ACAMS South Florida Chapter: Spring Financial Crime Forum

Sep. 05, 2024

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ACAMS South Florida Chapter: Spring Financial Crime Forum

Pictured are keynote speaker George Piro during the Q&A session presented by Sissy Oliver-Adams.

The ACAMS South Florida Chapter hosted its Spring Financial Crime Forum at Florida International University on May 16, 2024. With insightful panels featuring prominent figures in law enforcement and anti-money laundering (AML), the event facilitated in-depth anti-financial crime (AFC)-related discussions.

The event included keynote speaker George Piro, a former senior executive at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Piro has led major crisis, criminal and national security investigations, but perhaps most notably, he was selected as the team leader and interrogator of Saddam Hussein and other key figures within the former Iraqi regime. His presentation focused on his interrogation of Hussein, followed by an interactive question-and-answer (Q&A) session about his experience at that time.

The event also included a special agent-in-charge panel on top emerging trends. The panel included the following speakers: Anthony Salisbury, Homeland Security Investigations Miami; Jeff Veltri, FBI (Miami Field Office); and Matt Line, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (Miami Field Office). The panel discussed the top criminal threats facing South Florida, what is affecting financial institutions, the biggest AFC concerns, leveraging artificial intelligence and fostering collaboration between the public and private sectors.

**Pictured from left to right are Jocelyn Baez, Jeffrey Veltri, Anthony Salisbury and Matthew Line.**

In addition, the event included a presentation by Fouad Hassouneh, head of AML Product Strategy at Verafin. Hassouneh discussed information-sharing technology and how public-private collaboration is crucial in helping the financial sector do a better job detecting and ultimately combating financial crime. The event included more than 120 professionals in the financial crime industry. The event also included a lunch that was sponsored by Verafin, which gave the attendees the opportunity to network with other professionals.

Pictured from left to right are the ACAMS South Florida Chapter Board members: Yamil D. Haidar, Alejandro Sardinas, Natalia Mollica, Nicholas Schumann, Jay Fisher, Sissy Oliver-Adams, Fouad Hassouneh (representative from sponsor Verafin), Elena Sutton, Jocelyn Baez and Alek Dvoskin.

Our participants walked away celebrating another successful event and networking opportunity. They shared the importance of hosting similar events for the AML community through LinkedIn posts and private conversations.