Seamless Compliance, Boundless Growth

Ryan Cimo is the Founder and CEO of Fraxtional, a New York-based boutique consulting firm specializing in risk and compliance leadership that caters to FinTech, BaaS Banks, Crypto, and Private Equity.

With decades of experience in the financial services industry at Fortune 500 companies and high-growth FinTechs, Ryan’s extensive expertise and unique approach to operational challenges makes Fraxtional a trusted partner for companies seeking fractional leadership and practical risk solutions for current and future challenges. As a senior leader with broad knowledge across multiple disciplines including sales, risk, compliance, and operations, Ryan has the ability to connect the most critical dots when developing the appropriate path forward for his clients.

Ryan has served in multiple senior-level roles at M&T Bank including Head of Risk for Retail Banking, Business Banking, Digital, Marketing, New Ventures, and Consumer Lending, Head of Branch Operations and Risk for over 1000 branch offices across 12 states, Head of Anti-Money Laundering Investigations, Offshoring Director, and Regional Manager across Washington, D.C., Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. Ryan has also served as Chief Compliance Officer, Chief Risk Officer, and BSA Officer for several high-growth FinTech, BaaS Banks, and Crypto companies, and is Board Advisor to Verifiet, a global data and service provider for business risk intelligence.

Ryan earned a Bachelor’s in Government & Law from Lafayette College and an MBA in Strategic Management & Public Policy from The George Washington University. He is a graduate of both the Consumer Bankers Association Executive Banking School at University of Virginia, and the Executive Leadership Program at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. For several years Ryan served as a committee member of the Risk Management Association, and the Gartner Operations Circle, both nationally-recognized organizations in the field(s) of risk and operations. Ryan is also an ACAMS Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist and Certified Bitcoin & Ethereum Professional.

Joshua Wasserman is a Director at Fraxtional specializing in Regulatory Compliance, Licensing, Controls, & BSA,  as well as Founder and Vice President of Key Kore Solutions, Inc. in Tampa, FL.

With over 15 years  experience in the financial services industry as a risk and compliance Bank Examiner and executive leader, Joshua provides guidance on Regulatory Compliance, Licensing, and Control Frameworks to Banks, FinTechs, and virtual currency companies. Joshua has rebuilt multiple risk & control frameworks at some of our largest financial institutions.  

Joshua’s core competencies include developing and leading teams along with shaping robust compliance programs, driving strategic initiatives, developing risk & controls frameworks and self-assessments, managing stakeholders, and international payments buildouts (including most of Africa).

Amber de Volk serves as Director at Fraxtional specializing in all facets of FinTech and Bank Sponsorship.

As a seasoned C-Suite executive and thought leader with over two decades of experience, Amber provides FinTech pioneers with strategic compliance guidance, leveraging broad expertise. Amber has led the  design, development, and implementation of many CMS and BSA Programs for a diverse array of FinTech ventures, spanning consumer, b2b/commercial, marketplace lending, payments, and BaaS products.

Armed with an LL.M. in Financial Compliance & Risk Management and fueled by a passion for compliance innovation, Amber ensures FinTech compliance excellence by crafting CMS programs and decoding intricate regulatory frameworks, drawing from extensive experience in digital banking and FinTech operations.

Ricardo Gonzalez is a seasoned executive-level compliance and investment professional with over 17 years of industry experience and Director at Fraxtional specializing in FINRA, SEC, & RIA Compliance. As the owner of Regulatory Compliance Consultants, LLC, established in 2014, Ricardo has successfully engaged with major financial institutions such as JPM Chase, Citibank, and Discover Financial. His extensive background is supported by an array of FINRA licenses, including SIE, 7, 24, 63, 53, 65, 99, and 57, enabling him to offer specialized consulting services that ensure strict adherence to laws, regulations, and internal policies.

Ricardo’s expertise in the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and broker-dealer regulations equips him with a nuanced understanding of industry compliance intricacies. He has been pivotal in enhancing compliance culture within organizations, bringing a solutions-focused approach and unwavering commitment to ethical standards and regulatory compliance.

Fluent in both English and Spanish, Ricardo bridges communication gaps in diverse work environments, fostering strong relationships. His leadership roles as Chief Compliance Officer, AML Chief Officer, and Municipal Bond Principal for numerous billion-dollar, internationally owned SEC-registered investment advisories underscore his capability and influence.

Ricardo’s notable contributions to organizational culture include collaborating with Salesforce to highlight the importance of a robust compliance program, showcasing the tangible return on investment an effective compliance strategy can deliver. Additionally, he has successfully filed continuing membership applications (Form 1017) with regulatory bodies, enabling the addition of new business lines and facilitating ownership changes in various firms.

His areas of expertise are broad and include Anti-Money Laundering, FINRA and SEC Audits, SEC ADV Filing, CRD-IARD, Account Opening Reviews, Transaction Monitoring, EDD, BSA, KYC, and a range of investment vehicles, including stocks, bonds, options, ETFs, mutual funds, and cryptocurrency. Ricardo’s deep knowledge of FINRA rules and regulations further solidifies his distinguished career.

Bert Friedman, CAMS/CRCM, serves as a Director at Fraxtional, specializing in the construction and enhancement of Compliance Management Systems. His focus includes leading SOC2 certifications, managing BSA/AML & OFAC compliance, and Policy Development.

With a wealth of over 25 years in financial compliance, Bert has garnered extensive expertise collaborating with Founders, FinTech companies, Partner Banks, and BaaS providers. His distinctive skill set equips clients with comprehensive knowledge, ensuring compliance is maintained while simultaneously fostering top-line growth. Bert’s illustrious career spans roles such as an Examiner at the CFPB, a pivotal figure in Financial Crimes at a prominent commercial bank, and Chief Compliance Officer for various FinTech companies at various growth stages.

Bert’s legal proficiency, SEC/FINRA background, coupled with his in-depth understanding of crypto and blockchain, positions him as a valuable leader for clients, offering the exceptional guidance and expertise required to achieve optimal results.

Sonia Desai is a Director at Fraxtional specializing in BSA/AML & Private Equity, as well as Advisor at HyperVerge, a B2B SaaS company specializing in AI-based KYC and KYB for FinTech and beyond.

Sonia joins Fraxtional and brings with her a distinguished resume of global achievement in the BSA/AML/OFAC space.  Sonia is a globally-recognized subject matter expert on compliance programs, anti-money laundering, sanctions, counter-terrorism finance, and trade sanctions, to name a few.  In 2003 she was awarded “The Franklin Award” by the State Department for the management of the terrorist designation program post 9-11.  In addition, in 2014 Sonia was awarded the “CEO Award” for the design and implementation of the global anti-bribery and corruption program at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

During the course of her career Sonia has led best-in-class BSA programs at high-growth FinTech and venture backed companies including Revolut and Hard Yaka Ventures, along with Senior positions at Charles Schwab and Bank of the West.

Tana Rugel serves as Director at Fraxtional specializing in BaaS Enterprise-Wide Risk Management & FinTech.

With over 25 years of experience in the banking sector, Tana is a seasoned BSA (Bank Secrecy Act) and risk professional. Her extensive career encompasses diverse roles in enterprise-wide BSA and risk programs, particularly within high-risk sectors such as MSBs (Money Services Businesses), prepaid, and fintech.

Tana has a proven track record of developing multiple risk organizations, including Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs). Notably, she recently established a comprehensive risk organization that encompasses BSA Quality Control, BSA Systems, BSA Reporting, and Compliance Oversight Testing teams. Her expertise extends to addressing regulatory issues at various levels, requiring remediation, and she has undergone examination experiences with the Office of Comptroller of Currency.

Tana Rugel holds current certifications, including the ACAMS FCI (Advanced Financial Crimes Certification) and ABA CERP (Certified Enterprise Risk Professional).

Christina Rea, Esq. is a Director at Fraxtional specializing in FinTech, Crypto Exchanges, and MSB’s, and also Founder of RayCor Consulting, LLC. She has over 10 years of experience acting as a senior compliance manager and Chief Compliance Officer/BSA Officer for a variety of financial institutions. She utilizes her extensive background in AML and MSB compliance to provide expert witness testimony on complex financial matters involving anti-money laundering, fraud, and cryptocurrency. She also works on domestic and international financial litigation cases as an expert witness team lead, including for sensitive anti-money laundering litigation matters that require a great deal of confidentiality.

Ms. Rea provides fractional Chief Compliance Officer services for all manners of fintech startups, RegTech vendors,  community banks and financial institutions. In addition, she provides AML, Sanctions, fraud, and consumer protection compliance advisory & remediation services, compliance training, and independent AML audits & gap analyses. She has worked with some of the largest cryptocurrency and payments companies in the world, including serving as BSA Officer at Uphold.com, CCO at Binance.US, and advisor to Gate.io, ByBit.io, and CEX.io. She has extensive experience with assisting MSBs in obtaining money transmitter licenses, including the NYDFS BitLicense, and also assists banks and fintechs with bridging the compliance – banking partner gap by assisting with banking-as-a-service compliance and due diligence requirements.

She frequently presents on AML & compliance issues at national and international conferences and has published multiple articles on financial crime topics. She serves as a content advisor and subject matter expert for a variety of regulatory and financial tech partners.

Robin Garrison serves as Director at Fraxtional and is also the founder and managing director of GCC. She has over 13 years experience in the industry specializing in FinTech, Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS), RegTech and Cross-border remittances. With a strong focus on risk management and regulatory compliance, Robin has successfully developed and implemented robust AML and compliance programs for both startups and established financial institutions.

Robin provides factional Chief Compliance Officer services for fintechs and regtechs, as well as general compliance advisory and remediation services in AML/BSA, Risk Management, program development, scaling and oversight, marketing/UDAP/UDAAP, consumer protection, banking and product development. Her experience includes management and senior management level roles at companies such as Western Union, Wise, MainStreet Bank, Rize and FirstBank.

Robin is an active contributor to the industry, having participated as a speaker and panelist at numerous conferences, and served on various advisory councils. She holds an advanced CAMS-Audit certification.

Nauman Abuzar, is a Director at Fraxtional for the European Union and UK, specializing in regulatory compliance, anti-money laundering (AML), financial crime (FinCrime), and anti-fraud. His work spans a broad range of industries, including FinTech, Financial Services, Cross-Border Payments, Money Services Businesses (MSB), Foreign Exchange, Cryptocurrency, Tokenization, Employer of Record (EOR), Contractor Management, Broker-Dealers, Crowdfunding, Non-Profit Organizations, and RegTech.

With global experience and regulatory expertise across the US, Canada, UK, EU, MEA, and APAC, coupled with his ACAMS certification, Nauman excels at addressing complex compliance challenges. He has a proven track record of establishing local practices that align with regulatory policies, and his skill set ranges from creating and enforcing compliance processes to driving automation initiatives that enhance operational efficiency and ensure regulatory adherence.

He has been instrumental in developing robust compliance frameworks and introducing innovative, AI-powered RegTech solutions that not only mitigate risk but also drive advancements in KYC and ongoing monitoring—helping organizations stay ahead of regulatory demands and industry trends.

Maria Andrews, Esq.  is a Director at Fraxtional specializing in Crypto, Web3, and Licensing, as well as Founder and President at Alt Compliance, LLC, a firm specializing in digital assets and Web3 Fintechs.

Maria joins Fraxtional as a Compliance professional with a decade of experience and a licensed attorney in the State of New York.  She comes equipped with the skills to advise a broad range of high-growth businesses.  Maria has served as the first Compliance hire at two early-stage cryptocurrency and Web3 startups.  She has scaled Compliance programs from scratch, with a focus on licensing, BSA/AML/OFAC, consumer protection regulations, policies, procedures, and training.

Sean Parker, a CFE and CAMS, is the Canadian Director at Fraxtional, specializing in Canadian specific AML legislation, but with specific international experience related to transaction monitoring, payments risk and correspondent banking.

Sean’s started his career consulting with a variety of reporting entities including Money Services Businesses, FinTechs, Third Party Payment Processors and dealers in precious metals and stones. More recently, Sean has had more focused compliance experiences for the past decade, working with a large international bank, and then a domestic Canadian financial institution. Those experiences included rolling out a global compliance program, optimizing a transaction monitoring program, addressing FINTRAC reporting requirements, and developing and delivering extensive training on a variety of topics including but not limited to sanctions, bribery and corruption, fraud and payment risk.

Sean’s unique skill set and industry experience along with in-depth AML knowledge provides comfort to clients that he understands the challenges that clients face and is a trusted advisor that provides workable solutions.

Kat Rief serves as Director at Fraxtional specializing in Compliance, Risk, and TPRM for FinTechs and Bank Sponsors.

Kat has over 17 years experience in the industry, including Audit, Compliance, Risk and Operations, as well as Banking as a Service (BaaS), Risk Analysis, and Regulatory Relations. With a focus on regulatory compliance and overall risk management, Kat has created and implemented several successful programs for Banks and Fintechs alike. Kat provides Chief Compliance Officer services for fintechs and Banks, as well as general compliance advisory and remediation services in all spaces of Compliance, Risk, BSA/CFT, and TPRM. Her experience includes C-Suite and senior management level roles at companies such as BNP Paribas, Cross River Bank, and i3 Bank.

Kat is an active contributor to the industry, having participated as a panelist for various discussions and panels related to Compliance for Fintechs and Sponsor Banks.

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Michael Fasanello serves as Director at Fraxtional specializing in digital assets compliance including Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Counter Terrorist Financing (CTF), global sanctions, and other illicit finance.

Having spent nearly a decade in the public sector serving various agencies of the United States Departments of Justice and the Treasury, Michael has spent recent years honing his expertise from traditional finance to digital assets in a variety of senior level investigative and executive compliance roles. This includes most recently leading compliance efforts for crypto service PowerCoin/Margo as their Chief Compliance Officer.

Julie Reinoso serves as Director at Fraxtional, specializing in BSA/AML/Financial Crimes, Fraud and BaaS services.
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With over 20 years of experience in the banking sector, Julie is a seasoned BSA (Bank Secrecy Act) and risk professional. Her extensive career encompasses diverse roles in enterprise-wide BSA and Risk programs, particularly within high-risk sectors such as MSBs (Money Services Businesses), CRBs (Cannabis Related Businesses), and fintech.

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Julie has a proven track record of developing multiple risk organizations, including Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs). Notably, she recently established a comprehensive BSA program that encompasses BSA Quality Control, BSA Systems, BSA Reporting, and Compliance Oversight Testing teams. Her expertise extends to addressing regulatory issues at various levels, requiring remediation, and she has undergone examination experiences with the Office of Comptroller of Currency (OCC), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and National Credit Union Administration (NCUA).

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Julie Reinoso holds current certifications, including the Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) and Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE).

Mai Nguyen is a visionary executive with over 17 years of experience transforming customer experience and operational processes to drive growth, loyalty, and engagement. She specializes in developing data-driven, customer-centric strategies that align seamlessly with business objectives, optimizing every touchpoint for lasting impact. Throughout her career, Mai has led complex, cross-functional teams in banking and financial services, implementing multi-million-dollar transformation initiatives that streamline operations, enhance digital engagement, and deliver exceptional results.

At Five Star Bank, Mai served as Head of Customer Experience, where she pioneered a comprehensive CX framework that improved Net Promoter Score (NPS) by 15 points and increased customer retention by 25%. Her strategic initiatives, such as an automated customer complaint resolution system and a digital user experience overhaul, significantly elevated service quality and brand loyalty. Mai’s leadership extends to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, where she has fostered an inclusive culture by embedding DEI standards into customer interactions and employee engagement practices.

Prior to Five Star, Mai held senior roles at M&T Bank, where she managed large transformation projects. She brings expertise in change management, professional services, and P&L accountability, with a proven track record of enhancing both financial performance and customer satisfaction.

Known for her strategic vision and innovative problem-solving approach, Mai is dedicated to empowering teams, improving user experiences, and delivering sustainable growth across all facets of an organization.

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Massimo Zavatti is the Director of Growth & Operations at Fraxtional, a New York-based boutique consulting firm specializing in risk and compliance leadership that caters to FinTech, BaaS Banks, and Crypto firms.

With over 20 years of sales and sales management experience in the tech sector, Massimo understands client needs and providing the value necessary for them to achieve exponential growth.  Coupled with his decades of driving top-line growth, Massimo spent many years in the fraud space at a globally recognized international bank which has allowed him to appreciate the unique needs of clients operating in the financial services industry.

In addition to these experiences, Massimo spent several years as Director of Operations at Confidence Systems, a Silicon Valley SaaS startup offering automation and workflow tools catered to FinTech and traditional banks.

Rick Zabel is the Director of Bitcoin, Crypto, & AI Infrastructure at Fraxtional, a New York-based boutique consulting firm specializing in risk and compliance leadership that caters to FinTech, BaaS Banks, and Crypto firms.

Rick joins Fraxtional to continue his storied career as an innovator, problem solver, crypto expert, and Founder of Bit-sulting, LLC; an advanced technology consulting company covering a wide-range of industries, including Bitcoin.  In addition to his work with Bit-Sulting LLC, Rick spent several years as Director of Business Development at Post Process Technologies, a 3D printing manufacturer he helped launch from the ground up.  Most recently, Rick served as Director of Business Development at Foundry, a world leader in Bitcoin mining pools and infrastructure based out of Rochester, NY.

An early adopter of Bitcoin and other digital currencies, Rick has a keen awareness of the crypto industry and its relation to the power grid and AI industry, along with a deep understanding of the risks to consider, methods to mitigate, and the intersection between these two technologies.