Donald P. Hateley, Esq., CPA, is a California licensed attorney, certified public accountant and real estate broker, with offices in Newport Beach and Santa Monica, CA, and New York, NY. From 1996 to 2021, Mr. Hateley was an attorney at his firm, Hateley & Hampton with offices in Los Angeles, CA, Santa Monica, CA and Newport Beach, CA. Prior to founding his firm in 1996, Mr. Hateley was Of Counsel to the Santa Monica office of Bosco, Blau, Ward & Nopar from 1993 to 1996. Mr. Hateley also has extensive investment banking experience having founded The Cambridge Group, Inc., a broker dealer, which had offices in Los Angeles, CA, New York, NY and Denver, CO. He also was a Senior Managing Director at DelMorgan & Co., a Santa Monica, CA based investment banking firm, general counsel to New Century Capital Partners, Inc., and is the founder and CEO of Esquire Securities, LLC.
Mr. Hateley's practice is transactional in nature focusing on providing advice to public and private companies and their senior management in the areas of securities, mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, taxation and corporate governance. Mr. Hateley's practice includes arranging and documenting public and private equity and debt financings, due diligence and joint ventures. His tax practice is focused on representing individuals and companies before the IRS and state agencies who are subject to audits.
Mr. Hateley was a co-founder and shareholder of WiTel Corp., a public company focused on providing wireless services, retail phones and accessories to clients utilizing “Wi-Fi” for low-cost calling worldwide. Mr. Hateley also is a co-founder and was the majority shareholder of Thunderclap Entertainment, Inc., a publicly-held theatrical film and television development and production company, which changed its name to TraQiQ (OTC: TRIQ) and merged with 3 software companies. Mr. Hateley has also served on the boards of several companies and has also served as the chair of audit committees. Mr. Hateley co-founded Combat Sports Entertainment, Inc, which owns SoCa Fights, Inc., one of the largest professional boxing and mixed martial arts promoters in Southern California (www.socafights.com), Major Fight League, Inc. (www.majorfightleague.com), Extreme Roller Derby (www.extremerollerderby.com), and the World Series of Dominoes (www.worldseriesdominoes.com). Mr. Hateley also serves as Chairman and CEO of Vigilant Diversified Holdings, Inc., a holding company, which seeks target companies to acquire.
Mr. Hateley is admitted to all state and federal courts in California as well as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the United States Tax Court and the U.S Supreme Court. In 1993, Mr. Hateley successfully argued and won a precedent case before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals relating to the SEC's abuse of its discretion when it fined his investment banking firm. Hateley v. Securities and Exchange Commission, 8 F.3d 653 (1993).
Mr. Hateley is a member of the American Bar Association, the Los Angeles County Bar Association, the Beverly Hills Bar, the Orange County Bar Association, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and the California Society of CPAs. Mr. Hateley has served as a seminar panelist for K&L Gates, LLP on unfair competition and unlawful trade practices in California.
Mr. Hateley is a graduate of the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business and holds FINRA SIE and Series 7, 24, 27, 63, 65 and 79 licenses.
