Frank Pina

As Managing Director and Chair of Mercadien’s Forensic and Litigation Support Services Group, Frank Pina takes pride in providing investigative insight and financial clarity to clients in the midst of business controversy, complex disputes, and civil and criminal litigation.

He is highly regarded in the fields of forensic accounting and fraud investigations and has extensive experience helping individuals, closely-held businesses, emerging growth companies and international corporations across various industries manage risks, execute deals, maintain compliance, and protect their assets.  He relies on this experience when advising clients in the areas of bankruptcy and reorganization, as well as litigation support, including economic damages assessments and other dispute consulting and due diligence services.

Known among some clients and colleagues as the “Rocky Balboa of the Accounting Profession,” Frank’s unique blend of school and street smarts enables him to navigate and overcome the challenging situations he encounters daily on behalf of his clients.  He applies a professional, yet personable, blue-collar approach to uncovering facts and finding innovative solutions to predominantly white-collar business problems. Using this approach, his extensive financial knowledge and notable communication skills, Frank is able to analyze significant amounts of complicated information and break it down into understandable, manageable data points.  This helps clients and their legal counsel prepare for circumstances that may arise and supports objective, persuasive conclusions that lead to favorable outcomes in their cases.

Frank helps clients through a myriad of forensic engagements, involving sophisticated employee dishonesty, false financial reporting, misappropriation of assets, vendor fraud, lost profits analysis, rebate payment evaluations, compliance audits and contract inspections and assessments. He has worked on cases with large international law firms and federal, state and local law enforcement and government agencies, including the U.S. Attorney’s Office, FBI, Secret Service, NJ Attorney General’s Office, NJ Bureau of Securities, and Philadelphia City Controller’s Office, making him a valuable resource to clients in both the public and private sectors.

Frank also works closely with Mercadien’s Financial Institutions Services Group on various Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) Look Back and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) engagements. As evidenced by one of his favorite mottos, “He who fails to plan, plans to fail,” Frank enjoys aiding commercial and community bank clients in developing preemptive measures to prevent, detect and deter fraud.

Frank got his start at a Big Four accounting firm, where he focused on creating investigative strategies, conducting forensic interviews, background searches and document reviews, as well as tracing hidden assets to detect patterns and schemes of fraudulent activity to uncover complex financial crimes. A frequent presenter and author on a variety of topics related to fraud detection, corporate investigations, forensic interviewing, and internal controls, Frank is always willing to share his wealth of knowledge and experience. He believes in and finds time to mentor and help develop the skills and careers of younger professionals.