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 assets.
 
In detailing some of the regulatory definitional claims now being adjudicated in U.S. courts, Seoyoung argues that the contested offerings are all analogous to financial instruments already regulated under the extant centralized finance system. As a result, she says that the proper application of rules from the centralized finance world are sufficient for oversight of DeFi.
 
In concluding, Seoyoung says that executing transactions on a publicly transparent blockchain, rather than on exchanges that facilitate money laundering and fraud via mixers and tumblers or privacy coins, is as essential as regulation to the ongoing integrity and promise of DeFI.

Making the World Safe for DeFi, with Seoyoung Kim

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 epidemic and his perspective on the Anti-Money Laundering and Corporate Transparency Acts created and passed during his tenure.

Having now served within both the public and private sectors in the fight against financial crime, Ken also talks about what regulators, law enforcement and AFC professionals at financial institutions don’t understand about each other and the importance of them joining forces in public private partnerships.

Public & Private Sectors Together in the Fight Against Financial Crime, with Kenneth A. Blanco

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 bureau’s successful investigations into COVID-19 related scams, while also questioning a rising reluctance within the industry to aid customers in recovering the proceeds of other kinds of fraud.

Fighting Fraud, with the FBI’s James Barnacle and Christopher Soyez

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 enforcement in 98 countries that has led to the arrest of over 14,700 child predators.

Enabling Law Enforcement in the Fight Against Online Child Exploitation, with Carly Yoost

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, Ken reinvented himself as an anti-money laundering advisor to law enforcement and subsequently the private sector. His story is also told in his book, “The Laundryman,” published in 2012.

From Money Launderer to AML Consultant, the Kenneth Rijock Story

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 New York harbor NFT “ApeFest,” time in the Philippines with erstwhile Axis Infinity gamers who lost everything, a visit to a hotel in Cambodia attached to a “pig butchering” operation, and finally a marathon interview with Sam Bankman-Fried in the Bahamas days before his arrest.

Around the Globe to Understand Crypto, with Zeke Faux

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 laundering.

During their conversation, Grant also touches some of the typologies for the illicit use of crypto currency that Coinbase encounters and the value of using a variety of blockchain forensics providers to trace crypto transactions.

Stemming Crypto-related Crime, with Coinbase’s Grant Rabenn

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 the global AFC community, including budget cuts at financial institutions, the rise of cyber-enabled crime, the fallout from global conflict, and more.
 
While detailing the threats, Justine and Craig also talk about how anti-financial crime professionals are responding and how financial institutions can prepare for the threats in their own AFC efforts.

Read the Global AFC Threats Report 2024 here: https://www.acamstoday.org/global-afc-threats-report

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This Financial Crime Matters episode is sponsored by:

SymphonyAI - www.symphonyai.com
Thomson Reuters - www.tr.com/risk-fraud

Identifying Financial Crime Threats, with Justine Walker and Craig Timm

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 challenges to the CTA, particularly the recent Federal court ruling that declared it unconstitutional, what the Financial Crime Enforcement Network’s latest rule-makings mean, and what the long-awaited revised customer due diligence rule might look like.

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This Financial Crime Matters episode is sponsored by:

SymphonyAI - www.symphonyai.com

Making Sense of U.S. Anti-Financial Crime Measures, with Daniel Stipano

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 detect illicit funds and catch bad actors.
 
Jen also talks with Kieran about HSBC’s recent partnership with Google AML AI and the promise artificial intelligence holds for financial institutions and law enforcement.


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This Financial Crime Matters episode is sponsored by:

Moody's - www.moodys.com/KYC
HAWK:AI - www.hawk.ai

Enlisting A.I. in the Fight Against Financial Crime, with Jennifer Shasky Calvery

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!

Enlisting A.I. in the Fight Against Financial Crime, with Jennifer Shasky Calvery

Financial Crime Matters

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