Fighting Corporate Fraud & Business Development

Regina was the founding partner of the New York office of Barrack, Rodos & Bacine(BR&B), founded in Philadelphia, PA in 1976, is an internationally recognized and highly ranked securities fraud litigation firm. BR&B represents US and European public pension funds and labor funds when they lose money due to actions of corporate fraud by publicly traded corporations. For example, BR&B represented the New York State Common Retirement Fund when it lost over $300 million in its investment in WorldCom. WorldCom defrauded its investors by falsifying its publicly disseminated financial statements that were relied upon by investors. Regina was a member of the highly successful litigation team that recovered over $6 billion for wronged investors in In re WorldCom Securities Litigation that was litigated in the US District Court, Southern District of New York, before the Honorable Justice Denise Cote.

More recently Regina was a member of the team that represented the lead plaintiff, the Ohio Employees and Teachers Retirement System in the US class action against Merrill Lynch for its significant involvement in the mortgage backed securities fraud that resulted in the 2008 global financial meltdown. The team recouped over $500 million for wronged investors in this matter. Additionally, she represents institutional investor shareholders when they seek corporate governance changes in corporations on matters of egregious executive compensation and financial mismanagement.

Regina solely developed the firm’s European practice, where BR&B now represents public pension funds and other institutional investors from England, Wales, Scotland and Sweden. She lectures on the impact of corporate fraud internationally and is a member of such organizations as the National Association of Public Pension Attorneys and the National Coordinating Council on Multi-Employer Plans. In January 2012, after eight years of service to BR&B and its public pension fund clients, Regina left to join the administration of Suffolk County Executive Steven Bellone.

Effectively Working in Government

In November 2011, Regina was appointed co-chair of Suffolk County Executive Steven Bellone’s Transition Team. Then in January 2012, as a result of her contributions on the Transition Team, she was then appointed to serve as Chief Deputy County Executive to Suffolk County Executive Steven Bellone. In this capacity, she assists County Executive Steven Bellone in administering the day to day operations of a 10,000 employee workforce and oversees a $2.7 billion budget. Regina is also ensuring that the County Executive’s agenda and vision for the county are implemented to the betterment of the county’s taxpayers.

From 2001 to 2003 Regina served as Deputy General Counsel to the New York City Employees’ Retirement System where she counseled the executive leadership, members and beneficiaries on public pension related matters. Prior to NYCERS, Regina applied her experience in securing the passage of one of New York’s first electronic signature acceptance laws (NYS CPLR 4539-B; 1996) into a position at Prudential Securities, serving as e-commerce counsel as the company was building its e-commerce platform.

While attending law school in the evenings, she served as Director of Legislative Affairs for the NYC Comptroller where she successfully secured the passage of ten laws that saved taxpayers money and generated revenue.

Advocating for the Civil Rights of our Disabled Veterans & all People with Disabilities

She proudly worked as an advocate for disabled veterans where her efforts focused on the passage and implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), a national civil rights law for people with disabilities including veterans with disabilities. Her advocacy included positions on the disability rights task forces in both Suffolk and Nassau County. She began her disability rights advocacy at the Eastern Paralyzed Veterans Association (now known as the United Spinal Association) and after the ADA passed joined NJ Transit where she implemented the ADA into the development of accessible commuter rail, bus, light rail and paratransit for riders with disabilities.

Public Policy & Political Commentary

By way of Regina’s experience serving as an adjunct professor of public administration at CUNY at Baruch College and her years of advising candidates on matters of public policy, she provides commentary on politics, public policy and corporate fraud on national, state and local media outlets such as CNBC, Fox News Channel, Newsday, etc.

State Senate Campaign

In early 2010, Regina, a Democrat, announced her candidacy for New York State Senate for the First Senatorial District. Her opponent, an incumbent who has been the districts state Senator since 1976. She campaigned actively on several issues, including ethics reform in New York State government, fair share of state services for Long Island, and changes to the state’s school aid formula that would also bring property tax relief to Suffolk County. Her campaign ended prematurely when a lawsuit filed by representatives & supporters of her opponent succeeded to remove her from the ballot.

Education & Bar Admittance

Regina graduated from the State University of New York at New Paltz in 1988 with a BA in Political Science and in 1996 obtained her juris doctorate while attending law school in the evenings at Seton Hall University School of Law. She is an attorney in good standing who is admitted to practice law in the State of New York, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the US District Court Southern and Eastern District’s of New York.