Mr. Stermer joined the Miami office of DSI in 2009, bringing with him more than 20 years of private and public sector experience. Mr. Stermer has been appointed as fiduciary by both state and federal courts to liquidate a variety of businesses. In addition, he has acted as advisor to others appointed as the fiduciary, where he has managed the day to day operations of receiverships, assignment and other estates, coordinated and assisted the estates’ legal, accounting and other professionals, investigated the estates’ interest in or ownership of assets, and managed the recovery and disposition of those assets. He has also coordinated claims processes and analysis and consulted and strategized with clients regarding potential and ongoing governmental investigations and prosecutions.
Among his recent fiduciary appointments, Mr. Stermer is the Receiver for the Hess Kennedy Receivership Estate, a matter commenced by the Florida Attorney General’s Office alleging deceptive and unfair trade practice act violations against a number of entities who were supposed to provide debt settlement and debt consolidation services to over 90,000 consumers across the country but did not perform as represented. As Receiver, Mr. Stermer has obtained in excess of $150 million in debt forgiveness for consumers, tradeline deletions for more than 15,000 consumers, and has conducted an extensive claims procedure including more than 20,000 submitted claims.
Before joining the private section, Mr. Stermer served in the Economic Crimes Litigation Unit of the Florida Attorney General’s Department of Legal Affairs, where he commenced and participated in all facets of civil enforcement pre-complaint investigations and litigation, including bankruptcy litigation, related to Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act, from inception of investigation through trial. While with the Office of the Bronx County District Attorney’s office, Mr. Stermer served as Special Assistant United States Attorney in the Organized Crime Unit and as Assistant District Attorney in a federally-funded task force prosecuting high volume narcotics trafficking and related violent crime.
Mr. Stermer received his Juris Doctor degree in 1988 from Touro College, Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center and his Bachelor of Arts from State University of New York at Binghamton in 1984. He currently serves as a City of Weston (Florida) Commissioner and has held numerous other elected positions. As an adjunct professor at St. Thomas University School of Law, Mr. Stermer regularly teaches “Receivership Practice and the Inter-Relationships between the Legal, Accounting, and Business Worlds” and his professional and community involvement includes his participation in local bar associations and the Florida Receivers Forum.
