Payments Law

Brad has focused his practice on credit card processing and payments law for 17+ years.

Brad is well versed in the card scheme rules, and the requirements they impose on acquirers, third party agents (TPA)/member service providers (MSP), and merchants. Brad routinely counsels acquirers, payment facilitators, processors, gateways, independent sales organizations, independent software vendors, sales agents, and merchants to navigate these rules and requirements and the regulatory and business challenges they face, including money transmitter and other money services business (MSB) issues.

Brad drafts, revises, reviews, interprets and helps to enforce merchant agreements, submerchant agreements, TPA/MSP agreements, sales agent (IC) agreements, deconversion agreements, and portfolio acquisition agreements, ensuring full compliance with the rules and building in maximum protection for his clients with a trained eye toward issues such as reserves handling, security interests, residual rights and portfolio portability.

Brad has helped high-risk merchants to recover millions of dollars in wrongfully withheld reserves and settlement funds from acquiring banks, and millions more from bogus processors offering fraudulent payment solutions that depend on illegal factoring and aggregating schemes.

Brad advises businesses on compliance with card scheme rules, including the Visa rules for free trial subscription merchants, the Mastercard negative option billing merchant rules, and the rules regarding surcharges and convenience fees. Brad also vets payment solutions, including staged digital wallets and virtual currency products, for Cannabis, CBD and other high-risk merchants.

Brad has helped countless other businesses and their principals to effectuate their removal from the Member Alert to Control High-risk (MATCH) list / Terminated Merchant File (TMF).

Digital Marketing and FTC Issues

Brad has a deep knowledge of the laws, regulations and policies governing ecommerce.

Brad has extensive experience in evaluating advertising claims, marketing and billing practices, and the collection, use and protection of consumer data for compliance with federal and California law, including the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Act, Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), Restore Online Shoppers Confidence Act (ROSCA), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), California Automatic Renewal Law, and the California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA).

Brad regularly counsels digital marketers to help them navigate a dynamic online media environment that becomes more heavily regulated every day—preparing opinion letters, performing advertising claims and billing practices reviews, and auditing and drafting terms of service, billing disclosures and privacy policies to ensure their compliance with these laws.

Brad has represented numerous clients in connection with investigations and regulatory enforcement actions by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and state attorneys general—responding to Civil Investigative Demands (CID), opposing Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) and Preliminary Injunction motions freezing the defendants’ assets, and negotiating Stipulated Orders for Permanent Injunction and Monetary Relief on favorable terms.

Brad is admitted to practice in the State and Federal Courts of California.