Attorney Profiles

Mr. Murena is a business litigator and trial lawyer who specializes in commercial, bankruptcy and fraud litigation, in state and federal court, at both the trial and appellate levels. After graduating from law school in 1998, Mr. Murena served as the Law Clerk to the Honorable Paul G. Hyman, Jr., United States Bankruptcy Judge for the Southern District of Florida. Subsequently, he joined the law firm of Tew Cardenas LLP and focused his practice on litigation, bankruptcy and receiverships, representing various entities, including corporations, corporate debtors-in-possession, individual debtors, creditors committees, individual and corporate creditors, state and federal equity receivers, banks and other financial institutions, private lenders, and defendants in SEC, CFTC and FTC enforcement actions. Mr. Murena was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1998 and is licensed to practice in all state and federal courts in Florida and the United States Courts of Appeals for the Third and Eleventh Circuits.

Litigation

Mr. Murena has represented defendants in enforcement actions brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodities Futures Trade Commission, and the Federal Trade Commission in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. He also worked on the legal team that represented the Estate of George Batchelor in the $500 million fraudulent transfer action arising from the leveraged buyout of International Air Leases, Inc., which filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. He represented the Federal Equity Receiver of Viatical Capital, Inc. and its affiliates in a fraudulent transfer action that resulted in a jury trial in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida against the brokers of the receivership entities who received commissions in exchange for selling fraudulent investment products to investors. Further, Mr. Murena represented class representatives in a class action filed in the Mutual Benefits Corporation federal equity receivership proceeding in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida (involving a $1.5 billion fraud), which after less than one year of litigation, returned $85 million dollars – a 100% recovery – to the class representatives and all members of the class. In addition, Mr. Murenal worked on the legal team that successfully defended Steel Hector & Davis in a $500 milllion legal malpractice case that arose from the colapse of Southeast Bank.

Appellate Advocacy

In addition to being a seasoned litigator and trial lawyer, Mr. Murena is a skilled appellate advocate with significant experience representing clients' interests on appeal. In the event a client faces an adverse ruling or judgment at the trial level, he will provide the appellate advocacy necessary to obtain reversal of that ruling or judgment on appeal. Conversely, should an opposing party appeal a ruling or judgment favorable to a client, Mr. Murena will vigorously defend his client's rights and interests on appeal.

Mr. Murena has advocated on behalf of clients, as both appellants and appellees, in numerous appeals taken from state and federal trial courts. He has brought and defended appeals taken to United States Courts of Appeals for the Third and Eleventh Circuits and to the Florida District Courts of Appeal for the Third and Fourth Districts. Among the many clients for which Mr. Murena has advocated on appeal are defendants in enforcement actions brought by the Commodities Futures Trade Commission and the Federal Trade Commission in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the School Board of Miami-Dade County, Florida, a regional airline, and one of the largest insurance carriers in the world. In one appeal, Mr. Murena successfully defended Air Sunshine and AIG in a federal appeal that set new precedent in the Third Circuit with respect to the issue of multiple occurrences for purposes of insurance coverage in connection with an airplane crash: Flemming v. Air Sunshine, Inc., 311 F.3d 282 (3d Cir. 2002).

Bankruptcy and Creditors' Rights

Mr. Murena represents corporate and individual debtors, debtors-in-possession and creditors in Chapter 11 reorganization cases and litigation matters arising out of or related to bankruptcy cases. He also represents third parties with interests in bankruptcy proceedings or assets being administered therein, or involved in bankruptcy-related litigation or other matters. Mr. Murena provides pre- and post-bankruptcy consulting services to corporations and individuals who are considering filing for bankruptcy, who are parties to bankruptcy proceedings, or who otherwise require bankruptcy advice and counseling.

Mr. Murena has worked on a number of significant Chapter 11 reorganization and converted liquidation cases in a variety of capacities, representing the full spectrum of interests, including domestic and international corporations acting as debtors-in-possession (Beverage Canners International Corp. involving $63 million of debt; CHS Electronics, Inc., involving $725 million of debt), real estate developers as debtors-in-possession (New Florida Properties Corp. reorganization involving $102 million of debt), corporate creditors (Unipro Foodservice, Inc. in the United Container, LLC reorganization: E.S. Bankest, LLC v. United Beverage Florida, LLC, 284 B.R. 162 (Bankr. S.D. Fla. 2002)), banks and other lending institutions (Wilmington Trust Company, as indenture trustee, in the Atlas Air, Inc. reorganization involving more than $1 billion in debt; 1st Source Bank in Amerijet International, Inc. reorganization involving $76 million in debt), private lenders (Carnival Cruise Lines, as post-petition secured lender under Revolving Credit Facility in the GoCruiseDirect.com reorganization), individual creditors (Estate of George Batchelor in the International Air Leases, Inc. reorganization), bankruptcy trustees (Aerofloral, Inc. reorganization - liquidation), liquidating trustees (United Petroleum - Farm Stores reorganization - liquidation), federal and state equity receivers (represented Receiver of Pension Fund of America receivership in related Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings; represented the Florida Department of Financial Services as Receiver of Aries Insurance Company in the bankruptcy cases of its subsidiaries) and corporate landlords (The Walt Disney Company in the Estrellamundo of California, LLC reorganization - liquidation).

Receivership

Mr. Murena represents federal and state court-appointed equity receivers in a variety of fraud-based receivership proceedings. Currently, Mr. Murena works on the legal team that represents the Federal Court-appointed Equity Receiver of the Estate of Frederick J. Kunen in the action brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission against the Estate of Mr. Kunen (www.optionstradingfraud.com), who lured primarily inexperienced investors into a risky index options trading scheme with baseless misrepresentations regarding previous and future returns, and either lost their funds trading or converted them for his own personal use.

Mr. Murena previously worked on the legal team that represented the Federal Court-appointed Equity Receiver in the receivership case of Securities and Exchange Commission v. Viatical Capital, Inc., et al. (www.lifereceivership.com), where the receivership entities fraudulently sold more than $59 million in securities in the form of viatical insurance policies and investor and creditor claims total over $50 million, and the Receiver successfully marshaled more than $25 million in assets and allowed claimants are expected to receive an unprecedented 50% distribution. Mr. Murena also worked on the legal team that represented the Federal Court-appointed Equity Receiver in the case of Securities and Exchange Commission v. Pension Fund of America, et al (www.pfareceivership.com), where the receivership entities fraudulently sold more than $130 million in securities in the form of long-term investment products and investor and creditor claims are estimated to total more than $75 million, and the Receiver successfully marshaled assets sufficient to provide a 50% distribution to the defrauded investors and creditors. Further, Mr. Murena worked on the legal team that represented a class of investors who recovered more than $85 million - 100% recovery of the principal invested - in the Mutual Benefits Corp. federal receivership (www.mbcreceiver.com), involving a $1.5 billion fraud.