Michael E. Garcia

Michael Garcia co-leads Fridman Fels & Soto's Complex Civil and Investigations practice with Daniel Fridman. He represents corporate and individual clients in internal and government investigations, regulatory enforcement matters, and civil litigation. He has broad investigations and regulatory enforcement experience, including matters involving anti-money laundering, AML compliance programs, bribery and corruption, accounting and auditing irregularities, securities fraud, cryptocurrency fraud, whistleblower retaliation, compliance risk assessments, employee theft, misappropriation of trade secrets, and employee harassment. The Legal 500 named him a Leading Individual for compliance and investigations, where a client called him “the main name, very clear and straightforward.”

Mr. Garcia has led complex, multi-jurisdictional investigations across Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Ecuador, and throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. His fluency in Spanish allows him to conduct investigations, interviews, and witness examinations directly in Spanish — without the cost, delay, or information loss of using interpreters.

Navigating Accounting, Auditing, and Internal Control Issues

Michael represents public companies and individuals in accounting, auditing, and financial reporting matters. With more than 25 years of experience in this space, he has broad experience in matters involving financial accounting, auditing, and internal control issues, including revenue recognition under ASC 606, revenue acceleration, revenue cutoff, purchase accounting, accounts receivable reserves and write-offs, inventory valuation and reserves, insurance claim reserves, self-insurance reserves, expense accruals, expense capitalization, out-of-period expenses, EBITDA calculations, and related-party transactions. Mr. Garcia has defended accountants in government investigations and has counseled public companies and their boards, committees, and officers in addressing the full scope of topics that may arise when accounting, auditing, and financial reporting issues occur, including:

Complying with obligations imposed under Sarbanes-Oxley and state-law fiduciary duties;

Implementing corporate governance best practices relating to the handling of whistleblower allegations, internal investigations, and related disclosures;

Evaluating financial statement materiality in connection with a potential restatement;

Conducting internal investigations to the satisfaction of all stakeholders;

Interfacing with public company auditors to successfully close out the annual public company audit;

Responding to government inquiries and investigations, defending client interests, and negotiating appropriate resolutions;

Recommending remedial actions and control improvements, and assisting in their implementation; and

Reporting to enforcement agencies following the resolution of an enforcement action.

Before practicing law, Mr. Garcia passed the CPA examination with the second-highest score in the State of Georgia. He is not a CPA, but his command of accounting and auditing allows him to work directly with clients' outside auditors during investigations, a real advantage when a case turns on the numbers.

AML Investigations

Mr. Garcia has represented individuals in money laundering investigations by U.S. enforcement agencies, including one of the largest multi-jurisdictional investigations in the precious metals industry. He also has represented financial institutions under investigation by the DOJ, FinCEN, Florida Office of Financial Regulation New York Department of Financial Services, the U.K. Serious Fraud Office, and the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority for failing to maintain adequate AML compliance programs. Mr. Garcia also advises financial institutions on compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act.

Broad Range of Civil Litigation and Arbitration Experience

During his 25-year career, Mr. Garcia has represented clients in state and federal courts, and in international, AAA, and private arbitration. He has experience litigating class-action securities fraud cases, breach of fiduciary duty claims in derivative actions, commercial foreclosures, lender liability claims, title defect claims, real estate fraud, defalcation of escrow deposits, disputed earnouts, misappropriation of trade secrets, commercial disputes, judgment recognition actions, misappropriation of likeness, and employee fraud.

Mr. Garcia earned both his law degree and his accounting degree from the University of Miami. He joined Fridman Fels & Soto in 2025 after ten years as a white-collar partner at White & Case, and The Legal 500 has also named him a Leading Individual in Latin America.