Episode Notes for Fraud Talk Podcast: Mailing Madoff

GUEST BLOGGER

Sarah Hofmann
ACFE Public Information Officer

When you think of pen pals, you usually think of kids staying in touch after friendships forged at summer camp. In stark contrast of that sunny scene, for David Weber, J.D., CFE, his pen pal was the result of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation. Weber, academic director of fraud management programs at the Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, regularly corresponds with infamous fraudster Bernie Madoff.

In the latest episode of Fraud Talk, Weber describes how the two first crossed paths when Weber was working as the assistant inspector general for the SEC and directed the reporting of misconduct in the Madoff case. After leaving the SEC, and becoming a professor, Weber received an email from none other than Madoff. The two began talking on a regular basis and Madoff even answers questions posed by Weber’s students. “He’s very direct in the emails; he’s not a man that minces words,” Weber said. “He really does express remorse, and he does continue to be of the view, and I agree with him, that the regulatory agencies really failed to do their jobs.”

His close relationship with a man who cheated hundreds of people and organizations out of billions may raise eyebrows, but Weber believes there is more to be gained from talking to convicted fraudsters than refusing to on hear their stories.  

“There’s no question that we can learn from fraudsters,” he said. “As fraud fighters, we are frequently in a position where clearly being proactive is part of our role, but in many cases, when there is spectacular fraud, we are not learning of the fraud until the incident has finally occurred. We are part of the response team.”

Weber likened investigating fraud to coming to the scene of a car crash after the fact. “There are injured people, there are people who need to be triaged, there are cars that are damaged, there is debris in the road,” he said. “Many times, it’s hard to figure out through the victims what transpired, so having any person on the scene who is still able to speak is helpful, even if they were a drunk driver. Even if they were somebody who drove recklessly, hearing what they have to say is very important to reconstructing the scene.”

Weber acknowledges that hearing from fraudsters may be controversial, as anti-fraud professionals understandably don’t want to glamourize their actions. “I have been at the fraud conference many times where I have heard some of these convicted felons speak … and I agree it can put some of them on a pedestal,” he said. “But anything we can get from these people to help us reconstruct the scene, and build a better mousetrap in the future — we should embrace the ability to speak to them.”

To hear more from Weber, register for the 28th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference June 18-23 in Nashville where he will be teaching a session on the Panama Papers.

Kozlowski's $6,000 Shower Curtain Added to the ACFE Fraud Museum

Dennis Lynch, former Tyco VP and Chief Litigation Counsel, delivers the infamous shower curtain to ACFE Chief Operations Officer Jeanette LeVie.

AUTHOR'S POST

Mandy Moody, CFE
Content Manager

Corporate greed at the executive level has destroyed hundreds of companies, drained stockholders of their investments and left innocent employees without work. Ken Lay, Jeffrey Skilling, and Andrew Fastow from Enron; Bernie Ebbers from MCI/WorldCom; and Dennis Kozlowski at Tyco have become household names, and too many exemplify what can go horribly wrong when the tone at the top goes askew.

Dubbed the “archetype of avarice” by The New York Times, Kozlowski could have written the book on how NOT to set an ethical tone at the top. This gold and burgundy shower curtain, which was hung in his maid’s bathroom at his residence on 5th Avenue in New York, was reported to cost more than $6,000.

However, his lavish lifestyle did not stop at bathroom décor. In 2001, he reportedly threw a $2 million Roman-themed party for his second wife’s birthday in Sardinia. According to the Times, Jimmy Buffet played the guitar and an ice sculpture of David was displayed urinating Stolichnaya vodka. He owned impressionist paintings and a 130-foot yacht that was originally built for the 1934 American Cup.

His empire came crashing down when he was indicted for tax evasion on a $14 million piece of artwork. This led to a larger internal investigation into his business practices at Tyco. In 2005, Kozlowski was convicted of stealing nearly $100 million from Tyco and was sentenced to a maximum of 25 years in prison. He served the minimum sentence of eight and a half years, and was released in 2014.

You can view the shower curtain in all its glory at the upcoming ACFE Global Fraud Conference in Nashville, June 18-23, in the Traveling Fraud Museum Exhibit. Remember, you can still save $100 if you register by May 10!

Unite With Heroes From Across the World at the ACFE Global Fraud Conference

More than 3,000 fraud fighters from more than 60 countries across the globe — the largest gathering of anti-fraud professionals in the world — will come together at the 28th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference in Nashville, June 18-23.

The conference offers more than 70 unique educational sessions in 13 tracks, allowing you to customize your agenda to meet your experience level, job function and current challenges. Dedicated networking opportunities, the Anti-Fraud Exhibit Hall and professional development resources offer additional ways to help you reach new heights in your career as an anti-fraud professional.

See why heroes unite to fight the good fight against fraud:

You can still save $100 on Full or Main Conference. Use discount code 28Early100 before April 21.

How One Man Exposed His Fellow FBI Agent as a Russian Spy

FROM THE PRESIDENT

James D. Ratley, CFE
ACFE President

Here’s the situation. You’re a new FBI undercover field operative. But the bureau has called you into headquarters, put a suit and tie on you, and ordered you to take a desk job as the assistant to a longtime FBI special agent and computer systems expert. You’ll be locked in a soundproof, two-office vault to do one thing: covertly surveil this man suspected of being a master spy for the Russians.

That’s where Eric O’Neill found himself in 2001. He became a loyal assistant to Robert Hanssen — an intimidating, demanding and suspicious boss. The FBI had its eye on Hanssen, but they just needed a smoking gun.

O’Neill, who will be a keynote speaker at the 28th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference, June 18-23 in Nashville, watched Hanssen for months, but couldn’t find anything incriminating.

Finally, O’Neill was able to get to Hanssen’s Palm Pilot. O’Neill rushed it to the FBI techies on another floor who decrypted it and found Hanssen’s drop date and location of classified material to the Russians. They had him.

Hanssen was arrested on Feb. 18, 2001, at Foxstone Park, near his home in Vienna, Virginia, where he’d made his last drop. He was charged with selling U.S. secrets to the Soviet Union and then the Russian Federation for more than $1.4 million in cash and diamonds in 22 years.

He pleaded guilty to 15 counts of espionage and was sentenced to 15 life terms without the possibility of parole. The U.S. Department of Justice described his spying as “possibly the worst intelligence disaster in U.S. history.”

I’m impressed that O’Neill was able to gather information on Hanssen, who prided himself on being able to detect any hint of deception.

The story was so dramatic that Hollywood transformed it into the 2007 movie, “Breach,” starring Ryan Phillipe as O’Neill, Chris Cooper as Hanssen and Laura Linney as “Kate Burroughs,” O’Neill’s handler. O’Neill was an onsite advisor for the film.

During the 28th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference, O’Neill — who now runs an investigative and security consulting firm, and works for a security protection software company — will be addressing recent changes in fraud and cyberespionage through the eyes of sophisticated attackers.

“I will use elements of the Hanssen investigation as a framework and also to tell an entertaining story,” O’Neill says. “The audience will understand why I say that there are no hackers; there are only spies.”

Bringing Down FIFA: 'The dogged obsession of a single reporter'

FROM THE PRESIDENT

James D. Ratley, CFE
ACFE President

Sports are an obsession for many fans around the globe. Team owners, promoters and gear manufacturers know their customers are loyal (sometimes rabid), unpaid publicists. So we're talking about boatloads of cash coursing through sport systems — and sometimes surreptitiously into fraudsters' pockets.

Andrew Jennings, an independent investigative journalist, has spent more than 15 years laboriously examining the economic intricacies of FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). His reporting of entrenched FIFA corruption — bribes, kickbacks, vote rigging and ticket scandals — eventually caught the attention of the FBI. In 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted scores of FIFA-related officials under the U.S. Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and the U.S. Travel Act. As of publication, the U.S. had convicted 21 on various racketeering and corruption charges with 42 defendants publicly charged.

Simon Jenkins of the Guardian newspaper wrote that credit for the routing of FIFA "should go to the dogged obsession of a single reporter, Andrew Jennings."

Jennings has been chasing bad guys around the globe for decades. He's investigated corruption in Scotland Yard, the Sicilian Mafia and the International Olympic Committee, among many others.

The inscription on the ACFE's Guardian Award reads: "For Vigilance in Fraud Reporting." That phrase defines Jennings's work. And that is why we're presenting him with the award at the 28th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference, June 18-23 in Nashville.

Jennings says that from his teen years, he wanted to become an investigative reporter. He attended university for a couple of years, but he was chomping at the bit to get to his investigations. He worked for some of the U.K. national newspapers, but he was bored. He went to the BBC where he worked on a TV documentary about corruption in Scotland Yard, but the BBC pulled it at the last moment. He quit and went home to write a book about it. And then a public-affairs TV show — "World in Action" — called him and he re-made the film.

From there he made several documentaries and wrote a couple of award-winning books on Olympic corruption, which prepared him for rooting out "the rot," as he calls it, in FIFA.

Even today, at 73, he's still sniffing for bad smells in large institutions. Read more about Jennings in the latest issue of Fraud Magazine.

And, sign up for the 28th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference to hear this fascinating man and many other fraud fighters.