Keeping the Story Going: Honoring Investigative Reporter Jeff German

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Keeping the Story Going: Honoring Investigative Reporter Jeff German

At the Tuesday afternoon general session honoring investigative reporter Jeff German, Las Vegas Review-Journal editor Glenn Cook told 35th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference attendees about the time German found himself on the receiving end of a sucker punch from a Mafia associate. People unhappy with German’s reporting smashed his windows and slashed his car tires. But these acts of intimidation didn’t deter German; instead, he confronted the subject of his story one night at the old Sands Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. 

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Recognizing Cognitive Biases Improves Investigations

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Recognizing Cognitive Biases Improves Investigations

Everyone is affected by cognitive biases. As Beth Mohr, CFE, explained during her early morning session on the second day of the 35th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference, our brains are always thinking, and we are limited in what we can take in. We create mental shortcuts, called heuristics, but sometimes this can lead to systemic errors in thinking, or biases. 

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Building a Crypto Compliance Program and a Crypto Investigations Team

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Building a Crypto Compliance Program and a Crypto Investigations Team

With any emerging technology, change is inevitable. At the 35th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference, Lourdes Miranda, CFE, CEO of the FinTech Advisory Group, LLC, outlined what the future of compliance programs looks like alongside the evolution of cryptocurrency. It’s a daunting proposition when traditional banking remains the global standard, but as Miranda pointed out, the term “crypto wallet” is synonymous with a traditional “bank account.” With basic training, compliance and investigative professionals are much closer to a working knowledge of crypto than many think. 

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Understanding the Righteousness of Anti-Fraud Work: Glenn Cook

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“Be courageous. Understand the righteousness of your work, to never doubt the importance of doing the right thing and stopping people from doing the wrong thing,” Glenn Cook stresses to attendees when speaking about the dangers of exposing fraud and corruption.

Provider Fraud: Why Due Diligence Matters in Health Care Acquisitions

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Provider Fraud: Why Due Diligence Matters in Health Care Acquisitions

During the 35th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference, Leah Lane, CFE, a director at SunHawk Consulting, presented a compelling session titled "A Case Study in Provider Fraud." Drawing from her extensive experience, Lane provided a detailed examination of the risks, misconduct and repercussions resulting from a health care company’s acquisition.

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The Traceability of Bitcoin’s Unspent Transaction Output System 

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The Traceability of Bitcoin’s Unspent Transaction Output System 

During the 35th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference, Sean Tweed, CFE, gave fraud investigators an overview of Bitcoin and how it can be used to trace funds across different addresses in his session titled, “The Traceability of Bitcoin’s Unspent Transaction Output System”. Contrary to popular belief, Bitcoin was not created by criminals to be an untraceable tool for money laundering. Criminals have exploited it, but its model was actually created to make transactions public and traceable.  

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