Christina Rea, Esq. is a Bates Consulting and Testifying Expert and the founder of RayCor Consulting, LLC. She has over 10 years of experience acting as a senior compliance manager and Chief Compliance Officer/BSA Officer for a variety of financial institutions, with a specialty in Fintechs, cryptocurrency exchangers, and other Money Service Businesses. She utilizes her extensive background in AML and MSB compliance to provide expert witness testimony on complex financial matters involving anti-money laundering, fraud, and cryptocurrency. She also works on international financial litigation cases as an expert witness team lead, including for sensitive anti-money laundering litigation matters that require a great deal of confidentiality.
Ms. Rea provides fractional Chief Compliance Officer services for all manners of fintech startups, RegTech vendors, and local banks and FIs. In addition, she provides AML, Sanctions, fraud, and consumer protection compliance advisory & remediation services, compliance training, and independent AML audits. She has worked with some of the largest cryptocurrency and payments companies in the world, including serving as BSA Officer at Uphold.com, CCO at Binance.US, and advisor to Gate.io, ByBit.io, and CEX.io. She has extensive experience assisting MSBs obtain money transmitter licenses, including the NYDFS BitLicense, and also assists banks and Fintechs with bridging the compliance - banking partner gap by assisting with Banking-as-a-Service compliance and due diligence requirements.
She frequently presents on AML issues at national and international conferences and has published multiple articles on financial crime topics. She serves as a content advisor and subject matter expert for a variety of regulatory and financial tech partners.
Christina is a consultant and subject matter expert in these Practice Areas and Services:
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Securities and Financial Services Litigation & Consulting
- Retail Securities
- Institutional Securities
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AML & Financial Crimes
- Anti-Money Laundering
- Third Party Risk Management
- Internal Investigations
- Fraud & Risk Management
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Compliance Solutions
- Anti-Money Laundering
- Bank Secrecy Act
- Compliance Testimony
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MSB, FinTech and Cryptocurrency
- MSB Consulting
- BSA/AML/OFAC Compliance
- Money Transmitter Licensing
- Consumer Compliance / Consumer Lending
- BitLicense
Credentials
EXPERIENCE
Bates Group, Consulting and Testifying Expert, 2023 – Present
Raycor Consulting, LLC, Co-Founder and CCO, New York, NY, 2022 – Present
CR Compliance Consulting, AML and Fraud Consultant, New York, NY, 2017 – 2022
Mphasis, Chief Compliance and Legal Officer, New York, NY, 2015 – 2017
HSBC, AVP, AML Compliance Manager, New York, NY, 2013 – 2015
Navigant Consulting, Senior AML Consultant and Project Leader, New York, NY, 2012 – 2013
EDUCATION
Juris Doctor (JD), Suffolk University Law School, Boston, MA
Bachelor of Science (BS), Honors Finance, Cum Laude, Bentley College, Waltham, MA
PUBLICATIONS AND SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
- Digital Assets Compliance: AML, Sanctions and Regulatory Oversight: 2ND Forum, hosted by American Conference Institute Co-host of a panel titled The Legal and Compliance Pitfalls of Pilot Programs, Test Cases and New Products: How to Prioritize Compliance from the Start. October 2023
- Compliance in Web3, DeFi, and DeSci, hosted by Persona First guest speaker in the Persona spotlight series; spoke on all things compliance in the Web3 and DeFi fields, as well as the burgeoning field of DeSci; watch here: https://help.withpersona.com/podcasts/6FtcjCouoMruT7PXJe4H3z/episode-1/. June 2023
- How to Ensure Safe and Compliant Onboarding Without Sacrificing Your Customer Experience, hosted by Persona. One of four panelists in a 60-minute session discussing how to balance KYC and onboarding requirements with a user-friendly experience. June 2023
- “Sponsor Banks & Banking as a Service: The Importance of Choosing the Right Tech Vendors”, Blog Post for Persona, May 30, 2023. https://withpersona.com/blog/sponsor-banks-banking-as-a-service. May 2023
- 5 Evolving Fraud Trends in the Banking Industry, hosted by Unit21 Guest speaker for a Unit 21 webinar on detecting and preventing fraud for fintech companies; watch here: https://go.unit21.ai/register-5-evolving-fraud-trends-in-banking. May 2023
- “Compliance Officer Resources: 5 Underground Channels to Explore”, Blog Post for Unit 21, February 10, 2023. Unit21 Blog Post, "Compliance Officer Resources". February 2023
- Women in Compliance: The Fintech Edition, hosted by Clausematch One of six panelists in a 60-minute session discussing women’s contributions to the world of compliance in the fintech industry; watch here: Clausematch Webinar, "Women in Compliance". June 2022