "Jeff and his colleagues were brilliant
and they understood how to use our work as a lethal and effective
weapon in high stakes litigation."



Often times more CSI than CPA, Lee and his team
frequently conduct covert operations and clever detective work that may
include stings to recover ill-gotten assets. They follow the money and
the people trying to steal or launder it. "Our success depends on
having smart, creative people, sophisticated technology and perhaps
most important," says Lee, "a highly developed sense of professional
skepticism."



As the recent Madoff case attests, today's biggest heists
don't involve gun-toting, ski mask-wearing desperados. Lee has delved
into the shady business dealings of a real estate developer engaged in
a scheme to defraud lenders out of hundreds of millions in financing.
He has tracked down perpetrators of a Grand Canyon-size hole in the
network security of a Fortune-50 financial services company that, if
left unchecked, had the potential to ricochet throughout the entire
economy. His firm has penetrated the thought-to-be-impenetrable data
system of a gaming-industry giant, going so far as being able to leave
a business card taped to the inside of a mission-critical computer in
his client's network operations center.



The current economic morass comes as no surprise to Lee.
"In the boom times, we saw lots of merger and acquisition due diligence
work for banks, funds and Fortune 500 companies that was little more
than a paper exercise to cover the buyer's tracks in doing transactions
they had already decided to do," he says. "That policy was costly. The
thrust at the time was to get the deal done and don't worry about the
consequences. I fear that when this recession ends, it will be that way
again."

    News contact:



    Cindy Rakowitz

    cindy@brpublicrelations.com

    (818) 783-3307