A fraud risk management summit featuring officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice took place in New York. The event was staged by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. According to the chief of the Financial Crimes Section of the FBI, a big priority for his unit is stemming the flow of prescription narcotics and drugs by means of opioid diversion.
The assistant regional director of the New York Regional Office of the SEC said that her agency is focused on violations that impact retail investors. The SEC is making use of data analytics technology to detect this sort of violation. She said they were looking for sales of unsuitable products, pump and dump fraud, Ponzi schemes, accounting fraud and the use of unsuitable strategies for trading, among other things. The SEC formed the Retail Strategy Task Force in 2018 to identify areas of retail investment risk using data analytics.
The SEC has also made use of data analytics in cybercrime investigations. There is a cyber unit within the SEC that focuses on dark web activity, including the brokering or sale of stolen information and hacking to manipulate markets. The DOJ Fraud Section uses analytics to look for suspicious activity around cryptocurrency and other technologies.
In October 2017, Congress passed the Elder Abuse Prevention and Prosecution Act, which requires the DOJ and the FBI to turn focus toward deterrence of elder fraud. These federal agencies are making use of data analytics to detect white collar crimes. People in New York who have been charged with white collar crimes might want to speak with an attorney. An attorney with experience in criminal defense law may be able to help by examining the evidence in the case and developing a defense strategy. An attorney might argue that certain evidence is inadmissible if law enforcement or the prosecution have not adhered to required processes.
