Notice of Intent to Use Fourth Amended Expert Disclosure Evidence by Eric Dean Sheppard — USA v. Sheppard (Dkt. 144, S.D. Fla.)

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U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida · No. 1:22-cr-20290-BB · Doc. 144 · 2023-11-27 · Docket on CourtListener

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FORIDA 
 
CASE No. 22-20290-CR-BLOOM/OTAZO-REYES 
 
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
 
 
Plaintiff,  
v.  
 
ERIC DEAN SHEPPARD, 
 
 
Defendant. 
____________________________________/ 
 
DEFENDANT’S FOURTH AMENDED NOTICE 
OF INTENT TO UTILIZE EXPERT TESTIMONY 
 
Defendant, Eric Dean Sheppard, hereby files this Amended Notice of Intent to Utilize 
Expert Witness Testimony. Pursuant to Rule 16(B) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, 
Defendant provides this amended notice that Defendant may call the following expert witness in 
his case at trial. 
The qualifications of the expert witness, Scott Bouchner of Berkowitz Pollack Brant 
Advisors + CPAs (“BPBA”), are described in his CV, which was provided to counsel for the 
government via email. An additional copy is also attached to this Notice as Exhibit A. 
Mr. Bouchner is a partner at BPBA and the Director in Charge of Forensic Advisory 
Services. His practice areas include bankruptcy, insolvency, litigation support, expert witness 
testimony, forensic accounting investigations, due diligence investigations, and more. 
General Description of Testimony 
Mr. Bouchner is expected to testify about the cash flows of HM Management and 
Development, LLC (“HM Management”), HM-UP Development Alafaya Tails, LLC (“HM UP”), 
and HM Four, LLC (“HM Four”) (collectively, the “Companies) for various time periods 
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including May 1, 2020 to December 31, 2021; November 23, 2020 to December 31, 2021; and 
March 29, 2021 through September 15, 2021 (collectively, the “Time Periods”). Mr. Bouchner is 
expected to testify regarding cash flows in HM Management accounts at: (a) Amerasia Bank 
(#2063); (b) SunTrust Bank (#7571); and Bank of America (#5176 and #5189). Mr. Bouchner will 
testify regarding cash flows in HM UP accounts at: (a) Amerasia Bank (#1903); (b) One Florida 
Bank (#2368); (c) SunTrust Bank (#5973); and Wells Fargo (#5874). Mr. Bouchner is expected to 
testify regarding cash flows in an HM Four account at SunTrust Bank (#5817). Mr. Bouchner is 
expected to testify regarding Defendant’s account at American Express. Collectively, these 
accounts are referred to as the “Accounts.” 
Mr. Bouchner is expected to testify regarding sources and uses of funds for the Companies 
in the Accounts during the Time Periods. Mr. Bouchner is expected to testify regarding use of the 
Companies and the Accounts to pay personal expenses (as well as the tax and bookkeeping 
treatment of those expenses) during the Time Periods, as well as payment of personal expenses 
historically, back to as early as 2014. 
Opinions 
Mr. Bouchner’s opinions include: 
(1) 
That the Companies collectively paid more for workers, mortgage interest, utilities, 
insurance, and other business expenses than they received in government loans, during the Time 
Periods. 
(2) 
That there were sufficient non-government loan funds in the Accounts to cover 
personal expenses during the Time Periods. 
(3) 
That the Companies historically paid Defendant’s personal expenses, as far back as 
2014. 
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(4) 
Personal expenses paid by the Companies during the Time Periods were of the type, 
nature, and amount that had historically been paid by the Companies in the years preceding the 
government loans. 
(5) 
That money is fungible and the determination of how the government funds were 
used during the Time Periods requires a broad analysis of the Companies and the Accounts, rather 
than a narrow, account-by-account compilation of information. 
(6) 
Mr. Bouchner may also testify regarding other payments made to the Companies, 
payments made by the Companies, or the cash flows related to other companies owned by 
Defendant, if necessary given witness testimony at trial and the government’s presentation of its 
case in chief. In that event, Defendant will endeavor to update this disclosure. For example, if a 
government witness disputes how much he or she was paid the Companies, Mr. Bouchner may be 
called upon to rebut that. As another example, if there is a dispute regarding the amount tenant   
Basis for Opinions 
Mr. Bouchner’s opinions and anticipated testimony are based on facts and data reasonably 
relied upon by forensic accountant experts. 
Mr. Bouchner’s testimony will draw upon his expertise and experience, which is 
reasonably relied upon by forensic accountant experts. 
Mr. Bouchner is relying on bank and credit card documents produced by the Government, 
QuickBooks records kept as business records by the Companies, QuickBooks maintained in 
Cupersmith’s files and produced by the Government, project reports for the Orlando shopping 
center kept as business records by the Companies, and American Express credit card statements 
reconciled by the Companies and maintained as business records. Mr. Bouchner is relying on 
documents produced to the government by Burlington Coat Factory. All the foregoing documents 
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have been produced to the Government or were produced by the Government, and all these types 
of documents are reasonably relied upon by a forensic accountant expert. 
As part of the forensic work performed by Mr. Bouchner, his firm created a transactional 
database of banking activity for the Companies based on data extracted from above-referenced 
bank and credit card statements from January 2019 through December 2021. To supplement this 
data, Mr. Bouchner incorporated additional information obtained from above-referenced HM 
Management and HM Up general ledgers. This included names of payees, account categories, 
memo items, which in some cases described the nature of the transaction, and the Companies’ 
internal accounting treatment for each transaction. These business records are of the type 
reasonably relied upon by a forensic accountant expert. 
Mr. Bouchner also reviewed the above-referenced a) notations made on bank and credit 
card statements that were made contemporaneously, identifying whether various purchases were 
business related or personal in nature, b) reports and documents prepared and sent to Mr. Sheppard 
by the Burlington project manager, who Mr. Sheppard entrusted to manage the build-out of the 
Burlington building on the Alafaya Trails property, and c) other documents pertaining to certain 
cash expenditures. These business records are of the type reasonably relied upon by a forensic 
accountant expert. 
Mr. Bouchner is also relying on conversations with Mr. Sheppard and Ms. Jeanette 
Gonzalez. These discussions were primarily held in late August and early September 2023 for the 
purpose of confirming or clarifying observations made by Mr. Bouchner during his review and 
analysis of the Companies’ business records, including bank statements, general ledgers, project 
manager reports, and other financial related documents produced. The project manager reports 
required significant forensic analysis.  
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Specifically, discussions with Mr. Sheppard were primarily for the purpose of confirming 
whether certain payments were for a business purpose or were personal in nature. This included 
both banking transactions as well as credit card activity. Additional information or clarification 
was necessary because it was not always possible, at times, to discern the nature of the expenditure 
based solely on the business records.  In other cases, because the notations made by Ms. Gonzalez 
were done contemporaneously, monthly, there were occasional discrepancies as to how a given 
payee or merchant was characterized over the Time Periods. 
In addition to providing additional information or clarification as to the business or 
personal purpose of each expenditure, Mr. Bouchner also discussed with Mr. Sheppard a lease 
modification made on the Burlington property in which rent concessions were made by HM UP to 
Burlington, documents contained in the Burlington project reports, and the substance of the work 
performed by individuals managed by the project manager at the Alafaya shopping center. Mr. 
Bouchner had to analyze the lease for purposes of determining business expenses during the Time 
Periods. 
Finally, discussions with Mr. Sheppard also include background regarding the shopping 
center and general understanding of the business. Mr. Bouchner is not relying on those background 
discussions for any of his opinions in this case, but makes that disclosure, nonetheless. 
Discussions with Ms. Gonzalez were more limited in nature and generally consisted of 
understanding the universe of information that may have been available for Mr. Bouchner to 
review, discussing the contemporaneous notations made on the bank and credit card statements 
and general ledgers, and attempting to obtain business record documentation. 
There are no interview notes of these conversations. As the discussions were had, the 
underlying data and the analysis was updated as necessary. The results of these updates are 
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reflected in the various charts that have been produced to counsel and are attached to this amended 
disclosure as composite Exhibit B. 
Charts Prepared by Mr. Bouchner 
 
On November 24, 2023, in an abundance of caution and in good faith, defense counsel 
produced draft charts prepared by Mr. Bouchner to the government, with the caveat that they were 
still being reviewed and revised. Defense counsel is also producing additional and revised charts 
prepared by Mr. Bouchner, attached to this amended disclosure as composite Ex. B, which are also 
still being reviewed and finalized. If additional charts are prepared or finalized, Defendant will 
produce and file them. 
/s/ Scott Bouchner 
 
 
Scott Bouchner 
Berkowitz Pollack Brant Advisors + CPAs 
 
 
Dated: November 27, 2023.  
 
 
Respectfully submitted,  
NELSON MULLINS  
One Biscayne Tower, 21st Floor  
2 S. Biscayne Boulevard  
Miami, FL 33131  
Telephone: 305.373.9400  
Facsimile: 305.995.6449 
By: /s/ Christopher Cavallo 
Jayne C. Weintraub 
Florida Bar No. 320382 
Christopher Cavallo 
Florida Bar No. 0092305 
Jonathan Etra  
Florida Bar No. 686905 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 
 
I HEREBY CERTIFY that on November 27, 2023, a copy of the foregoing was 
electronically filed using the Court’s CM/ECF system and electronic notice was provided to the 
Office of the United States Attorney.  
By: /s/ Christopher Cavallo 
Christopher Cavallo 
Case 1:22-cr-20290-BB   Document 144   Entered on FLSD Docket 11/27/2023   Page 7 of 7

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