INTERVIEW
After moving to New York, I was happy to be able to join the HSI EDTF and to see a different side of the illicit finance coin. In my previous job, the focus was on national security threats and international financial flows and that has been helpful for me in working with the types of cases that HSI EDTF receives. Working here has given me more exposure to the domestic side and the private sector.
AT: Is there anything peculiar or interesting that your analysts have found in a SAR?
MM: It is hard to pick just one because every SAR that turns into a referral has interesting aspects of their own. Analysts have worked on SARs that end up plugging into complex money laundering investigations or you will find a SAR that on its face does not appear very interesting that might be run of the mill narcotics related or a very low-dollar amount. But once you start putting the pieces together, it ends up leading you to a multi-million dollar trafficking network that expands across multiple states.
DL: In other words, something small can lead to something big.
AT: Do you use SARs to identify and choose your strategic investigations?
MM: Yes, SARs are our main source of information.
AT: Do you have any tips for financial professionals when they are filling out their SARs?
DL: Yes, we do quite a bit of community outreach through our Cornerstone program. We visit different financial institutions and we do training on how to write SARs better and on what we look for. We answer the who, what, where and how. We scan and target for certain terms. For example, writing down if the crime is human trafficking, narcotics related, or terrorist financing is helpful. The most important thing is being succinct. It is also important to include updated contact information because we do follow up and reach out to the banks for more information.
AT: What are the most common questions you receive when you are doing the training for financial institutions?
MM: The biggest one is what do you look for when reviewing SARs.
DL: HIFCA, in conjunction with HSI EDTF and the Federal Reserve Bank, sponsors a financial symposium. We have had panels on Fintech and blockchain technology. We invited over 300 people from the financial sector and law enforcement. This is a great opportunity for outreach. We also do the international leadership program through the state department. We have many leaders come in, such as top-level financial ministers and prosecutors from different countries, and we have discussions on how to foster better partnerships between the public and private sectors.
MM: One of the messages we want to get out to the financial sector is please do not be afraid to contact us.
Interview with undercover agent
I had the opportunity to meet an undercover agent while I was visiting HSI EDTF. For the purposes of this interview, we will call him Zachary. I have met a couple of undercover agents in the past, but I have never had an opportunity to sit down one-on-one and ask them questions.
When Zachary walked into the room, he was not what I expected. Zachary was all smiles and seemed like he had been working at a desk job his whole life, but the truth is that Zachary was recruited his senior year of college and has been an undercover agent for almost two decades. He has been all over the world and has handled cases in many jurisdictions. In fact, when I spoke with him he was handling at least ten sources in multiple countries. Zachary was able to share that many of his cases dealt with narcotics, smuggling and money laundering. He modestly stated that through his efforts, his team and his confidential informants( CIs), he has been able to catch a few bad guys and break up some smuggling rings.
I, of course, wanted to know if he could share a war story where he faced immediate danger. He graciously obliged and told me about his experience when meeting a drug dealer. The dealer was known to be violent and unpredictable. They scheduled to meet in an open field and the agent had plenty of back up. However, as he drove up to the field for the meeting, the surveillance helicopter kept getting too close and the agent had to wave them off more than once. As he arrived to the rendezvous already worried about his cover, the agent saw that the dealer was waiting for him. He got out of the car and approached the dealer. They started speaking and the dealer asked the agent to follow him to the rear of his car. The dealer opened the trunk and on top of some bags he had a machete. The dealer leaned into the car and began to stroke the blade of the machete with one hand. The dealer asked the agent if he was a cop and if the agent was going to betray him. The agent remained cool but knew if he gave the wrong response, his back up was too far away to prevent anything. The dealer was satisfied with the answer and they concluded their business.
Zachary later testified against the drug dealer and the drug dealer could not believe that Zachary was indeed an undercover agent after all.
Zachary like everyone else I met that day at HSI EDTF is passionate about what they do and I believe that the people and their passion is the secret to the TF’ s success. Happy 25th HSI EDTF!
Interviewed by: Karla Monterrosa-Yancey, CAMS, editor-in-chief, ACAMS, Miami, FL, USA, editor @ acams. org
ACAMS TODAY | SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2017 | ACAMS. ORG | ACAMSTODAY. ORG 47