Winning the Endgame of Financial Crime
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1.
Osama bin Laden's Data Haul – The Asset Tracing Lessons It Teaches Through 'Analog' and Digital Investigations
The daring operation on Osama bin Laden's Pakistani hideaway offers crucial lessons for asset recovery specialists. He left behind evidence in many data storage devices that he moved through his "sneaker net." Forensic technologists glean invaluable intelligence and evidence from similar opportunities that “bad guys” present. Each type of data storage device provides different capture and exploitation challenges. Have you ever seen a back-up tape or media? What is RAM, ROM, cache, hard drives, archives, motherboards, BIOS or flash drive? How should these devices be mined to trace assets that fraudsters and other criminals use? What must specialists do to preserve all data in the hardware? What data extraction lessons does the hardware architecture provide? Once you process the intelligence, how can you use it? Here, top computer forensics experts teach you vital lessons to help you advance your cases with this "electronically stored information." This panel will introduce you to a core competence of computer systems. You will learn lessons on following money flows from the information found in data storage devices. This panel alone is worth the cost of admission.
2.
Third-Party Funding of Fraud and Matrimonial Asset Recovery Cases – Best Practices on Using It and Building Protections
Sometimes, fraudsters do such a good job of defrauding victims and secreting the proceeds that the victims have no money to pursue the funds in the obscure places where nominees hide them. A creative new development now offers to solve that dilemma. Third-party funders finance asset recovery cases in exchange for a preferred position in the first amounts recovered. These investors see a profit in financing cases that might otherwise die stillborn. They operate in complex fraud cases and in matrimonial disputes where the money at stake is high. Third party poses complex issues for both the victims and the funder. Victims must bring on these “angels” with eyes wide open. How can you take advantage of this new funding option in asset recovery cases? In this crucial new-age panel, top experts will show you the benefits, pitfalls, costs, ethical issues and vital things you must know.
3.
Workshop | How Receivers, Trustees and Monitors Use Their Special Powers and Tools to Trace and Recover Assets Worldwide
Most countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, others in Europe, Latin America and elsewhere authorize the appointment of receivers, trustees, monitors and other officeholders to pick up the pieces after a fraud collapses or company goes bankrupt or the government takes over a company controlled by criminals. They sift through the wreckage and embark on the mission of recovering assets for victims, the bankrupt estate, the government and others. These fiduciaries usually have extraordinary powers. Recent marquee cases show success and failure in their difficult ventures. What do they do? How do they get appointed? How do they pick their team members? What happens when they clash with prosecutors? How is their pay determined? Who pays? How do they take and preserve assets? In this panel, top experts who have operated in the public and private sectors answer these and other vital questions.
4.
Case Study: Tracing the Assets of Your Target and His Fronts Through Bank Records, Social Media and ‘Commodities Flow’ Analysis
Technology has given fraudsters and other criminals certain advantages, like the ability to move money at the blink of an eye. However, it has also given asset recovery specialists very useful and inexpensive tools to trace the fraudster, his fronts and the money they stole and have hidden. The secrecy and corruption that give him refuge only go so far. Tools like sophisticated databases, electronic public records and social media search come close to leveling the playing field. They provide the asset recovery team with vital intelligence and evidence worldwide that was unimaginable just a few years ago. In this panel, top experts teach you how to use those tools, follow and digitally visualize the movement of assets, find witnesses and accomplices, discover previously unknown assets and provide invaluable help in recovering assets. This panel is indispensable for investigators, information analysts and forensic accountants in both the government and private sectors.
5.
Using Little-Known Court Powers to Freeze and Recover Assets Worldwide– Heard of Civil Search Warrants, Break and Seal Orders? They and Others Can Make Your Case
The equitable powers of a court are centuries-old. They stem from the days when the King of England asked his Chancellor to right wrongs and do justice where petitioner comes with clean hands. These powers still exist, albeit without a king, and they can turn the tide in asset recovery cases of all types. Victims of fraud, parties to matrimonial battles, government agencies and others seeking redress may obtain these varied court orders to locate and freeze assets and accounts, impose travel restrictions, gain access to accounts of perpetrators and fronts, rescind contracts, and more. How do you get these powerful tools granted? What are the best practices to obtain them? What are their limitations? In what jurisdictions can they be used? How do you get them recognized in other countries? Top investigative and legal practitioners in this panel give you invaluable lessons in putting these potent weapons in your arsenal and to work. Government agents have badges, guns and grand juries, but private sector representatives of fraud victims have similar powers in the equitable relief a court gives. It can compel disclosure, rewrite contracts, declare a wrongful detention of assets, transfer property, require document examinations, freeze assets, and other things. In this vital panel, top experts will show you how to get, construct and use these powerful weapons that put you on a winning road in asset recovery.
6.
Workshop | E-Mail, Caches, Cookies and Hidden Files That Help You Make Asset Tracing and Recovery Cases
Activity on a computer is the 21st Century window into people's motive, culpability, conspiracy, cover-up, and mental state. E-mail tracing and clues left on hard drives are valuable tools in all facets of modern asset recovery investigations. In this session, experts give you outstanding instruction on how the Internet operates, how it differs from the World Wide Web, what "breadcrumbs" are left behind when the Internet is used, what metadata is and how to read it, how "spoliation" occurs and how to remedy it, and how to take advantage of the abundance of forensic evidence that each and every keystroke leaves behind. They will show you powerful online tools that decipher information to identify the source and origin. Unless you are a seasoned computer and Internet expert, this session is for you.
7.
Using FinCEN, Bank and Business Records Effectively to Trace and Recover Assets
Asset recovery is asset recovery, and while public sector professionals have access to certain financial reporting documents, such as those filed with FinCEN in the United States and FINTRAC in Canada, their private sector counterparts have available ways to enjoy the same benefits. Many don't know how. Financial Investigative Units like FinCEN and FINTRAC collect hundreds of thousands of records each year from financial institutions, businesses and individuals. They often hold the key to success in asset recovery. Apart from the invaluable records gathered by FIUs, there are other types of routine financial institution and business records that can widely open a window to their assets if you know how to read and decipher them. Financial records are to an asset recovery team what a good hammer is to a carpenter. In this crucial panel you will learn how to obtain, decipher and exploit these vital tools in asset recovery cases.
8.
Effective Interviewing and Interrogation Techniques That You Must Have to Win at Asset Tracing and Recovery
As in most investigations, success in asset recovery cases lies in the individuals who saw it, were victimized by it, knew the parties, or handled the money. They can be perpetrators, witnesses, victims, neighbors, bankers, facilitators, etc. An investigation can be hurt by poor interviewing techniques. Asking the wrong question, using the wrong tone of voice, not reading body language correctly, filling the air with unnecessary talk, not listening can all be harmful. The goal is to extract information that leads to assets. Many witnesses possess intelligence whose value they do not appreciate. The job of a good interviewer or investigator is to extract as much useful information and intelligence as possible from every interviewee. Interviewing skills are even more important when the investigator is working undercover. In this panel you will learn from experienced professionals how to build and hone your interviewing skills.
9.
Workshop | Bring Your Laptop – Capitalizing on Web-Based Tools, Social Network Search and Databases to Find Asset Recovery Gold
Web and interactive Internet tools are the most powerful, though underutilized, investigative and analytical tools that asset recovery specialists can deploy. If you learn the digital gymnastics that lead to pay dirt in asset recovery cases you take a major step toward improving your success in these complex, frequently multi-national, cases. In this unique, invaluable workshop, top Web investigator, Steve Rambam, will walk you through – and teach you – the ins and outs of online free or inexpensive investigative tools. This won’t be just a lecture. Bring your laptop and you’ll learn by doing not just by hearing. It will be one of the most valuable training sessions you have ever attended. You’ll learn as you go in this hands-on session that will arm you with actionable resources and know-how that improve your asset tracing and recovery skills on the spot. Don't miss it.
10.
How to Pierce Offshore Secrecy Havens to Identify and Recover Targeted Assets
The world's 60 or so secrecy havens maintain their policies primarily because of the great money their financial institutions make from cloaking the financial accounts and assets of their customers in tight secrecy. Some even have laws that make it a crime to reveal that a person has an account at a particular institution. Much of the world's billions of dirty dollars are hidden in these secretive jurisdictions. However, it is a myth that they are impenetrable. There are tried and true procedures and remedies that allow you to identify accounts, freeze assets, order their repatriation or recovery and achieve other successes in many of these havens. The procedures allow you to discover true ownership, uncover financial information and take back assets that belong in other hands. In this session, top experts will show you how to crack the secrecy within existing legal and investigative frameworks for greater success in asset recovery.
11.
Navigating Cases Seamlessly Through Common Law and Civil Law Countries – Traversing Conflicting Continental Legal Norms Successfully
The nations of the Western world are divided into two major legal systems, apart from those that follow Sharia law. One large group of nations follows the so-called civil law, or Napoleonic Code. These include the European Union, Latin America and some African and Asian nations. Then there are those that adhere to the common law. These include the United States, the UK, Canada, India, Australia, South Africa, Hong Kong, the English-speaking Caribbean and others. The differences in the two systems can have a major impact on the progress, remedies and outcome of asset recovery cases. Fraudsters and other criminals know the differences and know the obstacles they can provide to an asset recovery team that confronts conflicting legal systems. But the obstacles are not insurmountable. Surprisingly, although they are called by different names, the remedies that both systems provide are often very similar. Here you will get roadmaps and invaluable guidance from experts who have traversed both systems with their cases successfully.
12.
Using Open Source Data and Intel Gathered from the 'Cloud' to Win Asset Recovery (Parts 1 & 2)
The days of "dumpster diving" and tedious, expensive surveillance are far less have changed. Now, technology presents asset recovery teams with electronic data gold mines many investigative goldmines have migrated to the online world. You can use these resources to bring your asset recovery case to victory. These days, you must be proficient in extracting and managing open source data and gathering intelligence from the Cloud. First you must get a digital roadmap to learn what is out there. Next, you must learn to leverage the many social media sites that contain an abundance of useful intelligence and evidence, such as Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and many more. Find out how Google Maps, crowdsourcing and open source databases provide great information that you need to trace and recover assets. It is because of the invaluable information that it provides that this session constantly ranks among the most popular at IAAR’s conferences. You should not miss it.
13.
Crucial Negotiation Points to Press to Obtain a Good Resolution of an Asset Recovery Case
Most asset recovery cases never reach trial thus avoiding a costly and unpredictable option for both sides. Most are resolved by negotiation, which emphasizes the importance of negotiating skills and knowledge of the key elements to be considered in resolving these cases without trial. To be fully armed for success, the asset recovery specialist must learn and hone these skills to win at the negotiating table. How should you calculate what your case is worth? What are the pluses and minuses of the different solutions you can propose to the adversary? What factors should you include in establishing the amount that you will seek to negotiation? How can you convince your opponent that resolving the case at or near your position is advantageous for him? What carrots and sticks work best? Here, seasoned negotiators in asset recovery cases show you the winning skills you need at the negotiating table.
14.
How to Follow the Fruitful Path of Recovering Assets from (Deep-Pocketed) Third Parties
It is now commonplace to see multimillion dollar lawsuits by receivers, representatives of victims of fraud and corruption and government agencies against financial institutions, law firms, audit and accounting firms, financial advisors and “feeders.” Receivers, trustees, prosecutors and victims' advocates pursue the deep pockets of persons and entities they consider agents, co-conspirators, partners, aiders and abettors, accountants, federal regulators and others. This "one-off" asset recovery has returned many millions to the victims of Madoff, Stanford and other fraudsters. What must you keep in mind when considering an effort against third parties? What legal theories work best? What must investigators and forensic accountants prove in these cases? To what extent does the reputation of targeted third parties come into play in? How does “willful blindness” help hold profiteers of a fraud accountable? In this panel top experts will give you a roadmap to third party recovery. This panel is worth the price of admission.
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15. Financial Crime Fighters, ‘Tear Down These Silos!’ – Beating Financial Crime Through ‘FRAML’ Best Practices and Convergence
In the United States and most countries, financial institutions, government agencies, and businesses attack financial crime through silos. They have:
One unit, or units, to deal with fraud, One unit to deal with anti-corruption under FCPA, UK Bribery Act, etc., One unit to deal with anti-money laundering, One unit to deal with OFAC, UN, EU and other sanctions, One unit to deal with Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), One unit to deal with customer due diligence, compliance and reporting.
The cost of this splintered fraud and anti-money laundering (FRAML) approach is enormous. The cost in reduced effectiveness and productivity through this approach is greater. The only winner is the financial criminal.
It is time for "convergence." How would "convergence" work in fighting financial crime? Where is it likely to bring good results? What are its key elements? How do you avoid losing focused expertise? What are the common operational factors? How can financial institutions and government agencies achieve its efficiencies and effectiveness? All financial crime leaves someone poorer than they were before, the criminal proceeds must be laundered, and assets must be recovered. What must be done to tear down the silos to improve success against financial crime? In this panel, veterans with a lifetime of fighting financial crime from many fronts with many weapons show you what must be done to achieve successful "convergence."
Speakers: Jeffrey Neiman, Don Semesky, Ed Rodriguez Moderator: Charles Intriago
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16. Combating and defeating financial criminals by effective use of digital evidence-gathering and technology
Virtually every financial crime these days is committed, facilitated or covered up by and through technology. Identity theft, advance fee schemes, phishing, investment scams and many others sap wealth from unsuspecting victims digitally thanks to the Internet. Just identity theft occurs 28 times each hour in the United States and hundreds of times in other countries. Billions of dollars are siphoned from consumers by phishing, spamming and other fraud. The good news is that online criminal activity leaves digital evidence and tracks to the perpetrator and his allies. To combat these criminals effectively you must know how to capture and use technology and digital information. In this panel, top experts will teach you state-of-the-art techniques and prepare you to beat fraudsters’ at their own game by knowing the technological tools that you must have in your tool kit to win.
Speakers: EJ Hilbert, Karen Schuler Moderator: David Quinones
CSAR Certification Exam Preparation Seminar
Preparing for the CSAR examination requires candidates to master a wide range of asset recovery best practices and procedures. IAAR offers an exclusive Certification Preparation track to provide exam candidates with the utmost preparation. The course track will consist of four sessions, each an in-depth and comprehensive preview of the information that will be covered in the exam. The course includes subjects such as: financial flow analysis, investigative techniques, professional ethics, skills around the rules of evidence, asset recovery team management and more.
This program is subject to change.
