Meet the Keynote Speakers for the 34th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference
/Thousands of anti-fraud professionals attending the 34th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference, June 11-16, will hear from some of the leading experts in the anti-fraud industry. Telling their stories of perseverance and sharing their insight, the conference will feature some of the following speakers:
HESTER M. PEIRCE
COMMISSIONER
U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Hester M. Peirce was appointed by President Donald Trump to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and was sworn in on January 11, 2018. Prior to joining the SEC, Commissioner Peirce conducted research on the regulation of financial markets at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. She was a Senior Counsel on the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, where she advised Ranking Member Richard Shelby and other members of the committee on securities issues. Commissioner Peirce served as counsel to SEC Commissioner Paul S. Atkins. She also worked as a staff attorney in the SEC’s Division of Investment Management.
ANDY GREENBERG
SENIOR WRITER
WIRED MAGAZINE, AUTHOR, “TRACERS IN THE DARK: THE GLOBAL HUNT FOR THE CRIME LORDS OF CRYPTOCURRENCY”
Andy Greenberg is a senior writer for WIRED, covering the worlds of hackers, cybersecurity and surveillance. He’s the author of “Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency.” His previous book, “Sandworm: A New Era of Cyberwar and the Hunt for the Kremlin's Most Dangerous Hackers” (and excerpts from it published in WIRED) received numerous awards including the Gerald Loeb Award for International Reporting, a Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists, and the Cornelius Ryan Citation for Excellence from the Overseas Press Club.
SHEILA WARREN
CEO
CRYPTO COUNCIL FOR INNOVATION
Sheila Warren brings more than 20 years of experience leading social change efforts at the intersection of technology, law, diversity, civil rights and the Web3 ecosystem. Warren is CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation, a global alliance advancing crypto innovation worldwide. She co-hosts “Money Reimagined,” a CoinDesk TV show and podcast, is an advisor to the Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web, serves on the Steering Committee of the DeFi Education Fund and is an early-stage investor in a range of Web3 efforts focused on equity and inclusion. Previously, Warren founded the blockchain and digital assets team at the World Economic Forum, where she served as a member of the Executive Committee. As the Deputy Global Head of the Forum’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, she oversaw strategy across 16 countries to advance the adoption of new technologies in the global public interest.
JO LING KENT
AWARD-WINNING TV JOURNALIST AND ANCHOR
Jo Ling Kent is an award-winning TV journalist and anchor who was most recently the business and tech correspondent at NBC News, appearing on the “TODAY” show, “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” and MSNBC. Her reporting won an Edward R. Murrow Award, as well as an Emmy nomination. Previously, she was an on-air reporter and podcast host at Fox Business Network and an investigative reporter at NBC Connecticut (WVIT), where she was a member of the team awarded a Peabody for coverage of the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting. Kent is also a member of the Asian American Journalists Association. Kent has covered stories ranging from the devastating economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic to the baby formula shortage crisis to protests in Seattle following the death of George Floyd.
DR. DAVID LIEBERMAN
RENOWNED PSYCHOTHERAPIST AND AUTHOR
David J. Lieberman is a renowned psychotherapist and internationally recognized leader in the fields of human behavior and interpersonal relationships. His 13 books, including two New York Times bestsellers, have been translated into 28 languages and have sold millions of copies worldwide. Dr. Lieberman’s works have been featured in hundreds of major publications around the globe, and he appears as a frequent guest expert on national media programs.He has trained personnel in every branch of the U.S. military, the FBI, the CIA and the NSA, and his instructional video is mandatory for psychological operations graduates. Dr. Lieberman conducts workshops for organizations, governments and corporations throughout the world, with clients in an astounding 124 countries and 35 languages enjoying his online training programs. His latest title is the critically acclaimed book, “Mindreader: The New Science of Deciphering What People Really Think, What They Really Want, and Who They Really Are,” and is available at bookstores everywhere.
MIRANDA PATRUCIC
EDITOR IN CHIEF
THE ORGANIZED CRIME AND CORRUPTION REPORTING PROJECT
Miranda Patrucic joined the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) in 2006 and was promoted to editor in chief in 2023. Patrucic was one of the first employees at OCCRP, beginningas the organization’s first fact-checker before moving on to become a researcher, reporter, trainer and editor. In 2018, she created an innovative program in Central Asia using in-depth reporting fellowships to partner with local journalists and publish investigations from the closed countries of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, as well as from Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. She has worked on many investigations that resulted in worldwide impact, including stories that exposed billions in telecom bribes in Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan and uncovered hidden assets of Azerbaijan’s and Montenegro’s ruling elites. She oversaw the award-winning stories “Plunder and Patronage in the Heart of Central Asia” and “The Matraimov Kingdom,” which led to protests that eventually brought down a government in Kyrgyzstan. She is a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and worked on the Panama Papers, the Paradise Papers, the FinCEN Files and the Pandora Papers. She was also a key part of other global collaborations led by OCCRP, including the Russian Asset Tracker, Suisse Secrets and the Azerbaijani and Russian Laundromats.
JAMES LEE HERNANDEZ
PRODUCER, DIRECTOR AND WRITER, “THE BIG CONN” AND “MCMILLION$”
James Lee Hernandez is an Emmy-nominated filmmaker and podcaster and a Signal Award winner. Hernandez and his creative partner, Brian Lazarte, wrote, directed and executive produced the Apple TV+ Original Documentary Series, “The Big Conn.”Hernandez is best known for directing, writing and editing the HBO Original Documentary Series, “McMillion$,” which was nominated for five Emmy awards, alongside Lazarte. Hernandez is a self-taught Latinx filmmaker and founding partner of FunMeter, a TV and film production company that specializes in stranger-than-fiction scripted and non-scripted content. He is currently executive producing the three-part documentary series, “Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza” on Paramount+, and produced the feature documentary “The Herricanes,” which premiered at SXSW 2023.
BRIAN LAZARTE
PRODUCER, DIRECTOR AND WRITER, “THE BIG CONN” AND “MCMILLION$”
Brian Lazarte is a producer, director and editor who has been nominated for an Emmy Award. He has worked on a variety of award-winning documentaries and series, including “McMillion$” for HBO and “The Big Conn” for Apple TV+. Lazarte wrote, directed, edited and executive produced both series alongside James Lee Hernandez. His upcoming Apple TV+ documentary series, “The Jet” and Paramount+ documentary series “Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza” will be coming soon. He also produced “The Herricanes,” a feature documentary that premiered at SXSW 2023 and won the Documentary Spotlight Audience Award and Louis Black “Lone Star” Award. Additional notable credits include “Katy Perry: Part of Me 3D,” HBO's Emmy award-winning “Sonic Highways,” “Fed Up,” ESPN's Emmy award-winning “Hawaiian: The Legend of Eddie Aikau 30 for 30,” “The Price of Free” (Grand Jury Prize, Sundance 2018), and Showtime's “Time of Death,” which won IDA's Best Limited Series in 2014. A recipient of the Panavision New Filmmaker grant, Lazarte's work has been seen over the last 18 years on major networks and streaming platforms. He is a Signal Award winning podcaster as well as a founding partner of FunMeter, a TV and film production company specializing in stranger-than-fiction scripted and non-scripted content.
XAVIER JUSTO
1MDB WHISTLEBLOWER
Xavier André Justo is a writer and speaker born in Geneva, Switzerland. He is a financial consultant, former Swiss banker and PetroSaudi director, and whistleblower in the 1MDB scandal who leaked data to the press in 2015. Justo spent 18 months in a Thai jail under false charges in 2015 and 2016. Since his release, he has been cooperating with various justice authorities around the world to send real criminals to prison. With his wife, Laura, he is the author of the book “Rendezvous with Injustice.”
MICHAEL E. HOROWITZ
INSPECTOR GENERAL
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Michael E. Horowitz was sworn in as the Inspector General of the Department of Justice (DOJ) on April 16, 2012, following his confirmation by the U.S. Senate. Horowitz oversees a nationwide workforce of more than 500 special agents, auditors, inspectors, attorneys and support staff whose mission is to detect and deter waste, fraud, abuse and misconduct in DOJ programs and personnel, and to promote economy and efficiency in department operations. Since April 2020, he has also led the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC), a committee of 22 federal inspectors general that Congress created to oversee the over $5 trillion in federal pandemic-related emergency spending. In his position as chair, Horowitz oversees a team of nearly 50 employees that has developed a leading data analytics platform; created and run a pandemic fraud task force; and closely coordinated pandemic oversight efforts with federal inspectors general, state and local oversight partners and the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
BILLY MCFARLAND*
CONVICTED FRAUDSTER
FYRE FESTIVAL FOUNDER
Billy McFarland is a media personality, entrepreneur and marketer. He was the subject of the Netflix documentary, “FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened,” which detailed a fraudulent luxury music festival for which he was convicted in 2018. He is currently the founder of PYRT and is starring in a number of TV shows, including the ongoing documentary, "After The Fyre." Prior to PYRT, Billy was the founder & CEO of three venture-backed businesses: Fyre, Magnises and Spling; and was responsible for a number of the largest social media campaigns in recent history.
*The ACFE does not compensate convicted fraudsters.
