Keynote Speaker Video: Howard Wilkinson

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Keynote Speaker Video: Howard Wilkinson

"You should never really have heard of me,” Howard Wilkinson, the Danske Bank whistleblower told attendees at the 31st Annual ACFE Global Conference on Monday.

“Something bad had happened in the branch. We all know bad things happen. A whistleblower reported it, internal audit investigated it, reported it to top management. And top management had taken the necessary action, made the necessary reports and done what needed to be done. You would have never heard of me. It didn't happen like that."

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Keynote Speaker Video: Jules Kroll

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Keynote Speaker Video: Jules Kroll

“All along the way, hundreds of people who worked for us all over the world had that CFE designation. And it was the CFE team, individuals, groups, that provided the bulk of the analytical work, the accounting analysis and the other analysis dealing with fraud,” said Jules Kroll, founder of K2 Intelligence.

Kroll spoke to attendees at the 31st Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference on Monday morning and took them through the story of how he began J. Kroll Associates in 1972 (later Kroll Inc.), and how he helped shape corporate forensic investigations as we now know them.

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How Do You Find Someone Who Doesn’t Want to be Found?

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How Do You Find Someone Who Doesn’t Want to be Found?

Identity is a subject that has fascinated humans for ages. Who am I? Who are you? While no one can easily answer these philosophical quandaries, identity is an important part of many fraud investigations — especially when someone is trying to hide it.

In his virtual session “The John Smith Problem: Forensic Identity Resolution in Global Investigations,” at the 31st Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference, Robert Sinex, CFE, walked attendees through some of the ways they could find identities and use them to further investigations. Sinex, who is a solutions engineer at Dun & Bradstreet, explained that identity is made up of not only attributes, like a name and telephone number, but also behavior, like hobbies and routines.

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Meet the Keynote Speakers for the 31st Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference

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Meet the Keynote Speakers for the 31st Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference

Thousands of anti-fraud professionals attending the 31st Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference, June 22-24, will get a chance to hear from some of the leading experts in the anti-fraud industry. Telling their stories of perseverance and sharing their insight, the conference, presented virtually, will feature some of the following speakers:

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Whistleblowing, IOT, Health Care Fraud During a Pandemic and More to Be Discussed at Virtual Anti-Fraud Conference

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Whistleblowing, IOT, Health Care Fraud During a Pandemic and More to Be Discussed at Virtual Anti-Fraud Conference

Danske Bank whistleblower Howard Wilkinson, security expert Jules Kroll, WIRED magazine Editor-in-Chief Nicholas Thompson and other experts will address thousands of anti-fraud professionals, June 22-24, at the virtual 31st Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference.

Wilkinson first raised concerns about potential money laundering in 2013 while employed at the Estonian branch of Danske Bank; however, the bank did not launch an investigation into the allegations until 2017 — after Wilkinson submitted four separate whistleblowing reports. Wilkinson was exposed as the whistleblower by an Estonian journalist shortly after Danske Bank hired a law firm to investigate the allegations. “I’ll have a lot more satisfaction if authorities manage to recover suspicious money and if and when those involved have been held to account,” he told Fraud Magazine. For his efforts to expose wrongdoing, he has been named the 2020 recipient of the Cliff Robertson Sentinel Award “for choosing truth over self.”

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What to Do After You File Your Investigation Report

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What to Do After You File Your Investigation Report

As a fraud investigator, you may be used to being given a case, investigating it, submitting a report with the findings and then moving on to the next case with little follow up on what the result of the report was. But what happens after the report is filed may be just as important for the organization as the investigation itself.

Sherman McGrew, J.D., CFE, highlighted the importance of what happens after an investigation in his virtual session at the 2020 ACFE Fraud Conference Europe. McGrew, who is a program analyst at the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) walked the audience through the practical steps of investigating a fraud allegation. Although many fraud examiners may be removed from the process after the investigation is complete, McGrew urged them to make a few recommendations to their employers before they’re completely done with the process.

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Are Rewards Necessary for Whistleblowers in Europe?

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Are Rewards Necessary for Whistleblowers in Europe?

With each new edition, the ACFE’s Report to the Nations shows the importance of tips in detecting fraud. In the upcoming 2020 edition of the report, 43% of the fraud cases were discovered through tips, and in organizations with fraud awareness training and formal reporting mechanisms, the number rose to 56%. Establishing a hotline, anonymous web form, email address or other tip reporting mechanism is often an inexpensive, and highly effective, way to detect fraud in organizations of all sizes and industries. But what use is a tip reporting tool if no one uses it?

Stephen Kohn spends a lot of his time pondering this question. Kohn is widely recognized as one of the U.S.’s leading whistleblower and qui tam attorneys, and currently represents Danske Bank whistleblower Howard Wilkinson. In his keynote address at the 2020 ACFE Fraud Conference Europe, presented virtually, he asked attendees, “How do you create a whistleblower program where most employees will report?”

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