Professional Profile
Jessica is a Partner in the Forensic and Valuation Services Department at Withum and Leader of Withum's Forensics, Investigations, and White-Collar Criminal Defense practice group. Her national forensic accounting practice involves a wide range of consulting services in connection with civil and criminal litigation matters. She brings the traditional accounting background attained earlier in her public accounting career into complex fraud and forensic investigations, internal corporate investigations, white-collar criminal defense matters, economic damage assessments, professional liability defense, estate litigation, and business disputes. Jessica has over 16 years of diverse public accounting experience, exclusively with Withum. She began her career concentrating on tax, audit and other traditional accounting services, and later shifted the focus of her practice exclusively into forensics. Jessica’s diverse accounting background has led to her recognition as a leader in the field of forensic accounting, having been awarded the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ (AICPA) Forensic and Valuation Services Standing Ovation Award in 2016, and the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA) 40 under 40 Award in 2018. Because of her strong commitment to client service, Jessica was also recognized by Withum as a 2017 nominee and 2018 winner of the firm’s prestigious Strength in Client Service Award.
Beyond Withum, Jessica was appointed by the New Jersey Supreme Court to the District VII Ethics Committee for the 2018 to 2022 term, where she serves as a non-attorney public member of this regulatory body for the adjudication of attorney discipline matters.
Representative Matters
- A high profile investigation of a New York City literary agency which resulted in the discovery of an over $3M of embezzlement where the responsible individual was later prosecuted and convicted by the United States Department of Justice
- An investigation performed under retention by the United States Department of Justice, surrounding allegations that a contractor defrauded the United States by falsely claiming to be eligible for government contracts
- Various securities fraud litigation alleging the fraudulent sale of unregistered securities and the diversion of investor funds for improper purposes, requiring a detailed tracing pertaining to the sources and uses of funds
- Rebuttal of an economic damages report related to a product liability matter which Plaintiff claimed in excess of $13M in damages related to mitigation costs, lost profits, and diminished business value
- A post judgement forensic investigation on behalf of a national insurance company, aimed at securing over $35M in judgments from debtors who utilized a scheme involving related entities, including off-shore captive insurance companies, to launder funds out of the judgment debtors possession in an effort to evade creditors
- Various professional liability defense matters involving the rebuttal of expert reports which calculated purported losses under several economic assumptions
- A shareholder dispute in which a company was able to recapture severance paid to a departed former shareholder after it was determined that the departed shareholder had engaged in self-dealing to a detriment of the company totaling millions of dollars
- A probate litigation matter necessitating the tracing of complex financial transactions to expose the involvement of a trustee with control over aspects of the decedent's estate in a sophisticated scheme to siphon money out of the decedent's trust
Other Distinctions
National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA) 40 under 40 Award, 2018
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ (AICPA) Forensic and Valuation Services Standing Ovation Award, 2016
Publications/Presentations
The New Normal: Protecting Your Company from Employee Fraud, February 3, 2021
Hot Topics in Financial Crime: 2020 Edition, Missouri Society of Certified Public Accountants Forensic Conference, December 1, 2020
Hot Topics in Financial Crime: 2020 Edition, AICPA Forensic & Valuation Services Conference, November 11, 2020
Litigation in a Pandemic Environment, AICPA Professional Insights, July 2020
The Forensic Accountant: Integral Roles in White Collar Criminal Defense, CPA Academy, May 4, 2020
COVID-19: Stop the Spread of Fraud - Consumer Edition, March 27, 2020
COVID-19: Recovering Business Interruption Losses, March 20, 2020
COVID-19: Business Interruption Losses, March 13, 2020
The Forensic Accountant on the White Collar Defense Team, Withum Forensic and Litigation Symposium, 2019
The Forensic Accountant as an Intricate Part of the White Collar Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Arsenal, AICPA National Forensic & Valuation Services Conference, 2019
Tax Fraud Seminar, New Jersey State Bar Association, 2019
Use of Forensic Analytics to Compel Discovery, AICPA National Forensic & Valuation Services Conference, 2016