Don recently served as regulatory counsel to Thoma Bravo affiliated funds in the pending acquisition of RealPage, a leading provider of technology platform used by owners and managers of real property; WorldRemit in its pending acquisition of Sendwave, an Africa-focused, app-based remittance firm; Centerbridge Partners affiliated funds in a majority investment in Syncapay, and the combination of daVinci Payments with North Lane Technologies, formerly Wirecard North America; GCP Partners and Trans-Fast Remittance, a leading money transmitter, in connection with the sale of Trans-Fast to MasterCard International; First Data Corporation, a leading payment processor to merchants and financial institutions, in connection its acquisition by Fiserv, and Cambridge Global Payments, a leading B2B international payments provider, in its acquisition by FLEETCOR Technologies, Inc. 

Don also represented Priority Payments, in its merger with Cynergy Data, creating one of the largest merchant acquirers in the nation; Securus Technologies in its acquisition of JPay Inc., the market-leading technology company that introduced electronic payments to the corrections space, and Securus Technologies in its subsequent acquisition by Platinum Equity affiliated funds; and Gary Jonas Computing Ltd., in its acquisition of substantially all the assets of Club Solutions Inc., a leading provider of payment services and enterprise software in the fitness, sports and leisure industry, from Fiserv Inc.

Don has also acted as regulatory counsel to Western Union in its acquisition of Vigo Remittance, Custom House and Travelex Global Business Payments, and to Western Union and Green Dot in their initial public offerings. In recognition of his role as banking and payments law regulatory counsel for First Data Corp. in connection with its acquisition by an investor group for $29 billion, International Financial Law Review awarded Schulte its prestigious Americas Private Equity Deal of the Year Award.

Don has also managed money transmitter licensing projects for companies of all sizes, including for some of the world’s largest e-commerce marketplaces, traditional brick-and-mortar remitters, and payment processors, to emerging payments companies and cryptocurrency exchanges.

Don is a frequent author and public speaker on topics of interest to the payments industry. He spoke at the 2020 ACI FinTech & Emerging Payment Systems Conference on “A Tactical Tool-Kit for Buying, Selling and Investing in Payments Companies: First Hand Strategies for Tackling Deal Points, Regulatory Challenges, Diligence Issues and Post-Signing Coordination;” the Money Transmitter Regulators Association 2017 Annual Conference & Examiners’ School on “Payment Processing – A Deep Dive” and Schulte 28th Annual Private Investment Funds Seminar (2019) on “Blockchain and Digital Assets.” At recent ACI forums, he addressed “The Future of Virtual and Crypto Currencies and the ICO Phenomenon,” “Prepaid Card Compliance 101,” “State Regulatory and Enforcement Efforts Including Latest Challenges Associated with Money Transmitter Licensing Enforcement” and “Evolving State Regulatory and Enforcement Framework Governing Crypto, Virtual and Digital Currencies.”

His recent publications include co-authoring “FinCEN Issues Assessment Against Virtual Currency Exchange – the First Enforcement Action Against a Foreign-Located Money Services Business” in PaymentsJournal, “OCC Issues Draft Guidance and Requirements for Fintech Charter Applications” in Bloomberg BNA – Banking Report and “Final Rules Relating to Money Services Business (MSB) Definitions” in the Journal of Investment Compliance. 

Don is recognized by Chambers, The Legal 500 US, IFLR1000 and New York Super Lawyers as a leading attorney in banking, mergers and acquisitions and consumer law. He is ranked Band 1 by Chambers FinTech in Payments & Lending.