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Arnoldo B. Lacayo

Partner

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Arnoldo Lacayo focuses his international litigation practice on financial fraud and asset recovery.  He has experience litigating complex disputes in both state and federal courts and has represented multi-national corporations, sovereign governments, Receivers, Trustees and other foreign officeholders in matters pending in U.S. Courts.

Lacayo also has extensive experience working with the versatile 28 U.S.C. § 1782 discovery statute.  Recent published cases in which Lacayo has participated include: Application of Consorcio Ecuatoriano de Telecomunicaciones S.A. v. JAS Forwarding (USA), Inc., 747 F.3d 1262 (11th Cir. 2014) (affirming the applicability of the 28 U.S.C. § 1782 discovery statute in support of contemplated foreign proceedings); In re Sociedad Militar Seguro de Vida, 985 F.Supp.2d 1375 (N.D. Ga. 2013) (granting 28 U.S.C. § 1782 assistance in support of litigation pending in Curaçao); Sallah v. Worldwide Clearing, LLC, et al., 2011 WL 5914034 (S.D. Fla. Nov. 28, 2011) (order denying various motions to dismiss fraudulent transfers and unjust enrichment claims by Receiver); In re Application of Dr. Afonso Henrique Alves Braga, 272 F.R.D. 621 (S.D. Fla. 2011) (order denying motion to vacate or amend order granting petition for judicial assistance pursuant to 28. U.S.C. § 1782); Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Bogota S.A. E.S.P. v. Mercury Telco Group, Inc., 670 F. Supp. 2d 1357 (S.D. Fla. 2009) (order confirming and enforcing a multi-million dollar arbitration award in favor of a Colombian telecommunications company); Mercury Telco Group, Inc., v. Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Bogota S.A. E.S.P., 670 F. Supp. 2d 1350 (S.D. Fla. 2009) (order dismissing lawsuit against Colombian telecommunications company and compelling arbitration).

In addition to being named a “Florida Rising Star” by the publication Super Lawyers, Lacayo’s recent speaking engagements include the AIJA 2016 Half Year Conference, Concrete Risks – Corruption and Money Laundering in the Acquisition and Construction of Real Estate (Chicago, Illinois, May 2016); Fifty-Third Annual AIJA Congress, State Court Participation in International Arbitration – Evidence Gathering (London, United Kingdom, September 2015); IBA Anti-Corruption Conference, Global Round Up of Asset Recovery in Corruption Cases (Paris, France, June 2015); ABA Section of International Law’s 2014 North America Forum, Pre-Judgment Asset Freezing: The Lay of the Land Fifteen Years after Grupo Mexicano (Vancouver, B.C., Canada, November 2014); C5’s Twenty-Seventh Forum on Fraud, Asset Tracing and Recovery (Miami Beach, Florida, September 2014); Offshore Alert Conference, Bank Document Subpoenas – Tales from the Field (Miami Beach, Florida, May 2014); AIJA Banking and Financial Services Conference, Conscious Avoidance:  A Substitute for Actual Knowledge (Hong Kong, China, March 2014); ABA Annual Meeting, Using Discovery in Aid of Foreign and International Proceedings (Chicago, Illinois, April 2013); Forty-Ninth Annual AIJA Congress, An American Expert in Paris: The Expert Witness on Trial (Amsterdam, The Netherlands, August 2011); 2011 Cross-Border Asset Tracing and Recovery Conference, Penetrating Fraudsters’ Ruses and Hiding Spots (London, United Kingdom, June 2011); Second Annual International Association for Asset Recovery Conference, Using Equitable Remedies in Asset Recovery Cases (Las Vegas, Nevada, November 2010); Forty-Eighth Annual AIJA Congress, Fraud and Insolvency in the Financial Crisis (Charleston, South Carolina, August 2010); 2010 Offshore Alert Financial Due Diligence Conference, Pursuing Unique Assets (Miami Beach, Florida, May 2010); and Forty-Seventh Annual AIJA Congress, The Real Legal Weapons:  Interim Measures in Civil and Criminal Cases (Budapest, Hungary, August 2009). Lacayo has also contributed to or co-authored various papers and chapters, including the United States Chapter in The FraudNet World Compendium on Asset Tracing and Recovery.

Lacayo is an active member of the Florida Bar’s International Law Section where he currently serves as Chair-Elect and a member of the Executive Council.  Lacayo is also active with the International Association of Young Lawyers (AIJA) where he currently serves a Vice-President of the Litigation Commission and as U.S. National Representative for the United States of America to AIJA.  Lacayo is also a member of the International Bar Association (IBA) where he currently serves as Regional Officer, North America as well as the American Bar Association (ABA) Section of International Law.

As a native Spanish speaker, prior to settling in South Florida, Lacayo lived and studied in Latin America.  Lacayo is a cum laude graduate of the University of Miami School of Law.  As the Articles and Comments Editor for the University of Miami Inter-American Law Review, he authored Seeking a Balance: International Pharmaceutical Patent Protection, Public Health Crises and The Emerging Threat of Bio-Terrorism, 33 U. Miami Inter-Am. L. Rev. 295 (2002), for which he received the 2003 Burton Award for Legal Achievement, an award presented annually by the Burton Foundation in association with the Library of Congress.  He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, where he double majored in Psychology and History.  He also completed a Concentration in Latin American Studies while at Notre Dame.

Lacayo is admitted to all Florida state courts, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, the District Courts for the Southern and Middle Districts of Florida and the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida.