Before joining Kroll, Ana served as Assistant Regional Director in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. She oversaw teams based in the SEC’s Chicago Regional Office and the Enforcement Division’s Complex Financial Instruments Unit (CFI), a national specialty unit devoted to cutting-edge cases involving complex financial products—including fintech and cryptocurrencies—and sophisticated market participants. In this role, Ana acquired extensive experience leading teams through tackling novel legal questions, analyzing emerging financial products and cryptocurrencies, and navigating critical stages in investigations and litigation. Under Ana’s combined leadership and partnership, the SEC filed high-profile and programmatically important enforcement cases, such as the SEC’s first cases involving decentralized finance technology (DeFi) and Regulation Crowdfunding.
During her tenure at the SEC, Ana held various other senior roles, including Counsel to the former Co-Directors of the Division of Enforcement, Senior Investigative Counsel and a Co-Leader of the Pyramid Scheme Taskforce’s Public Outreach Committee. These positions gave her broad exposure to SEC examinations, investigations and litigated cases. Ana prosecuted a vast range of federal securities laws violations, such as misconduct and compliance failures by investment advisers, broker-dealers and Nationally Recognized Statistical Rating Organizations (NRSROs); fraud; breaches of fiduciary duty; Regulation Best Interest violations; corporate issuer disclosure and reporting violations; Regulation Crowdfunding violations; insider trading; professional misconduct; and cases involving crypto assets, cybersecurity-related issues and fintech. In addition to investigating and supervising cases at the SEC, Ana assumed other leadership roles, such as participation in Division of Enforcement initiatives, facilitating training programs and speaking at industry conferences and public outreach events.
Ana also has substantial experience engaging with federal and state law enforcement and other regulatory agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice, state attorney generals’ offices, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service, U.S. Commodity Futures Trade Commission, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and various state securities regulators.
Prior to the SEC, Ana was a litigation associate at major international law firms. She counseled clients facing government investigations, FINRA arbitrations, and litigation in federal and state courts. Ana also served as an adjunct professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she designed and taught courses regarding white-collar crime, criminal law, and courts and society.
Ana graduated from the University of Illinois College of Law with a J.D., magna cum laude. She also holds a B.A. in English Literature with highest distinction, summa cum laude, from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and is a member of the California and Illinois bars. Ana received the Donald and Leah Riddle Prize and the Lincoln Academy Student Laureate Award, which were granted exclusively to a single graduating senior for excellence, leadership and service.
