This program is made possible by support from the David Berg Foundation.

About the Program

On Dec. 11, 2008, Bernie Madoff was arrested for his Ponzi scheme, and the music stopped at his investment funds. Some investors withdrew their accounts prior to his arrest and made enormous profits. Others were still in his funds when Madoff was arrested and lost all they invested. Or did they?

Peter Henning New York Times DealB%k blogger and Wayne State University of Law School Professor will analyze the ethical issues surrounding efforts to recover assets lost by the thousands of victims of Bernard Madoff’s colossal Ponzi scheme. The discussion will be moderated by Zicklin School of Business Professor of Law Seth Lipner.

While most experts agree that victims should be allowed to proceed with “clawback” lawsuits, debate rages over who should be able to recover, from whom, and how much.

Among the issues Mr. Henning will address are:

• While many of Madoff’s clients lost money, others were able to withdraw significantly more than they invested. How do we identify who is actually a victim? Should beneficiaries compensate victims, and if so, which beneficiaries?
• Is ‘need’ a factor? Are we morally obligated to give priority to the most destitute victims or charitable organizations?
• How do we calculate the amounts that must be returned? What’s ‘fair’ in this context?
• What conflicts of interest are present in the current legal wrangling?

About the Speaker

Professor Henning joined the Faculty in 1994 as an Associate Professor, and was promoted to Professor of Law in 2002. He graduated magna cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center in 1985, where he served as a Notes and Comments Editor on the Georgetown Law Journal. After graduation, he taught in the College of Business Administration at Loyola Marymount University, and then clerked for Chief Judge Murray M. Schwartz of the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. After clerking, Professor Henning was a Senior Attorney in the Division of Enforcement at the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission until 1991, where he worked on cases involving insider trading, penny stock fraud, market manipulation, and accounting irregularities. He then moved to the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where he worked in the Fraud Section on the investigation and prosecution of bank fraud. During this time he also published articles in the Kansas Law Review, St. Louis University Law Journal, and American Criminal Law Review.

Professor Henning teaches courses in Corporations, White Collar Crime, Professional Responsibility & the Legal Profession, Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, and Securities Litigation. He taught previously at the high school and university undergraduate levels. Professor Henning has received a number of teaching awards, including the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, whose recipients are selected from among the entire Wayne State University faculty, and the Donald H. Gordon Teaching Award that is presented by the alumni of the Law School.

Professor Henning’s scholarship focuses primarily on white collar crime, constitutional criminal procedure, and attorney ethics. Recent articles examining the role of federalism in the interpretation of federal criminal law were published in the Kentucky Law Journal and the Missouri Law Review. He has also published articles on the mail fraud statute, prosecutorial misconduct, Fifth Amendment rights of witnesses before a grand jury, and defense discovery in white collar crime prosecutions. His articles have appeared in the Boston College Law Review, Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Washington University Law Quarterly, South Carolina Law Review, and Nebraska Law Review. He is a co-author of the casebook White Collar Crime: Law and Practice (2d ed. 2003), with Professor Jerold Israel, Professor Ellen Podgor, and United States District Judge Paul Borman. Professor Henning recently became a co-author of the Criminal volumes of the late Professor Charles Alan Wright’s Federal Practice and Procedure treatise, which is among the most cited reference works in judicial opinions on issues related to federal rules and practice.

Professor Henning is an elected member of the American Law Institute, and treasurer of the American National Section of the International Association of Penal Law. He has been quoted frequently in newspapers, including the Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, and the Wall Street Journal, and has appeared on local radio and television programs to comment on legal issues. He speaks before local professional organizations such as the Young Entrepreneurs Organization and the Risk Managers Society, and has presented papers at conferences held at Georgia State University, the University of Buffalo, and American University. He is a neutral arbitrator through the NASD Dispute Resolution’s arbitration program to resolve customer and broker claims involving securities

Professor Henning and his wife Karen have three daughters: Molly, Alexandra, and Grace.

Schedule

A light lunch will be served beginning at 12:00 p.m.

The presentation will run from approximately 12:45 to 2:30 p.m.

Registration

Complimentary pre-registration is required to attend this program. Register online, by phone or e-mail:

1. Complete the online registration form
2. Call us at 646-312-3231

3. E-mail us at matthew.lepere@baruch.cuny.edu