David W. Prager

David W. Prager is a managing director in the Global Restructuring Advisory practice, based in the New York office. He has over two decades of experience as a financial advisor, interim manager, restructuring professional and expert witness. David primarily focuses on restructuring advisory and expert witness assignments for valuations and complex commercial litigation.

Prior to joining Duff & Phelps, David spent over 18 years at a leading restructuring advisory boutique, where he most recently served as a managing director.

David has represented both debtors and creditors in high-profile restructurings, including serving in interim executive officer/C-suite positions. He has testified and served as a consulting expert in bankruptcy matters, valuation and solvency disputes and other complex commercial litigation.

In company-side restructuring matters, David served as CEO of The PMI Group, CFO of Syncora Guarantee and financial advisor to various companies (including multi-national conglomerates) and board committees (such as in Energy Future Holdings and Toys ‘R’ Us). David has also supported creditors, including official creditors’ committees, and advised investment funds in various corporate (such as Ditech, SemGroup and MBIA) and municipal (including Puerto Rico and Detroit) restructuring matters. In these matters, he provided financial restructuring advice, negotiated reorganization plans and investigated various causes of action.

David has testified in high-profile, highly contentious bankruptcy disputes, such as Adelphia, Tribune, Patriot Coal and Rye Playland. Topics of his testimony have included the fairness of the plans of reorganization, valuation, reasonableness of projections and evaluation of complex value allocation. David has also served as consulting expert on multiple fraudulent conveyance actions. During the Enron bankruptcy, he investigated and valued highly complex and varied assets and formulated proposals for Enron’s reorganization. Many of David’s matters have involved the resolution of complex capital structures.

His other testimonial experience includes valuation of a Platinum Partners’ private equity portfolio (and the solvency conclusions emerging therefrom) and of a medical devices startup. David also testified on behalf of Assured Guaranty regarding a billion-dollar valuation dispute with Lehman Brothers International (Europe). He previously testified on behalf of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in a successful enforcement action and on the economic damages arising therefrom.

David received a bachelor’s degree from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.  He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation. He is a member of the CFA Institute, the CFA Society of New York and the American Bankruptcy Institute.