Author: FTI Consulting

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Fraud Eats Strategy

Tales from the Trenches: An Inside Look Into Financial Investigations Units

Most financial services companies above a certain size have one or more Financial Investigations Units (FIUs) and Special Investigations Units (SIUs) to investigate various threats against the institution and/or its customers. The missions vary from those that narrowly focus on risks such as card fraud and elder financial fraud, to those focused broadly on both insider and external threats against the institution and its customers. While BSA/AML and sanctions units command a great deal of regulatory attention, FIUs have the same SAR filing obligations as their AML and sanctions counterparts.

Join us each week as we take a deep dive into the various forms of fraud across the world and discuss crime families, penny stock boiler rooms, international money launderers, narco-traffickers, oligarchs, dictators, warlords, kleptocrats and more.

Scott Moritz is a leading authority on white-collar crime, anti-corruption, and in the evaluation, design, remediation, implementation, and administration of corporate compliance programs, codes of conduct. He is also considered an authority in the establishment, training, and oversight of the investigative protocols carried out by financial intelligence, corporate security, and internal audit units.
 

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Fraud Eats Strategy

Is Corruption a Part of the UN’s DNA?

In this episode, we look inside the United Nations and its various agencies. We assess the harsh reality of endemic corruption in how governments intersect with UN agencies. Given its unique mission, the nature of how it is funded and disbursed funds largely for things such as large-scale infrastructure building, healthcare, education, and peace-keeping, and the fact that its employees and officers are foreign officials under the law, the UN represents a perfect storm of corruption risk. Scott Moritz speaks to Murphy & McGonigle law partner Robert “Bob” Appleton. Bob was Chief of the first-ever UN Anti-Corruption Unit, the Procurement Fraud Task Force, which existed between 2006-2010, and was responsible in part for the focus of the FCPA by the Fraud Section at DOJ.

Join us each week as we take a deep dive into the various forms of fraud across the world and discuss crime families, penny stock boiler rooms, international money launderers, narco-traffickers, oligarchs, dictators, warlords, kleptocrats and more.

Scott Moritz is a leading authority on white-collar crime, anti-corruption, and in the evaluation, design, remediation, implementation, and administration of corporate compliance programs, codes of conduct. He is also considered an authority in the establishment, training, and oversight of the investigative protocols carried out by financial intelligence, corporate security, and internal audit units.
 

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Fraud Eats Strategy

The Wall Street Wolfhound Explains Pump & Dump Schemes

In this episode we examine pump and dump schemes in which thinly traded penny stocks are held by unscrupulous broker-dealers through nominees who push the stock on unsophisticated investors, drive up the share prices and then sell their shares at inflated prices causing the stock value to drop significantly. The term pump and dump is not widely known outside of securities enforcement but the names of the practitioners are more familiar. Stratton Oakmont’s Jordan Belfort (of Wolf of Wall Street fame), Benjamin Conde, Power Traders Press, Rooney Pace, A.R. Baron, and the granddaddy of them all, Bob Brennan of First Jersey Securities, introduced the world to stock boiler rooms which have continued to be a blight on the securities industry. My guest today, Joel Cohen, is a litigation partner at Gibson Dunn and former Wolf of Wall Street prosecutor who Forbes magazine nicknamed the “Wolf Hound of Wall Street” for his successful prosecution of Jordan Belfort.

Join us each week as we take a deep dive into the various forms of fraud across the world and discuss crime families, penny stock boiler rooms, international money launderers, narco-traffickers, oligarchs, dictators, warlords, kleptocrats and more.

Scott Moritz is a leading authority on white-collar crime, anti-corruption, and in the evaluation, design, remediation, implementation, and administration of corporate compliance programs, codes of conduct. He is also considered an authority in the establishment, training, and oversight of the investigative protocols carried out by financial intelligence, corporate security, and internal audit units.
 

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Fraud Eats Strategy

Out from the Shadows: Examining Accounting Firm “Shadow Investigations”

In this week’s episode, we’re going to explore the little-known area of “shadow investigations” in which accounting firms oversee internal investigations being performed by outside counsel and their forensic investigations counterparts ensuring the investigation is scoped appropriately to provide sufficient information for the audit partner to comfortably sign off on the auditee’s financial statements. Joining us are two very experienced practitioners, Cleary Gottlieb partner, Lisa Vicens, and FTI’s own Mark Grover, each of whom have worked on investigations that have been shadowed by accounting firm forensic practices.

Join us each week as we take a deep dive into the various forms of fraud across the world and discuss crime families, penny stock boiler rooms, international money launderers, narco-traffickers, oligarchs, dictators, war lords, kleptocrats and more.

Scott Moritz is a leading authority on white-collar crime, anti-corruption, and in the evaluation, design, remediation, implementation, and administration of corporate compliance programs, codes of conduct. He is also considered an authority in the establishment, training, and oversight of the investigative protocols carried out by financial intelligence, corporate security, and internal audit units.
 

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Fraud Eats Strategy

Why We Need Compliance Officers More Than Ever

In today’s episode, we discuss why we need compliance officers now more than ever. The workforce that emerges from the combination of stay at home orders and the financial crisis will be very different than ever before. Each of us is dealing with unprecedented levels of stress, anxiety, and uncertainty. These external stressors can cause people in positions of trust to suspend good judgment. They can put themselves and their organizations at risk in the process. Decision-making under stress and unreasonable times pressure can be a perfect storm during which business ethics may be given short shrift. Joining us today is Richard Bistrong. Richard is the CEO of Front-Line Anti-Bribery LLC through which he conducts corporate workshops and keynotes to sales teams, leadership groups (including boards and c-suite executives), and compliance teams (including internal audit, finance, and HR).

Join us each week as we take a deep dive into the various forms of fraud across the world and discuss crime families, penny stock boiler rooms, international money launderers, narco-traffickers, oligarchs, dictators, war lords, kleptocrats and more.

Scott Moritz is a leading authority on white-collar crime, anti-corruption, and in the evaluation, design, remediation, implementation, and administration of corporate compliance programs, codes of conduct. He is also considered an authority in the establishment, training, and oversight of the investigative protocols carried out by financial intelligence, corporate security, and internal audit units.
 

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Fraud Eats Strategy

Laundering Van Gogh – Is Fine Art the Next Anti-Money Laundering Battleground?

In today’s episode, we examine the often opaque, secretive world of fine art and how billions of dollars, a lot of which is from unknown origins, leads to the sales of fine art. Joining us to talk about this subject is Kobre & Kim partner Rob Rathmell. Rob specializes in providing offensive, counter-offensive, and defensive strategies for high-net-worth individuals and institutions in international litigation involving allegations of fraud, money laundering, sanctions violations, and other forms of misconduct.

Join us each week as we take a deep dive into the various forms of fraud across the world and discuss crime families, penny stock boiler rooms, international money launderers, narco-traffickers, oligarchs, dictators, war lords, kleptocrats and more.

Scott Moritz is a leading authority on white-collar crime, anti-corruption, and in the evaluation, design, remediation, implementation, and administration of corporate compliance programs, codes of conduct. He is also considered an authority in the establishment, training, and oversight of the investigative protocols carried out by financial intelligence, corporate security, and internal audit units.
 

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Fraud Eats Strategy

The OFAC Enigma – When Compliance is a Moving Target

In today’s episode, we discuss the inherent challenges of operating a company in compliance with U.S. and international sanctions when the lists of sanctioned parties are a moving target.

Join us each week as we take a deep dive into the various forms of fraud across the world and discuss crime families, penny stock boiler rooms, international money launderers, narco-traffickers, oligarchs, dictators, war lords, kleptocrats and more.

Scott Moritz is a leading authority on white-collar crime, anti-corruption, and in the evaluation, design, remediation, implementation, and administration of corporate compliance programs, codes of conduct. He is also considered an authority in the establishment, training, and oversight of the investigative protocols carried out by financial intelligence, corporate security, and internal audit units.
 

Categories
Fraud Eats Strategy

Deconstructing the Minds of White Collar Criminals

Today we will talk about white-collar criminals and how to safeguard institutions against white-collar crime.

Join us each week as we take a deep dive into the various forms of fraud across the world and discuss crime families, penny stock boiler rooms, international money launderers, narco-traffickers, oligarchs, dictators, war lords, kleptocrats and more.

Scott Moritz is a leading authority on white-collar crime, anti-corruption, and in the evaluation, design, remediation, implementation, and administration of corporate compliance programs, codes of conduct. He is also considered an authority in the establishment, training, and oversight of the investigative protocols carried out by financial intelligence, corporate security, and internal audit units.
 

Categories
Fraud Eats Strategy

Using Artificial Intelligence to Root Out Fraud and Insider Trading

In this episode, we discuss the rapidly expanding use of artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotic process automation to undertake trade surveillance and mitigate fraud. In this episode, we discuss the rapidly expanding use of artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotic process automation to undertake trade surveillance and mitigate fraud. Joining me today are two experts on the subject of Artificial intelligence from both the technical and legal and compliance perspectives.

Join us each week as we take a deep dive into the various forms of fraud across the world and discuss crime families, penny stock boiler rooms, international money launderers, narco-traffickers, oligarchs, dictators, war lords, kleptocrats and more.

Scott Moritz is a leading authority on white-collar crime, anti-corruption, and in the evaluation, design, remediation, implementation, and administration of corporate compliance programs, codes of conduct. He is also considered an authority in the establishment, training, and oversight of the investigative protocols carried out by financial intelligence, corporate security, and internal audit units.
 

Categories
Fraud Eats Strategy

Fraud Eats Strategy Episode 8: Critiquing Leadership and Living to Tell About It

In this episode, we talk about the uncomfortable and sometimes terrifying situation when a compliance officer must critique a member of leadership team and living to tell about it. In recent years, the expression “tone at the top” has been displaced by “conduct at the top” ushering in a new era of leadership accountability and transparency by the DOJ and other enforcement agencies in the U.S. and overseas. As a practical matter, compliance officers must on occasion investigate or critique members of the leadership team when conducting an internal investigation or assessing the ethics and compliance program. Joining me today is Matt Tanzer. For 13 years, Matt held various positions at Tyco including Chief Compliance & Ethics Officer. A position he also held after Tyco was merged into Johnson Controls.

Join us each week as we take a deep dive into the various forms of fraud across the world and discuss crime families, penny stock boiler rooms, international money launderers, narco-traffickers, oligarchs, dictators, war lords, kleptocrats and more.

Scott Moritz is a leading authority on white-collar crime, anti-corruption, and in the evaluation, design, remediation, implementation, and administration of corporate compliance programs, codes of conduct. He is also considered an authority in the establishment, training, and oversight of the investigative protocols carried out by financial intelligence, corporate security, and internal audit units.