We believe in clear guidance, strong regulatory relationships, and lasting compliance foundations.

About Christofilis Law

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Christofilis Law provides regulatory and compliance-focused legal support to financial services firms operating in complex and highly regulated environments. The practice is dedicated to helping broker-dealers, investment advisers, hedge funds, and financial services startups navigate regulatory requirements with clarity and confidence.

With extensive experience in FINRA matters, broker-dealer regulation, and legal operations, Charles A. Christofilis works closely with clients to address compliance challenges before they become costly issues. His approach emphasizes practical guidance, regulatory awareness, and alignment between business objectives and compliance obligations.

Christofilis Law understands that regulatory decisions often carry long-term consequences. Early planning, informed decision-making, and clear regulatory strategy can significantly reduce risk and delays. Clients rely on Chuck’s experience to help them move forward efficiently while remaining compliant with applicable rules and standards.

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FinTech Chief Legal Officer On-Demand

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FinTech Chief Legal Officer On-Demand *

Startups in FinTech, broker-dealers, and investment advisors grow fast, but so do the legal and regulatory hurdles. From FINRA registrations and SEC compliance to contract negotiations, AML programs, and data privacy issues, these demands can consume hours each week.

Traditional law firms often exacerbate the problem: they bill by the hour, creating an inherent conflict of interest. Partners specialize in nuanced areas like tax, ERISA, or international data security, issues that may never impact your launch. What starts as a simple platform idea can balloon into tens or hundreds of thousands in legal fees for "spotting issues" that derail progress. If you're bootstrapping with seed funding or angel investors, this model is unsustainable. Hiring a full-time General Counsel / Chief Legal Officer (CLO) is even more prohibitive, expensive, specialized, and hard to find.

Enter Chief Legal Officer On Demand: the best of both worlds. As your fractional CLO, I provide on-call, pragmatic legal and compliance expertise tailored to FinTech, broker-dealers, RIAs, and robo-advisors. No billable hours. Just predictable, subscription-based support to help you launch, scale, and thrive, focusing on revenue generation, not endless legal debates.

  • With over 26 years in financial services, I've been in the trenches: as General Counsel, CCO & AML Officer at numerous FinTech Platforms, and in leadership roles at some of the largest, oldest and most successful financial institutions in the world. I've built one of the first robo-advisors, launched platforms from $6B to $26B AUM, secured FINRA memberships (NMAs/CMAs), and navigated exams without enforcement actions.

    • Over two decades as a FinTech GC, CCO, AMLO, General Securities Principal

    • Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS).

    • J.D. from Touro Law, M.B.A. University of San Francisco, B.B.A. Pace University.

    Attorney Advertising. Charles A. Christofilis is an attorney admitted to practice law in New York. This material is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.

    I focus on practical, results-oriented advice: helping you achieve Minimum Viable Product (MVP), break even, and profitability. If your goal is endless VC rounds or competing with the big banks or tech giants from day one, I'm not the fit. But if you're building inclusive FinTech and Wealth Management Platforms for middle-class investors, let's talk. I've worked with successes (IPOs, acquisitions) and failures, giving me real-world wisdom to get you launched efficiently. To be respectful and responsive, I can only take a limited number of clients that I enjoy working with, emphasizing financial inclusion over predatory practices.

    • FinTech Platforms: Exchanges, Funds, FINRA Member Firm and SEC Registered Advisers:

    • FINRA Member Broker-Dealers: Including startups in NMA/CMA mode, CABs, and those needing supervisory structures (WSPs), net capital compliance (15c3-3), AML programs and Annual Compliance Reviews.

    • SEC Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs): Especially robo advisors, with wrap-fee programs, compliance remediation, audits and growth strategies.

    If your platform promotes financial inclusion and financial independence for working-and middle-class people, you're my ideal client.

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