The Examiner – Insights on Fighting Financial Fraud

Throughout my college years, I worked at a movie theater. It was a great experience all around—from being a popcorn popper to a projectionist. They paid me to have fun, with a little work thrown in to keep me honest. Payday was every two weeks, and I would pick up my check from the manager on duty. However, on one payday, an internal auditor from corporate handed out the checks. I showed the auditor my driver’s license before receiving my check. 

Halloween is such a fun time. I love decorating the house and yard with spooky skeletons and scary ghosts. I also enjoy dressing up in a costume, but sometimes I struggle with making a decision. This year I am torn between being a rodeo clown or a scarecrow. Neither one of these options requires a mask because I don’t really like wearing masks. As the title suggests, this blog post is about masks. 

Believe it or not! I am back in Baltimore to network and learn at the American Health Lawyers Association’s Fraud and Compliance Forum. There are over 50 sessions covering many different topics that are impacting the healthcare industry from a regulatory and compliance perspective. Here are the top 3 take-aways from the keynote address by Joyce Branda, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the Department of Justice:

This blog is the fourth in a four part series How to Solve a Puzzle.

As you can tell from the picture, we made it to the final step of the process. Our family had a great time completing step 3. Now, we must use the left over puzzle pieces to fill in the holes of the puzzle. This step can be a little more challenging than the others because you can easily become distracted and jump from section to section, which can be time consuming. Investigations are similar in that they can gain momentum quickly, but when it comes to wrapping up the loose ends, it becomes tedious and less fun. 

This blog is the third in a four part series How to Solve a Puzzle.

I cannot believe this series is almost over. Out of all the steps, this step is my favorite. It is all about identifying an object and finding the pieces for that part of the puzzle and putting them together. It is exciting because you start seeing the fruits of your labor. The puzzle comes to life in this step. This is also the step in the investigative process when most of the work is performed.

For each post in this four-part blog series, I will use stories that will explain the steps of solving a jigsaw puzzle and tie them to the steps for most fraud investigations. As you may recall, the first step to solving a puzzle was to turn all the pieces face up and locate the edge pieces. I am certain that you understand this basic step, but the directions were a little more difficult for my daughters to understand.

As parents, my wife and I teach our children many things. Our goal is to provide them with the tools they will need to become successful adults. The interesting part is that our definition for success is fairly abstract. We want them to pursue something that feeds their passion and makes them happy. We also want them to never give up during their journey.

Hundreds of years ago, wealthy landowners built castles to protect their families, friends, animals, and treasures. These castles had stone walls to keep invaders out, and soldiers would help to protect the walls and castle. Some castles had large moats with draw bridges and others had natural land barriers like cliffs or rivers. Whenever there was a threat, the people would lock down the castle.

Late Sunday night, I arrived in Baltimore and checked into my hotel. It was hard to sleep because I was so excited about attending the ACFE’s 26^th Global Fraud Conference. The conference is an amazing event that allows members to learn new ways to fight fraud and connect with other professionals. With over 70 sessions, I will learn about forensic data analysis, ethical behavior and everything in between. The conference is attended by over 3,000 professionals from over 60 countries. I will meet new people and reconnect with friends I haven’t seen in years.