ACAMS New York kicked off the fall learning season with a sanctions-based event on October 25, 2011. The event was titled CISADA: How the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 Affects Your Financial Institution and was held at the Marriott East Side. The event was sponsored by Kroll Risk and Compliance and moderated by Kroll's Managing Director of AML, Nikki Kowalski. The panel included Mel Schwechter of Dewey & LeBoeuf and Tim Ward of The Hercules Group who spoke to a group of approximately 130 legal and compliance professionals.

The panelists spoke about the history of United States sanctions against Iran, beginning with the U.S. embargo that has been in place since 1995 and continuing with the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA) and CISADA. Schwechter spoke about how sanctions under ISA were rare but that following the enactment of CISADA sanctions have become more common—notably for making Iranian energy investments. He also provided a sampling of companies that have paid OFAC settlements related to Iran within the past 15 months since CISADA's enactment including Wells Fargo, Société Générale and JP Morgan Chase.

Ward spoke about the ISA impact on the global financial system and detailed the many sections of the CISADA statute. Both speakers speculated if and when the United States would move to sanction the Central Bank of Iran ("CBI"), which has also been debated greatly in the U.S. media as of late.

The New York Chapter would like to thank Kroll, Kowalski, Schwechter and Ward for their efforts in putting together this fabulous event.

Please stay tuned for details on the Chapter's upcoming job fair on November 29, 2011 at the Hilton Times Square. For more information on the Chapter, please visit the webpage at: http://www.acams.org/new-york-chapter/.

At the start of the event, Chapter Co-Chairs Vasilios Chrisos and Erika Giovanetti presented former Co-Chair, Barry Koch, with a plaque and sincere thanks for his years of service to the Chapter.