James Gee

Director & Co-Founder at GEE | HASHIMOTO ADVISORY

Speaker

Mr. James M. Gee CPA CIRA CFE (Masters of Accounting-Taxation BYU’96) is the founder of Gee | Hashimoto Advisory in Highland, Utah—a highly specialized capital restructuring firm launched on October 1, 2025. For more than 23 years, he served with the U.S. Trustee Program (USTP) in Salt Lake City, covering the Districts of Utah and Wyoming.

James oversaw the “Treasury Offset Program” for USTP Region 19 and worked with the Treasury Securities collateral teams at all of the major U.S. banking institutions and the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis for two decades. He was also at the epi-center of the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, safeguarding collateral pledged under §345(a) of the Bankruptcy Code to ensure that all bankruptcy estate deposits remained protected during that crisis (no funds were lost! Whew!).

He led the modernization of the Salt Lake City and Cheyenne offices by making policies and procedures “forward-facing” in compliance with Executive Order 13891, assisting in the effort to promote transparency across the Department of Justice and the USTP. Earlier in his career, he improved the §1398 Quarterly Fee Collection Program, refining claims filing, monitoring and referral processes under the Debt Collection Improvement Act (DCIA) abating a DOJ Inspector General (IG) audit finding (circa 2003) of "inadequate" on that internal reporting system and processes due to its legacy system proclivities and quirks.

James appointed, trained, and supervised fiduciaries in all chapters of bankruptcy, guiding debtors-in-possession as they transitioned from business managers to court-appointed stewards of creditor assets. Mr. Gee appeared in over 200 bankruptcy cases as a witness or affiant, providing expert testimony in both civil and criminal matters. He has assessed reorganization plan feasibility, reviewed complex financial statements, transactions, business structures, operating reports, contracts, and loan documents, and has overseen the restructuring of more than 1,500 companies spanning every industry -- from manufacturing plants to municipalities and family-owned businesses to deep sea fishing vessels. He has overseen and participated in the successful prosecutions, criminal referrals, receiverships, etc. of ponzi, insurance, concert promotion, and real estate schemes in which victim (investors and institutional) losses totaled between $10 million and $500 million and served as a key prosecution witness in those matters.

Mr. Gee also conducted national policy audits and peer reviews, including the largest such review in USTP history, ensuring uniform compliance with bankruptcy law and procedure. James played a leading role in combating bankruptcy fraud under 11 U.S.C. §727, contributing to over $695 million in unsecured debt discharge denials and revocations. He frequently trained and mentored both Chapter 7 and Subchapter V trustees, leading the shift to virtual §341 meetings during COVID and preparing the panel for emerging issues like digital currency including bitcoin and other digital assets which have now changed our world forever.

James is now advancing fresh ideas through his restructuring practice via both Gee Hashimoto Advisory and the Non-Profit he co-founded: The 505 PROJECT, focusing on improving how troubled debt is administered and resolved by special assets groups, borrowers, the SBA, and other constituencies including the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Dept of Agriculture. James also operates Capital Loan Connection, marketing and brokering large commercial (non-RESPA) real estate loans in multiple states alongside his eldest son Daniel. He recently launched Gee Family Insurance Agency, a brand new Farmers Insurance branch (from scratch) located in Highland, Utah, near the Mount Timpanogos Cave -- although his least-favorite color remains red (for reasons any fellow BYU alumnus might understand).