Fraud Eats Strategy

Human trafficking is the fastest-growing transnational crime with more than 25 million people held in forced labor and sexual exploitation. As if these numbers aren't horrifying enough, 10 million of those trafficked people are children, and yet rarely are US organizations focused on human trafficking's impact on their operations, much less society as a whole. In fact, most of us consider human trafficking to be a problem occurring in developing countries and that there are more pressing issues that should demand our attention and compliance resources. That false narrative is part of what makes human trafficking so difficult to counter.

Host Scott Moritz was a guest speaker at the October NAVEX Next Virtual Conference joined by Gregory Coleman, a former FBI colleague, to discuss established investigation techniques and how some of these practices have changed in recent times. For more information visit: FraudEatsStrategy.com

In Part 2 of this series we continue the conversation of how to bring order to the chaos of the early days of an FCPA investigation. For more information visit FraudEatsStrategy.com

In part 1 of this Fraud Eats Strategy series, we discuss how to bring order to the chaos of the early days of an FCPA investigation and avoid mortgaging the company's future in the process. For more information visit FraudEatsStrategy.com

In part 2 of this series, we continue to discuss the tools that cybersecurity teams use to combat ransomware attacks. For more information visit FraudEatsStrategy.com

Ransomware is a type of malware used by criminal organizations to gain unlawful access to computer networks and encrypt the data stored on those networks and render it unusable. The criminal organization then holds the data hostage until a ransom payment is made. If the ransom is not paid, the victim organization's data will either remain encrypted and unusable or it could be released to the public.  For more information visit FraudEatsStrategy.com

Monitorships, transaction lookbacks and KYC remediations are the equivalents of a regulatory vote of no confidence. They can be incredibly disruptive, painful and can cost millions of dollars to implement. They are extreme measures that are taken when regulators have seen no improvement in succeeding regulatory exams or sometimes happen without warning when a criminal investigation reveals how an institution was at the center of a large scale money laundering or dollar clearing criminal enterprise and their anti-money laundering or sanctions compliance program and the controls underlying them failed in spectacular fashion. These epic anti-money laundering failures lead regulators to conclude that the existing program was so ineffective it is highly likely that suspicious activity, possibly a great deal of suspicious activity, has been going on undetected and unreported for a period of years.  For more information, visit FraudEatsStrategy.com

Today's episode features special guest Tom Fox, founder of the Compliance Podcast Network and Author of The Compliance Handbook: A Guide to Operationalizing Your Compliance Program.. Click the link for 20% off of your purchase. Our discussion focuses on the guidance compliance officers can use as roadmaps when architecting their Ethics & Compliance programs and anti-bribery and corruption compliance programs specifically the document Evaluation of Ethics and Compliance Programs authored by then DOJ Compliance Consultant Hui Chen published in 2017.

Internal investigations often are conducted by company personnel who may not have investigative backgrounds. While that is a common scenario and perfectly appropriate, there are certain dos and don'ts that non-investigators should know about to avoid missteps that could undermine the investigation and limit its effectiveness.  For more information visit: FraudEatsStrategy.com

In this episode, we're going to discuss insider threats. The term means different things to different people. Broadly, the term refers to any person or entity who has trusted insider access behind an organization's firewall or inside their secure perimeter. “Insiders” include employees, officers, contractors, temporary workers, and certain categories of vendors and suppliers that either have unescorted access to an organization's physical premises or who perform some type of important software or network function and have been granted administrator access to the organization's network. All insiders pose a potential threat. It is a matter of degree and whether they have an inclination to abuse their position of trust. 

Las Vegas has come to symbolize the commercialization of gambling. Casino gaming has become an extension of the global hospitality and tourism business  While the mob may not be the factor it once was, criminals are still attracted to casinos and as a result, illicit money still finds its way into casinos banks despite their devotion of considerable compliance and anti-money laundering resources designed at keeping it out. Financial crisis aside, casinos are the most profitable and desirable centerpieces of global hotel and casino gaming empires.   

The passage of Dodd-Frank represented a major overhaul of U.S. financial regulations. Among the Act's most notable achievements were the creation of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) Office of the Whistleblower and the SEC Whistleblower Program. In its short, 10-year history, the SEC Whistleblower Reward Program has been extraordinarily successful in enabling the SEC to root out securities fraud and protect investors. Since the inception of the SEC Whistleblower Program, the SEC has paid more than $900 million in awards to whistleblowers resulting in more than $3.5 billion in financial remedies. According to the SEC Whistleblower Program's 2020 Annual Report, the SEC is tracking over 1,100 matters in which a whistleblower's tip has caused a Matter Under Inquiry or investigation to open.

In this episode, we're going to discuss the resumption of business travel and what that means to all of us.

Part 2 of this episode series continues the deep dive into Lava Jato or Operation Car Wash, the largest and most complex corruption investigation in the history of Brazil.

In this episode, we’re going to discuss Lava Jato or Operation Car Wash - the largest and most complex corruption investigation in the history of Brazil which to date has spread to 11 countries, mostly in Latin America. When the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development – the OECD – published the Foreign Bribery Report in 2014 examining corruption enforcement across the world, Brazil was credited with zero corruption prosecutions.

When we first launched “Fraud Eats Strategy”, we promised to explore organized crime, boiler rooms, money launderers, warlords, kleptocrats and fallen CEOs, and the companies that have been damaged or destroyed through their criminality. Throughout the first 30 episodes, we hope that you have seen these efforts and enjoyed the content!

When we first launched the “Fraud Eats Strategy” podcast series, we promised to explore organized crime, boiler rooms, money launderers, war lords, kleptocrats and fallen CEOs, and the companies that have been damaged or destroyed through their criminality.  In the first 30 episodes, I like to think we’ve delivered on that promise.

Beginning in November 2012 with the publication of A Resource Guide to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (commonly referred to as the FCPA Resource Guide), the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities Exchange Commission have regularly been publishing useful and informative guidance on the elements of effective compliance programs and the Department and the Commission’s expectations. Following the publication of the FCPA Resource Guide, the DOJ Fraud Section published another important document in February 2017 entitled “Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs”. It has been updated twice since then in 2019 and again in 2020. The FCPA Resource Guide was also updated in 2020.  These two documents are the primary desk references used by federal prosecutors to examine whether a company they are investigating has an “effective compliance program”. Because of that, it is incumbent upon board members and C-suite executives to be familiar with these documents, understand what is expected of them and to hold themselves and others accountable ensuring that the company has properly considered the risks of their unique business operations and has tailored a robust compliance program based upon a nuanced understanding of that risk.

Rarely do we hear or read about the names of third-party bribe payers or the names of their companies. Global companies, particularly those who ship products internationally or rely on third-parties in other ways to bring their products and services to market, are heavily reliant on virtual armies of third-party intermediaries to operate internationally. They are a necessary evil who can act on an organization’s behalf, represent them in the marketplace and potentially trigger significant liability under the FCPA, sanctions or anti-money laundering laws.  

Part 2 of the special edition episode we continue the discussion of the most comprehensive and successful financial investigation and asset search in history; The Madoff Ponzi Scheme.

Arguably there is no more major a case in modern history than the Ponzi Scheme perpetrated against thousands of victims for more than three decades by the notorious Bernie Madoff.

On April 3rd, 2016, information about 214,488 offshore companies established by Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca was leaked. Since the Panama Papers leak, a total of 81 jurisdictions worldwide have passed laws requiring beneficial ownership to be registered with a government authority. The U.S. Government has been openly critical of countries that act as money laundering safe havens and yet we were not taking any steps toward transparency. That changed on January 1, 2021 when both houses of Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, which includes the Corporate Transparency Act (the Act). The Act requires a report be filed with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) that identifies each beneficial owner of an applicant forming a reporting company. 

In the second part of this series, we discuss some important work my guests are involved with at the IBA’s Subcommittee on Non-trial Resolutions of Foreign Bribery Cases regarding the growing international use of settlements to resolve anti-corruption cases.

In 2006, Germany-based Siemens was ranked 22nd on the Global Fortune 500 with revenues of $100 billion. It was a global leader and one of the world’s most admired companies. Until November 16, 2006 when the Munich Police Department raided Siemens corporate offices and several subsidiaries based on whistleblower allegations of bribery and misuse of funds. This Munich Police Department investigation triggered a global corruption investigation which revealed that Siemens had methodically violated U.S., German and other global anti-bribery laws for decades. When the settlement of the case was announced in 2008, law enforcement didn’t pull any punches.  Yet what is equally remarkable is that a company that used corruption strategically and methodically to achieve its business objectives for decades remade itself in the wake of the corruption scandal to emerge as a model of corporate reform and business ethics.  

In this episode, we’re going to talk about the inter-relationship between major investigations and crisis communications. So much of crisis management planning and crisis communications is about thinking through various scenarios that could play out and then formulating a game plan for each.  

Part 2 of this Fraud Eats Strategy series, Scott Moritz continues the conversation on the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (AMLA 2020) with Matt Biben, Partner of Gibson Dunn.

In this episode, we’re going to discuss the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (AMLA 2020). This is the most comprehensive set of reforms to U.S. anti-money laundering (“AML”) laws since the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act in 2001. While there is a lot to the Act, there are some important changes and enhancements that should have an immediate and long-lasting impact on anti-money laundering. 

Cybersecurity is at the top of most organizations’ list of critical risks and is often cited by C-suite executives and Board Members as their gravest concern. Threats that are this complex and amorphous require strong partnerships including the inside of the organization. At first glance, cybersecurity and internal audit would seem to have very little in common or little need to interact with one another. Indeed, that is probably still the case in many organizations. Our guests today however have taken a different approach.  

In this episode, we discuss trade-based money laundering. According to the intergovernmental money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), there are three primary methods that transnational criminal and terrorist organizations utilize to launder the proceeds of illicit activity and use illicit proceeds to finance terrorist operations. 1. Through the use of the financial system; 2. Physical movement of hard currency by use of couriers and smuggling techniques and; 3. Through the physical movement of commercial and consumer goods in international trade.

The Carrasco case is an amazing, cross-border financial crime that is worth revisiting and its lessons remain as relevant today as they were in 1998 when the fraud first erupted.  

Conducting investigations in certain parts of the world can be challenging because of the business practices, language barriers and cultural differences. In some of those countries, they are discouraged or even unlawful. When you overlay travel restrictions during a global health crisis, challenging doesn’t begin to describe it.   In this episode, we discuss how global organizations are a microcosm of the countries and cultures in which they operate. Understanding the customs, languages, business practices and cultural norms is an essential part of conducting effective investigations when operating outside of the U.S. In many parts of the world, business practices and cultural norms tacitly endorse bribery, corruption, and other financial and property crimes. Companies are expected to operate within the law in each country in which they operate and to follow the standards and practices delineated in the organization’s code of conduct and corporate compliance program.  Compliance programs are expected to have certain program elements including mechanisms for confidential reporting of suspected wrongdoing and an efficient, reliable, and properly funded process for investigating the allegation and documenting the company’s response, including any disciplinary or remediation measures taken.

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. 

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.

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.

In this 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 in an effort to ensure the investigation is scoped appropriately such that it will provide sufficient information for the audit partner to comfortably sign off on the auditee’s financial statements. 

In this episode of Fraud Eats Strategy , 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).

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. 

In this episode we discuss the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions and other areas of sanctions compliance and 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. Joining us are two experts on the subject of U.S. Trade and Economic Sanctions, Arnold & Porter Partner Baruch Weiss and co-host Eric Rudolph of FTI Consulting. 

In this episode, we delve into the psychology of white-collar criminals. White-criminal criminals are often treated differently than other categories of criminals which provokes a response unlike other crimes. White-collar criminals are not better than or more deserving of leniency than other categories of criminal, it’s just that they are wired differently and understanding that fact can better position us to help safeguard organizations from the types of crimes that white-collar criminals commit. Joining Scott on today's episode are two experts on the subject of white-collar crime psychology, Nicolas Bourtin and Eugene Soltes.  

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. 

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.  

In this episode we going explore “bullet-proofing” your FCPA acquisition due diligence, merger integration and the government’s recent revisions to the FCPA Resource Guide and Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs guidance. Gone are the days when the potential bribery and corruption risk of an acquisition can afford to be something assessed at the 11th hour or not at all. Successor liability stemming from undiscovered bribery activity can give rise to devastating financial consequences. Joining me today is Skadden Arps partner and FCPA luminary Gary DiBianco. Gary’s practice focuses on advising senior management and boards of directors faced with complex government or internal investigations.

In this episode, we talk about why this may be exactly the right time to perform a meaningful fraud risk assessment. Fraud risks are like potential explosions. The vulnerability of fraud can lay dormant for years until and unless someone in a position to exploit the control weakness, formulates a rationalization and is off and running. Joining us today is Bruce Dorris CEO and President of Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. The ACFE is a member organization of over 85,000 Certified Fraud Examiners and the world’s largest anti-fraud organization. The ACFE is also a standard setter for anti-fraud and investigative leading industry practices having created many important publications including the Report to the Nations, the Occupational Fraud and Abuse Classification System and the Fraud Risk Management Guide.  

In this episode, we talk about the importance of seeing your compliance program through the government’s eyes. The DOJ Fraud Section recently released its latest update to their guidance on evaluation of corporate compliance programs. While it does not represent a major rewrite, it did provide further clarity on the government’s expectations on post-merger integration, continuous program improvement and compliance’s access to relevant data sources needed to drive the program. 

In this episode, we talk about one of the more challenging aspects of regulatory compliance - measuring return on investment. Important elements of an effective compliance program include confidential reporting and investigations. Today we speak to two subject matter experts on confidential reporting, Carrie Penman, Chief Compliance Officer of NAVEX Global, a widely noted compliance luminary and Kyle Welch, Assistant Professor, George Washington University’s School of Business. Carrie and Kyle have collaborated on several studies on how to measure the return on investment of compliance hotlines. Join us to hear about what you can do to help your measurements.

In this episode, we talk about remote witness interviews and how to make the best of a bad situation using time-tested interrogation techniques and other methods. While things are starting to return to something resembling normal, our use of video conferencing as a business tool is here to stay. I’ve been fielding a lot of questions about use of body language and other techniques to try to limit a witness or deponent’s ability to be coached or misdirect the interviewer. With us today is a subject matter expert on interviewing and interrogation skills, Michael Bret Hood. Bret is the Founding Partner of 21st Century Learning & Consulting, LLC where he teaches leadership skills. He is also an adjunct professor of Corporate Governance and Ethics at University of Virginia. 

In this second episode of Fraud Eats Strategy, Scott Moritz speaks to Neil Barofsky, a partner at Jenner & Block and the former Special Inspector General of the Troubled Asset Relief Program about these issues. We will explore the increased discovery of financial crimes that occur in a down cycle of the economy and how organizations can use fraud risk assessments to identify fraud, pursue avenues of recovery and strengthen their organizations against the potential negative consequences of fraud.

In this first episode of Fraud Eats Strategy with Scott Moritz he speaks to former Enron Whistleblower Sherron Watkins about the many red flags that were ignored, the ill-fated board decisions and the wide-ranging complicity that led to Enron’s implosion.    Sherron’s memo to former Enron leadership warned of the accounting irregularities that would cause the company to “implode in a wave of accounting scandals” and sparked what is now one of the biggest fraud and misconduct cases in American history.   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.

In this introduction, you will meet Scott Moritz, Senior Managing Director in the Global Risk and Investigations Practice at FTI Consulting. The series features a deep dive into the various ways fraud can effect each and every one of us.