In this podcast series, Kieran Beer (Chief Analyst at ACAMS) interviews the movers and shakers of the anti-financial crime world. Listen for fast-paced conversations about the latest financial scandal to hit newsstands, and insights on trending Financial Crime topics. Have something you’d like to hear covered? Email Kieran on podcasts@acams.org and tell us what matters to you. You can also follow Kieran on twitter www.twitter.com/kieranbeer Subscribe so you don’t miss a single episode!
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In this episode of “Financial Crime Matters,” Kieran talks with Claudia Quiroz, Director of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, or NCET, at the U.S. Justice Department.Claudia and Kieran discuss the rise in cryptocurrency-enabled crime that necessitated NCET’s creation three years ago and the team’s subsequent efforts to prosecute cyber p…
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Fighting the Online Exploitation of Children, with Adam Levine of the Child Rescue Coalition
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In this episode of “Financial Crime Matters,” Kieran talks with Adam Levine, Director of Government Engagement for the Child Rescue Coalition (CRC).Adam and Kieran discuss CRC’s efforts to enable law enforcement to trace online child sexual abuse material to its creators and collectors. During their discussion, Adam details some of the typologies a…
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In this episode of “Financial Crime Matters,” Kieran talks with three individuals committed to exposing cryptocurrency scams and drawing attention to imprisoned investigative journalist Mech Dara, who is responsible for uncovering the horrific conditions and practices within Cambodian-based crypto fraud compounds. Zeke Faux, author of “Number Go Up…
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In this episode of Financial Crime Matters, Kieran sits down with Michael Grady, chief of the bank integrity unit at the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division during the ACAMS Assembly Vegas Conference in September. Mike talks about the BIU’s remit to pursue criminal infractions at banks, payment service providers, cryptocurrency exchanges a…
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In this episode of “Financial Crime Matters”, Kieran talks with ACAMS colleague, Craig Timm, Senior Director of AML at ACAMS. Craig and Kieran do a deep dive into the recent settlements by TD Bank with the US Department of Justice, the Federal Reserve Board, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network…
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Detecting True Crimes with Great Accuracy, with Oracle’s Jason SomrakIn this inaugural episode of “Financial Crime Matters: Industry Leaders,” Kieran sits down with Jason Somrak, Chief of Product & Strategy for Financial Crime & Compliance at Oracle Software. Jason talks about the Holy Grail of anti-financial crime practice: the ability to “detect …
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Understanding Canada’s Enhanced Regulatory Regime, with Jacqueline Shinfield. In this episode of “Financial Crime Matters,” Kieran talks with Toronto-based attorney Jacqueline Shinfield, co-lead of Blakes’ Financial Services Regulatory Group.Jackie details the unfolding revolution in Canadian anti-money laundering and counter terror finance, includ…
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In this episode of “Financial Crime Matters,” Kieran talks with Chris Ainsley, head of fraud risk management at Santander Bank. Drawing on more than 20-year history at Santander, Chris details how financial institutions like his are fighting the current spike in online fraud that utilizes elaborate schemes to get customers to authorize payments fro…
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Kieran talks with CJ Rinaldi, chief compliance officer at Kraken Digital Asset Exchange, about the virtual asset service provider’s efforts to prevent money laundering, terror finance, sanctions busting, and fraud. Drawing on his experience as senior counsel at the SEC and at financial institutions, CJ also discusses the kind of regulatory regime t…
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Surviving Regulatory and Law Enforcement Scrutiny as a Compliance Officer, with Christina Rea
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In this episode of Financial Crime Matters, Kieran talks with Christina Rea about her brief tenure at Binance.US as interim chief compliance officer. Christina discusses what it was like to head U.S. compliance for Binance.com, the world’s largest digital assets trading platform, as it underwent scrutiny from regulators and law enforcement that ult…
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Kieran talks with Guy Ficco, the Chief of IRS Criminal Investigation. They discuss the IRS-CI’s recent success in tracking illicit cryptocurrency transactions. and the threat from money mules. Guy also identifies some of the latest typologies his agency is seeing, while crediting suspicious activity reports from financial institutions as catalysts …
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Kieran talks with Eliza Odom, former Section Chief of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division, about the top terror threats the bureau is currently focused on. While having since become deputy assistant director of the FBI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate, Eliza discusses the seven units within the Counterterrorism Division she once oversaw, p…
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Kieran talks with Hennie Verbeek-Kusters, head of the Netherlands financial intelligence unit, about her leadership over the FIU since its founding in 2008.During their discussion, Hennie details how the Dutch FIU has evolved to face the challenge of evermore sophisticated transnational criminal organizations and the professional money launderers t…
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Kieran talks with Molly Moeser, Acting Chief, Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section of the U.S. Justice Department, about MLARS’ efforts to seize illicit assets and, when possible, bring financial restitution to victims of crime.During their talk, Molly discusses the seizure of illicit funds associated with kleptocracy and other crimes, inclu…
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Kieran talks with Jennifer Shasky Calvery, Group Head of Financial Crime Risk at HSBC, a former Director of the Financial Crime Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, and former federal prosecutor. Drawing on her public and private sector experience, Jen details the challenges faced by financial institutions and government and how in partnership they can …
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Kieran talks with Daniel Stipano, partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell and a 30-year veteran of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, about the unfolding requirements of the Corporate Transparency and AML Acts and their impact on law enforcement, and financial as well as non-financial institutions.Dan also weighs in on the current court challe…
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Kieran talks with ACAMS colleagues Justine Walker, head of global sanctions and AML risk, and Craig Timm, senior AML director, about the just released “ACAMS Global AFC Threats 2024.” Drawing on 788 in-depth interactions with anti-financial crime professionals that inform the report, Justine and Craig identify the top ten threats currently facing t…
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Kieran talks with Grant Rabenn, Director, Financial Crimes Legal at Coinbase.Grant, a former federal prosecutor who handled some of the Department of Justice’s earliest crypto cases, discusses the promise of blockchain offerings, while acknowledging the industry’s need to work with regulators to stem their use in financial crime and money launderin…
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Kieran talks with Zeke Faux, author of critically acclaimed “Number Go Up,” a comprehensive look at cryptocurrency, DeFi, and NFTs.Zeke, an investigative reporter for Bloomberg BusinessWeek and Bloomberg News, discusses the trek he undertook to understand the boom and sometimes bust of various blockchain offerings. It was a journey that included a …
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Kieran talks with Kenneth Rijock, a former Miami-based lawyer who spent a decade as a bag man for drug-traffickers, investing their cash in accounts in the Caribbean and other offshore secrecy havens. Ken describes some of the classic methods he used for laundering money and how law enforcement ultimately caught up with him. Following a prison term…
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Kieran talks with Carly Yoost, CEO and founder of the Child Rescue Coalition, which has created technology that enables law enforcement to identify instances of online child exploitation and locate its perpetrators. During their discussion, Carly details the scope of online child exploitation and how the Coalition provides tools and training to law…
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Kieran talks with James Barnacle, Chief of the Financial Crimes Section, Criminal Investigative Division of the FBI, and Christopher Soyez, Assistant Section Chief. Jim and Chris discuss how the FBI works to recover the proceeds of scams on behalf of victims. They credit banks’ suspicious activity reports with being the primary catalyst for the bur…
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Public & Private Sectors Together in the Fight Against Financial Crime, with Kenneth A. Blanco
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Kieran talks with Kenneth A. Blanco, Chief Compliance Officer for the Financial Crimes Unit at Citigroup, who is also a former Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) director and before that held several senior roles within the U.S. Department of Justice.Ken and Kieran discuss the challenges of being FinCEN’s chief during the COVID-19 epidem…
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Kieran talks with Seoyoung Kim, Associate Professor of Finance, Department Chair, at Santa Clara University, about the promise and possible perils of decentralized finance.They discuss the recent implosion of several cryptocurrency exchanges and stablecoin minters and the great legal and judicial debate now raging over the regulation of digital ass…
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Parsing the Challenges of Fighting Financial Crime, with Rick Small, Dan Soto and John Byrne
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Kieran talks with Rick Small, Director Financial Crimes Program, at Truist, Dan Soto, Chief Compliance Officer, Ally Financial, and John Byrne, Executive Vice President, AML RightSource, about what’s been achieved in the past 40 years in the fight against financial crime and what challenges lay ahead.In anticipation of receiving the “ACAMS Lifetime…
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Preparing for Europe’s AMLA and Fighting Financial Crime, with Dutch Central Banker Willem Schudel
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Kieran talks with Willem Schudel, Head of Department, Financial Crime Supervision (AML/TF) at the Central Bank of the Netherlands, live from The Assembly Europe, ACAMS’ annual conference, held this year in Dublin. Willem discusses the Dutch Central Bank’s preparations for the coming of the European Union’s Anti-Money Laundering Authority, or AMLA, …
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Kieran talks with Sarah Paquet, Director and CEO of the Financial Transaction Reports Analysis Centre, FINTRAC, live from ACAMS’ 27th annual moneylaundering.com conference in Hollywood, Florida.Sarah discusses FINTRAC’s new role handling sanctions intelligence, managing the revolution in financial technology, and the financial intelligence unit’s o…
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Stemming Financial Crime in Art and Antiquities, with Steve Schindler and Katie Wilson-Milne
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Kieran talks with Steve Schindler and Katie Wilson-Milne, partners at New York litigation and art law boutique Schindler Cohen & Hochman LLP about the state of financial crime in the global antiquities and art world.Charting some of the civil and criminal actions that have resulted in a recent wave of repatriations of artworks and antiquities from …
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Kieran talks with Tristram Hicks, co-author with Nicholas Gilmour of “The War on Dirty Money,” an examination of the promise and short-comings of the current costly global effort to combat financial crime. Drawing on his years as a New Scotland Yard detective superintendent and his role as an international criminal justice advisor on the operationa…
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Kieran talks with David Lewis, executive secretary of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) from 2015 to 2022, about the FATF’s recent plenary that gray listed South Africa and Nigeria, formally suspended Russia from membership, and criticized governments throughout the world for lax oversight of cryptocurrency businesses.Currently head of global …
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Kieran talks with Oliver Bullough, award winning reporter for The Guardian, about his latest book, “Butler to the World: How Britain Became the Servant of Tycoons, Tax Dodgers, Kleptocrats and Criminals.” During their conversation, Oliver details how Britain and its territories became a favored facilitator for many of the world’s kleptocrats, havin…
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Preparing for FinCEN’s Latest Rulemakings and Beyond, with Daniel Stipano and Jamal El-Hindi
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Kieran talks with Dan Stipano, partner at Davis Polk, and Jamal El-Hindi, Counsel at Clifford Chance, about the Financial Crime Enforcement Network’s far reaching new rules for creating a U.S. beneficial ownership information (BOI) database for regulators and law enforcement, including who will be required to file personal identifying information a…
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Kieran talks with Jonathan Dupont, a financial intelligence investigator for Western Union, and Tiffany Polyak, AFC Associate at ACAMS, about the growth in online sexual exploitation of children and the related rise in child sexual abuse materials on the Internet.In exposing the scope of the online exploitation, Jonathan and Tiffany point to the mo…
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Kieran talks with Bryan Smith, chief of the FBI’s Cybercriminal Section and a 20-year bureau veteran, about the growing threat of cybercrime to both individuals and large corporations.Bryan discusses the destruction caused by cyber hacking, identity theft and old fashion fraud and he shares some of the successes the FBI has had in recovering stolen…
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Kieran talks with Nathan Lynch, author of 'The Lucky Laundry' - an expose of how Australia became the conduit for billons of dollars in laundered funds from the proceeds of drug trafficking, corruption, the sexual exploitation of children and other heinous crimes committed by transnational criminal organizations. Nathan, Manager of Thomson Reuters …
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Kieran talks with ACAMS colleague Joby Carpenter about the current tumult in the digital asset world, including plummeting cryptocurrency prices, digital value’s exploitation by money launderers, the threat from cyberhackers, and the rise in crypto-related fraud schemes. A global subject matter expert on cryptocurrency, Joby draws on 18 years of ex…
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Kieran talks with Daniel Thelesklaf, Project Director for Finance Against Slavery and Trafficking (FAST) at the United Nations University Centre for Policy Research about the effort to protect refugees fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine from human trafficking. While many governments, organizations and individuals are offering support for refugees…
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Kieran talks with Ilze Znotina about the challenges Latvia has faced over the past four years she has been head of the Financial Intelligence Unit, including enforcing sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. “Baltic states have suffered… a very similar situation that Ukraine is suffering right now, [but] thankfully not in recent…
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Kieran talks with Jessica Davis, a veteran of more than 20 years in defense and intelligence roles in government and the private sector in Canada. They discuss the occupation of Canada’s capitol for three weeks last winter by the so-called “Freedom Convoy,” efforts to support the group via crowdfunding, cryptocurrency, and cash as well as the Canad…
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Kieran talks with John Sifton, advocacy director, and Patti Gossman, associate Asia director, at Human Rights Watch about the dire humanitarian situation in Afghanistan following the return of the Taliban to power.“One in three families is facing food insecurity” from malnourishment to starvation, says Patti, adding that the crisis is affecting not…
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Combating International Wildlife Trafficking & Other Environmental Crime, with Olivia Swaak-Goldman
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Kieran talks with Olivia Swaak-Goldman, executive director of the Wildlife Justice Commission, about the Hague-based organization’s efforts to stop the illegal wildlife trade and other forms of environmental exploitation, currently the fourth largest source of funds for transnational criminal organizations. Olivia discusses how WJC targets traffick…
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Kieran talks with colleague Dr. Justine Walker, Global Head - Sanctions, Compliance and Risk at ACAMS, about the likely shape of sanctions against Russia should it invade Ukraine.In the wake of ACAM’s Second Annual Sanctions Summit, Justine discusses keynote speaker and White House special advisor Peter Harrell’s promise of severe sanctions against…
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Kieran talks with Anjana Rajan, chief technology officer for Polaris, about the work the not-for-profit does to fight human trafficking, including having helped more than 30,000 trafficking survivors via its national hotline. In looking ahead, Anjana talks about the need to recreate the Internet to end its use by the powerful to exploit the vulnera…
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Kieran talks with Dr. Tom Robinson, chief scientist and founder of Elliptic, a blockchain forensics company, about the phenomenal growth of decentralized finance, or DeFi. Offering the promise of a wide array of financial services on an inexpensive and inclusive basis, DeFi also presents a significant fraud and money laundering threat, Tom says. Dr…
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Kieran talks with Casey Michel about his just published book, “American Kleptocracy,” which details how the United States has become a favored destination for laundering money for corrupt politicians and other criminals. Competition among states such as Delaware, Wyoming and Nevada for fees for forming corporations and trusts as well as carveouts f…
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Kieran talks with Alex Zerden about his time as Treasury attaché at the United States Embassy in Kabul, the worsening humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and the renewed terrorism threat related to the Taliban’s return to power. Alex, the principal and founder of Capital Peak Strategies, a financial technology and digital asset advisory firm, talks …
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Kieran talks with Jacqueline Shinfield, partner at Blakes, Cassels & Graydon about the latest legislative and regulatory requirements from Finance Canada and FINTRAC that are part of the nation’s renewed vigor to fight financial crime. Ahead of the ACAMS Annual Canada Conference on 3, 4 November, Jackie and Kieran discuss Canada’s new cost recovery…
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Kieran talks with Jessica Davis, president of Insight Threat Intelligence and the author of the just released “Illicit Money: Financing Terrorism in the Twenty-First Century.” Jessica discusses her comprehensive book, which is based on her study of some 50 terrorist organizations and terror attacks, in the wake of the Taliban’s return to power in A…
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Kieran talks with Gurvais Grigg, Chainalysis’ Global Public Sector Chief Technology Officer, about tracking cryptocurrency used in fraud, ransomware and other crimes. Whether exchange traded digital currencies or so-called privacy coins, companies like Chainalysis, in tandem with law enforcement, are increasingly identifying cybercriminals and seiz…
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Kieran talks with Elizabeth “Liz” Roper, chief of the Cybercrime and Identity Theft Bureau within the New York County District Attorney’s office. As head of one of the most sophisticated anti-cybercrime labs in the world, Liz details what she sees as the most pressing emerging cybercrime threats and offers encouragement to prosecutors throughout th…
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