Hacked Email, Fake Wire Instructions, Forged Checks: Limiting Business Exposure Before Fraud Hits, UCC Defenses, Agreement Audits, and Security Procedures That Hold

William “Pat” Huttenbach, Shareholder | Crain, Caton & James, P.C.

William “Pat” Huttenbach is a shareholder at Crain, Caton & James, P.C., where he leads a national banking and fraud litigation practice serving financial institutions across the country. He has successfully defended banks from lawsuits totaling over $250 million, personally answered more than 335 lawsuits involving UCC Articles 3, 4, and 4A, and handled over 2,000 garnishment matters. Pat is frequently retained as an expert witness on UCC fraud, loss allocation, and bank security procedures, and is a sought-after author and presenter on banking and UCC compliance topics.

• Education & Credentials

Pat earned his J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Houston Law Center after attending South Texas College of Law (1993–1994), where he ranked first in his section and won five American Jurisprudence Awards. He holds a B.A. from Rice University. He is licensed in the State of Texas and admitted to practice before the U.S. District Courts for the Southern, Western, Northern, and Eastern Districts of Texas, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court of the United States.

• Recognition & Leadership

Pat is recognized in The Best Lawyers in America for Commercial Litigation (2024–2026), named a Texas Super Lawyer in Banking Law by Thomson Reuters (2020–2025), and selected as a Top Lawyer in Business Law by Houstonian Magazine. He holds Martindale-Hubbell’s AV rating and an AVVO rating of 10. He served as President of the Southwest Association of Bank Counsel (2020–2021) and successfully argued and won the seminal banking decision Compass Bank v. Calleja-Ahedo, 569 S.W.3d 104 (Tex. 2018) before the Texas Supreme Court.

• Professional Involvement

Pat serves on the State Bar of Texas Business Section’s UCC Comments Committee, is past chair of the Texas Bankers Association Legal Conference, and former board member of the Texas Association of Banking Counsel (2016–2020). He has presented fraud prevention and UCC compliance programs to more than fifty financial institutions and is a recurring speaker for the Southwest Association of Bank Counsel, Texas Bankers Association, Louisiana Bankers Association, and myLawCLE.

• Experience

Pat’s practice focuses on banking litigation, UCC Articles 3, 4, and 4A disputes, fraud prevention and defense, lender liability, FCRA and FDCPA claims, and Texas Finance Code matters. He routinely advises banks on deposit agreement drafting, security procedure design, and fraud-response strategy, and has represented financial institutions in state and federal courts, mediations, arbitrations, OCC complaints, and EEOC matters. Beyond banking, he handles complex commercial litigation including tortious interference, fidelity and surety coverage, DTPA claims, injunctions, real estate, probate, construction, defamation, and general business disputes.

Loan-Anh Tran Kao, Of Counsel | Crain, Caton & James, P.C.

Loan-Anh Tran Kao is Of Counsel at Crain, Caton & James, P.C. in Houston, where she advises financial institutions and corporate clients on fraud and technology within the payment system. With nearly thirty years of practice experience, Loan-Anh brings a deep transactional foundation in banking and finance, securities, real estate, and cross-border matters together with a current focus on payment-system fraud risk, response, and prevention.

• Education & Credentials

Loan-Anh earned her J.D. from Harvard Law School and her B.A. in Economics, Political Science, and Managerial Studies, summa cum laude, from Rice University. She has been admitted to practice in the State of Texas since 1997.

• Recognition & Leadership

Loan-Anh has been selected to the Texas Rising Stars list by Thomson Reuters in 2004 and 2006, a peer-recognition designation reserved for a limited number of accomplished attorneys in the state.

• Professional Involvement

Loan-Anh is a member of the American Bar Association and the State Bar of Texas. In 2026, she co-authored an article on check fraud for the Texas Bankers Association with William “Pat” Huttenbach, contributing to the leading professional dialogue on UCC fraud loss allocation and bank fraud prevention.

• Experience

Her practice covers fraud and payment-system technology, banking and finance, securities offerings, commercial real estate, and international transactional matters. Loan-Anh advises financial institutions and corporate clients on the contractual structures, regulatory compliance, and risk-allocation provisions that govern fraud response, payment-system transactions, and complex commercial dealings.

SESSION 1 – Fraud Fundamentals: Legal Framework, BEC, and First Response | 2:30pm – 3:30pm

Identify fraud typologies and apply UCC Articles 3, 4, and 4A to check, wire, and BEC schemes. Execute the BEC first-response protocol, draft fraud affidavits, and negotiate account agreement provisions that limit corporate exposure.

BREAK | 3:30pm – 3:40pm

SESSION 2 – Defenses, BEC Case Law, and Lessons Learned | 3:40pm – 4:40pm

Apply UCC defenses including the Impostor Rule, employer responsibility, comparative negligence, and statement-examination. Draft commercially reasonable security procedures, close the § 4A-202(c) waiver trap, and map internal controls to UCC defenses against plaintiff strategies.