Sophisticated counsel for consequential matters.

Margaret McGuire is a nationally recognized securities enforcement strategist who advises companies, boards, executives, and financial institutions on navigating regulatory risk, government scrutiny, and high-stakes enforcement matters. With more than twenty years of senior leadership experience at the SEC, she brings a rare combination of insider-level insight, tactical judgment, and crisis-management expertise that helps clients both prevent regulatory exposure and respond effectively when investigations arise.

Margaret is widely recognized for her ability to identify emerging risks before they become enforcement problems. As Senior Counsel to the SEC's Director and Deputy Director of Enforcement, she helped shape Division-wide enforcement policy and strategy, advising agency leadership on some of the SEC's most sensitive and consequential matters. She reviewed hundreds of enforcement recommendations, guided responses to complex and precedent-setting issues, and led corrective-action and risk-mitigation initiatives designed to strengthen internal controls and institutional accountability.

Clients rely on Margaret for practical, business-focused counsel in areas including securities enforcement, financial reporting, disclosure controls, internal investigations, regulatory remediation, ESG and climate-related risk, governance, and crisis response. Her deep understanding of how regulators assess conduct, prioritize investigations, and evaluate cooperation positions her as a trusted advisor when organizations face heightened scrutiny from regulators, auditors, shareholders, lawmakers, or the media.

As Chief of the SEC's Financial Reporting and Audit (Fraud) Group, Margaret led teams of attorneys and accountants investigating financial reporting, disclosure, accounting, and audit-related misconduct. She also helped develop the SEC's pioneering proactive methodologies for detecting financial reporting fraud and collaborated on advanced risk-assessment technology used to identify potential issuer misconduct. Her experience enables clients to proactively strengthen compliance frameworks, assess vulnerabilities, and address concerns before they escalate into enforcement actions.

Margaret has also led major cross-agency initiatives during periods of market disruption and systemic risk. She served as Coordinator of the SEC's Bank Failure Working Group during the Regional Banking Crisis, helping direct enforcement strategy involving systemic financial risk, insider trading, and false filings. She also led the SEC's Climate and ESG Task Force, overseeing risk-based investigative initiatives and coordinating with other federal agencies on emerging disclosure and governance issues.

Earlier in her SEC career, Margaret served as Branch Chief of the Financial Fraud Task Force, supervising investigations involving accounting fraud, disclosure failures, and parallel criminal matters. Her extensive experience working alongside enforcement officials, regulators, and prosecutors provides clients with valuable insight into how government investigations develop, and how to position organizations for the strongest possible outcomes.

In addition to her enforcement background, Margaret brings more than a decade of academic experience teaching Securities Regulation and Financial Accounting at The Catholic University of America. She has also coached nationally recognized securities law moot court teams to top-tier results, and frequently speaks on securities enforcement trends, financial reporting risk, and regulatory developments.

Angela Papalaskaris is a nationally recognized lawyer and legal strategist who advises multinational corporations, privately backed companies, funds, asset managers, investment professionals, boards, and senior executives on complex internal investigations, regulatory enforcement, litigation, and compliance matters. She has represented high-profile clients in both civil and criminal securities fraud trials and has substantial experience in bet-the-company litigation in state courts. She also advises clients in strategic merger and acquisition transactions from a regulatory due diligence perspective, with particular attention to FCPA, OFAC, AML, and related legal and regulatory risks. In addition, she is frequently sought out for strategic and proactive compliance advice in these same areas.

Angela is known for helping clients manage sensitive matters discretely and effectively, addressing internal whistleblower allegations, regulatory subpoenas, and communications with government lawyers, auditors, board committees, and other key stakeholders. Her ability to navigate high-stakes issues while minimizing public exposure has made her a trusted advisor in matters where judgment, discretion, and confidentiality are critical.

Angela advises clients across a broad range of industries, including financial services, asset management, investment advisory, cryptocurrency and blockchain, global trade, enterprise software, insurance, oil and gas, and consumer products, among others. She is recognized for her ability to quickly develop a deep understanding of her clients’ business models and operational structures, enabling her to assess the applicability of complex regulatory frameworks and identify potential legal risks and vulnerabilities with precision.

Angela is a recognized authority on the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and U.S. economic sanctions administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control. She is the three-time author and editor of a leading treatise on international anti-corruption laws and has served as an expert witness on U.S. OFAC sanctions in a significant international arbitration. She has advised clients across a wide range of matters involving both areas of law.

Angela was recognized by Legal 500 in 2025 and 2024, with clients noting that she “understands complex securities cases and how to work with multiple regulators.” Before joining Bellementis, she was a partner at an international law firm based in New York where she focused her practice on white collar defense, litigation, and compliance matters.

Eli Elias advises companies, financial institutions, founders, and management teams on legal, regulatory, compliance, and strategic matters involving financial services, fintech, emerging technologies, and evolving regulatory frameworks.

His practice focuses on regulatory enforcement and examinations, internal investigations, governance, compliance, and business-critical risk matters. Eli's background spans legal, consulting, compliance, and operational roles, including independent advisory work for businesses and law firms, giving him a practical and cross-functional perspective on complex legal, regulatory, and business challenges.

Eli was previously a Senior Principal at Promontory Financial Group, where he led regulatory, compliance, and risk advisory projects for banks, broker-dealers, fintech companies, and other financial institutions. His work included SEC- and FINRA-related matters involving disclosure, internal investigations, whistleblower programs, and compliance program design.

Eli also worked closely with global financial institutions on banking regulatory, anti-bribery, financial crimes, governance, and third-party risk management matters, including projects working closely with a range of regulatory agencies such as the Federal Reserve, OCC, SEC, FINRA, and NYDFS. His experience includes designing and implementing legal and compliance frameworks, policies, procedures, controls, training programs, and escalation processes in coordination with legal, compliance, business, and operational stakeholders across complex organizations.

Earlier in his career, Eli worked at Kalorama Partners, a law + consulting boutique, advising on securities litigation, disclosure issues, corporate governance, internal investigations, and regulatory matters involving the SEC and CFTC. His work included matters involving Dodd-Frank rulemaking, hedge fund legal and compliance, activist shareholders, and governance reforms arising from high-profile litigation.

Eli brings a cross-functional and business-oriented approach to legal and regulatory counseling, particularly in matters involving emerging financial products, technology-driven markets, and novel regulatory issues.

Chris Lamb advises companies, market participants, founders, and executives on regulatory, market structure, and restructuring matters involving derivatives and commodities markets, digital assets, prediction markets, and emerging technologies. His practice focuses on CFTC regulation, exchange and clearinghouse oversight, capital formation, operational resilience, and financial restructuring, and he serves as outside general counsel to fintech, digital asset, and AI companies that need regulatory and transactional judgment without the cost of a full-time in-house team.

Chris most recently served as Senior Counsel to a Commissioner at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, where he advised on derivatives market structure, designated contract market (DCM), derivatives clearing organization (DCO) regulation, swaps execution facilities (SEF), and introducing broker (IB) rules and regulations, event contracts and prediction markets, operational resilience, continuous (24/7) trading markets, and issues relating to artificial intelligence and emerging technologies. He worked on rulemakings, registration and self-certification reviews, enforcement, and interpretive matters, and engaged regularly with both domestic and international exchanges, clearinghouses, intermediaries, and senior industry executives on market structure developments and regulatory policy affecting futures markets and related financial infrastructure.

Prior to his government service, Chris practiced in both the restructuring and the digital asset group of an Am Law 100 firm, where he represented debtors, creditors, and other stakeholders in complex chapter 11 cases, including matters involving digital asset platforms and other technology-driven businesses, and advised clients on regulatory classification, market structure, and capital formation issues affecting crypto, tokenization, and stablecoin offerings. Earlier, he served as a law clerk to the bankruptcy judge sitting in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana (2021–2022).

Chris's practice spans novel regulatory matters and complex operational and financial challenges facing companies in rapidly evolving markets, where he brings a working knowledge of the SEC/CFTC intersection to the day-to-day judgment calls that define early and growth-stage companies.

Chris earned his J.D. with honors from Emory University School of Law where he was a Managing Editor for the Emory Bankruptcy Developments Journal and earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Central Florida.

DJ Rosenthal is a national security lawyer whose career spans the White House, the U.S. Intelligence Community, the Department of Justice, and some of the most consequential cross-border transactions of the past decade. As Senior Advisor at Bellementis and Founder of 77 Meridian Law & Policy, he advises defense contractors, technology companies, and investors on the legal and strategic challenges that define operating in today's geopolitical environment—from international trade matters such as CFIUS reviews, export controls, and sanctions compliance, to legal and policy matters regarding emerging technologies, intelligence, and national defense and public safety.

DJ brings a rare combination of insider experience and practical legal judgment to client work. As Director for Counterterrorism at the National Security Council, he advised the President's senior staff on emergent threats, helped manage the U.S. Government's counterterrorism activities, and worked at the nexus of law, intelligence, and policy. Earlier, as Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for National Security at DOJ, he advised on foreign investment matters before CFIUS, government surveillance reform, and sensitive operational matters. And as Senior Associate General Counsel at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, DJ provided legal guidance on intelligence operations, national intelligence policy, and congressional and public engagement.

After government service, DJ co-founded and led Kroll's National Security and CFIUS Advisory practice, advising foreign and domestic clients on inbound investment reviews and national security compliance. He then served for nearly seven years as Executive Director at ProShares, where he led regulatory strategy and high-stakes government engagement for one of the country's largest ETF providers. That combination of government credibility and private-sector fluency is what clients value most—DJ understands how regulators think, how agencies act under pressure, and how to position organizations for the best possible outcomes.

DJ is the Founder and Principal of 77 Meridian Law & Policy, LLC, a boutique national security consulting firm offering specialized legal counsel, strategic risk management, and technology security. DJ also serves on the Advisory Council of the Spades Institute and acts as its legal counsel. He has taught National Security Dilemmas at the University of Maryland Honors College since 2013, where he developed the seminar's curriculum from the ground up. He is a widely published voice on national security and international trade, with work appearing in The New York Times, The Atlantic, CNN, Foreign Policy, Politico, The Hill, Lawfare, and Just Security, among others. He also co-authored an amicus brief filed before the D.C. Circuit in the landmark U.S. Steel v. CFIUS case and has been a signatory to numerous amicus briefs filed with the United States Supreme Court relating to national security, technology, and public safety.

DJ's areas of expertise span international trade regulation and CFIUS, export controls and sanctions (EAR/ITAR/OFAC), defense and intelligence sector advising, counterterrorism law and policy, cross-border transactions and geopolitical risk, and national security law and compliance.

Francis X. Grady is a senior financial services and corporate lawyer with more than three decades of experience advising banks, financial institutions, and corporate clients on complex regulatory, transactional, and governance matters. As the founding partner of the Law Offices of Francis X. Grady, he counsels clients on banking regulation, executive compensation, securities law, and general corporate matters, with a particular focus on the regulatory frameworks governing financial institutions and the alignment of compliance obligations with strategic business objectives.

Mr. Grady has extensive experience advising financial institutions on federal and state regulatory requirements, including consumer protection laws, Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) obligations, and evolving supervisory expectations. He regularly counsels on the structuring and implementation of executive compensation arrangements, including those involving bank-owned life insurance (BOLI), as well as related risk management, capital planning, and regulatory considerations.

A recognized authority in banking and consumer finance law, Mr. Grady has written extensively on regulatory compliance and financial institution operations. His publications have appeared in American Banker, Community Banker, Independent Banker, and other leading industry journals. He is also a longstanding contributing author to Matthew Bender's Consumer Credit: Law, Transaction and Forms and Banking Law, where his work has informed practitioners and institutions for more than three decades.

Mr. Grady is valued for his measured, practical approach to complex regulatory issues and his ability to provide clear, actionable advice in highly regulated environments.

Charlie Guidry is a securities lawyer who advises broker-dealers, issuers, and market infrastructure companies on federal securities law matters, including private offerings, secondary market structure, broker-dealer regulation, and digital asset issues.

Mr. Guidry draws on more than a decade of experience at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, where he served as Special Counsel in the Division of Corporation Finance's Office of Small Business Policy and as a lawyer in the Division of Trading and Markets' Office of Chief Counsel. In those roles, he advised the Commission and its staff on exempt markets, broker-dealer regulation, and market structure, and worked on significant rulemakings, including Regulation A, amendments to the accredited investor definition, the finders framework, and Regulation Crowdfunding.

He continues to engage with SEC staff on client matters and advises on developments in market structure and emerging trading and settlement technologies, including digital assets and tokenized securities. His work includes matters involving recent regulatory developments such as the DTC no-action letter on tokenized securities and Nasdaq's approval of tokenized trading frameworks.

Mr. Guidry also practiced at an Am Law 100 firm in Washington, D.C. and Virginia. He is the founder of C Guidry Law, PLLC, where he maintains an independent legal practice.

Martin Hui advises companies, founders, executives, and investors on legal, regulatory, commercial, and strategic matters involving artificial intelligence, digital assets, fintech, emerging technologies, strategic transactions, and mergers and acquisitions.

As Senior Advisor at Bellementis, Martin brings a rare combination of private practice training, financial institution experience, and in-house startup judgment to client work. He helps companies navigate complex legal and business issues where regulatory frameworks are unsettled, product decisions carry legal risk, and commercial execution depends on practical, cross-functional judgment.

Martin has experience as General Counsel of a leading web3 firm that provides technology and services to leading blockchain ecosystems. He has led legal, regulatory, governance, commercial, product, and strategic initiatives from the earliest stages to a global platform supporting major ecosystem partners. His work has included token and incentive program structuring, commercial agreements, governance frameworks, regulatory analysis, product counseling, risk management, fundraising support, and strategic transactions.

Martin also held legal roles at Morgan Stanley and Bank of Montreal, where he advised on investment banking, capital markets, corporate finance, securities, governance, regulatory, and transactional matters. He worked closely with legal, compliance, business, risk, and operational stakeholders across complex financial institutions, supporting investment banking and corporate clients on financing, advisory, disclosure, and risk issues.

Earlier in his career, Martin practiced in the corporate group at an AmLaw 100 firm in New York, where he advised public and private companies, financial institutions, and investors on mergers and acquisitions, capital markets transactions, securities law matters, corporate governance, and strategic transactions.

Martin’s practice is grounded in the judgment calls that define early and growth-stage companies operating in fast-moving markets. Clients rely on him for pragmatic, commercially oriented advice at the intersection of law, strategy, product, and regulation, particularly where traditional legal playbooks do not fully apply.