WADA Founder, Former CIO of Canada, Money Laundering Expert and More to Speak at Canadian Anti-Fraud Conference

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WADA Founder, Former CIO of Canada, Money Laundering Expert and More to Speak at Canadian Anti-Fraud Conference

The founder and former president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), Dick Pound, has spent decades battling corruption and bribery within the International Olympic Committee. His experiences have made him passionate about rooting out any type of fraud, and he believes there are similarities between the high-stakes world of the Olympics and the international business world. “The win-at-all-costs syndrome produces the same kind of conduct in both scenarios,” he told the ACFE. “When things go international, the clash of cultures can exacerbate opportunities and expectations regarding corruption. International aspects make detection and enforcement more difficult.”

Pound will address more than 200 anti-fraud professionals at the virtual 2020 ACFE Fraud Conference Canada, November 1-4. He will share his stories of fighting bribery relating to cities bidding to host the Olympics, corruption in judging sports and pressure on athletes to dope.

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Treat the Illness, Not the Symptom: Fixing Fraud at the Root With an Ethical Corporate Culture

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Treat the Illness, Not the Symptom: Fixing Fraud at the Root With an Ethical Corporate Culture

Examples of organizations employing fraudulent practices due to ethical lapses are in the media almost every week. Sometimes they let the bottom line become more important than adhering to their stated ethical values. Other times, they never cared about having an ethical framework in the first place. Regardless of why ethics were ignored, the outcome is almost always the same: fraud.

“I see fraud as a symptom of an unethical culture,” said Dr. Attracta Lagan, co-principal of Managing Values, in her keynote session at the virtual 2020 ACFE Global Fraud Conference Asia-Pacific. Dr. Lagan stressed to attendees how important it is for anti-fraud professionals to look at behavioral science when it comes to instilling and maintaining an ethical culture in their organization.

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Famed Short-Seller Carson Block Warns That Emerging Market-Based Issuers Are “Rife With Fraud”

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Famed Short-Seller Carson Block Warns That Emerging Market-Based Issuers Are “Rife With Fraud”

Carson Block, the founder and Chief Investment Officer of Muddy Waters Capital LLC, made headlines at the beginning of 2020 when he posted a report to Twitter accusing Chinese coffee company Luckin Coffee Inc. of fraudulently inflating sales. In April, the company admitted that more than $300 million of its sales from 2019 were fabricated. Block told the ACFE that when he’s looking at companies to short, he starts with the basics. “It usually starts with companies or stories that seem ‘too good to be true,’” he said. “Then we read transcripts of senior managers speaking to see how promotional the management seems to be.”

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When Dreams Turn Into Nightmares: How Idealism Can Lead to Fraud in Nonprofits

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When Dreams Turn Into Nightmares: How Idealism Can Lead to Fraud in Nonprofits

In most cases, nonprofits are started with good intentions. Maybe there’s one person who feels a call to improve some area of life around them. Sometimes it’s a group who has a mission to make a difference in the world. So why would anyone try and steal from them? That’s one of the questions ACFE Regent Kenneth Dieffenbach, CFE, addressed in his session, “Fraud in the Nonprofit Sector: Unique Risks and Opportunities,” at the 31st Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference.

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Video: ACFE President and CEO Bruce Dorris

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Video: ACFE President and CEO Bruce Dorris

"But even though we couldn't control the quick pace of change caused by the pandemic, we can control how we react to it. As anti-fraud professionals, we may not be on the front lines of this battle like our brave medical professionals, but we do play an important role in combating the consequences of this invisible enemy," said ACFE President and CEO Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA, at the 31st Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference.

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Fraudster Video: Gary Foster

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Fraudster Video: Gary Foster

"I looked at the numbers and realized this person's making $10,000 more than I am, and I'm supposed to be the senior person here,” said convicted fraudster* Gary Foster. “So it really pissed me off."

Foster spoke with the ACFE’s vice president- education John Gill, J.D., CFE, at the 31st Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference to tell the story of how he embezzled $22 million from his employer Citigroup.

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When Humanitarians Defraud Those in Need

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When Humanitarians Defraud Those in Need

According to recent data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 79.5 million people around the world were forcibly displaced at the end of 2019. That means 1% of the world’s population are currently refugees. With so many people in need of aid, the work of charitable organizations is more necessary than ever. Unfortunately, aid organizations can prove ripe targets for fraudsters.

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