GCCCD accounting in fraud investigations Discussion

for this discussion we will be exploring what we learned from our guest speakers. For your participation in this discussion, you are required to:

1. Post an initial 2-3 paragraph post by Saturday that provides a brief overview of one of our guest speaker presentationsFBI Special Agent Jeremy Tarwater, and Forensic Accountant Ben McDonnellDeputy District Attorney Tiffany Scott and Forensic Accountant Kevin BoyneSpecial Agent Mousa Rahib, IRS Criminal InvestigationsBonus presentation video by former prosecutor and White Collar Crime attorney – Phil Parrott

For your initial post, please focus on the following:

Briefly, what the speaker said, examples given, advice given, etc.Describe any “take-aways” you got from the speaker. Did anything surprise you? Did anything move you? Did anything inspire you?Describe your reactions to the speaker and how they relate to this class and/or to the accounting profession.

in your first and second post in which you compare the speaker you initially chose with one of the other guest presentations, commenting and comparing the two presentations, using the guidelines above. For this post, focus on additional learning and observations and avoid repeating content from your first post. During the remainder of the discussion, please react to and interact with your classmates and their observations.

Finally, throughout the discussion, please post at least three thoughtful and substantive responses to fellow classmate posts, with each response related to a different speaker, if possible. I would like these responses to your classmates to focus on comparing and contrasting the speakers and what you learned from them.

here i will attach the three student post that you need to respond too

1) Guest speaker Special Agent Mousa Rahib’s presentation was incredibly insightful and opened my eyes to new ways one can use their accounting background to contribute to society. Special Agent Rahib himself is an SDSU alumni with a degree in Finance and joined the IRS straight out of college. He discussed how to get into a career as a special agent with the IRS including requirements and training (at the Federal Law Enforcement Center in Georgia), along with the generous benefits and pay ranges. I personally would like to work in government in the future, particularly because of the benefits Special Agent Rahib described. It is hard to find careers that offer pension and great retirement packages. One of the primary reasons I majored in accounting was to find job security so it would be interesting to apply my knowledge and experience in accounting to this or related career fields in fraud investigation. One of the more interesting parts of the presentation was how important it is in an investigation to “follow every dollar”. Following the money is how people like Special Agent Rahib and his team combat perpetrators who are involved in tax fraud, terrorism, drugs, or human trafficking. The IRS has and will continue to have a lot on their hands with the rampant fraud of PPP loans. Yet they can trace where money went to help provide that loans were not spent on real businesses but rather on a lavish lifestyle (houses in Mexico, gambling, etc.). A

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that Special Agent Rahib worked on heavily relied on his department to “follow the money” and eventually bring down a massage parlor prostitution ring. Their years of investigation led them to charge a former San Diego Vice Detective with interstate trafficking, racketeering and wire fraud. From this case it was hard for those accused to deny their guilt because the money did not lie. It reminded me of other high-profile convictions and how forensic accounting became a way to convict people conducting illegal activities. For example, accountant Frank J. Wilson (and the department that would later become the IRS) brought down Al Capone by uncovering journal entries. From this famous example, and the cases Special Agent Rahib mentioned, it is inspiring to learn how applying accounting skills and knowledge can help lead to justice. These cases are not just uncovering white collar crime. Beyond the money, real lives are at stake.I also enjoyed hearing more about Special Agent Rahib’s take on the importance of interviews and how he conducts them. As he mentions, even when talking with prospective perpetrators, he does not consider them “interrogations” but rather still just interviews. His main goal during them is to create a rapport. It was enlightening to hear how the interview tactics we learned in class can be used in real cases and how key they are in investigations. The interviews can lead to some of source evidence that is gathered and are significant to the path of the case. I believe this also reinforces a key takeaway not only for the presentation, but for the class itself – it is important to look beyond the numbers. Numbers are just numbers until people like accountants (or special agents) bring meaning and context to them. Credit card transactions at a massage parlor could just be seen as that – money coming from a card going to a business. Yet it was the context of how that massage parlor hired and took advantage of their employees that turns that business transaction into something illegal. The numbers and paper trail just help prove that it happened.

2) The presentation on complex financial crimes by Jeremy Tarwater and Ben McDonnell was really informational and gave us an insight on the FBI’s role in combating major white collar crime. They touched base on the role of the FBI in any investigations and the way that they work through to prosecution. Jeremy went in depth and gave us an insight on what responsibilities he has as an FBI agent. He highlighted 5 main components which were investigate, examine, collaborate, communicate, and testifying. When an agent needs to investigate they do case planning, developing financial profiles of individuals, and participating in the gathering of evidence. When it comes to examining they conduct forensic financial analyses of business, they identify and trace funding sources and also utilize computer software and database management systems to conduct in depth examinations. When they collaborate they conduct investigations with private industries and government agency partners and even have to testify as a fact or expert witness in judicial proceedings. They also presented some case studies on some major money laundering schemes that some fraudsters were doing and walked us through the whole investigative process on how this came to their radar all the way to the arrest they made. I think that when I think of an FBI agent, I automatically think of most TV shows, but having both speakers really showed us a more real aspect to the job that they do and all of the different components that goes into their day to day. I also found it really interesting when he went into detail on how one of the biggest cases he worked on was handled. It was crazy to see how intricate these cases can get, and how careful and calculated every single move must be. It was also really inspiring to see how involved a forensic accountant can be when it comes to handling an investigation. I feel like we all did not think that a forensic accountant would get to be out on the field, and be this involved outside of having to investigate finances and track where the money is coming and going. Ben really opened up a whole new career that I did not even know I was truly interested in potentially pursuing. All in all I really enjoyed their presentation and found all of the information that they presented us with very informative and eye opening. Like I mentioned it was very interesting to see how the accounting profession ties into something as important as a criminal investigation. I really appreciated them walking us through all of the processes of an investigation and giving us an insight on how they are handled. I also really liked that they included an actual video of the arrest. I know that when we think of a crime the first thing that comes to mind is something as intense as murder or something of that nature but white collar crime is also very important for us to be on the lookout for. It was also really refreshing to see what we are able to do with accounting aside from a typical book keeper or auditor career.

3) First, in Tuesday’s class I got to learn interesting facts from our guest speaker who was FBI special agent Jeremy Tar water. The speaker Jeremy Tar water talked about the role of an FBI agent. He talked about the roles of the FBI that are assess allegations/tips/complaints, open investigation in conjunction with prosecution, gather evidence through various investigative techniques. I also got to learn from different Ponzi schemes examples that the guest speaker shared during class. From all the different Ponzi Schemes that the guest speaker went through, the one that was more interesting was the largest female that ran Ponzi scheme in the whole United States with the liquor license. Some advice that I got from the guest speaker was that for his job, they are always working in teams. Working with team members is always interesting because you sometimes learn from them. Working in a team helps a lot as well because you get advice from your teammates. Another piece of advice I got from the guest speaker was if anybody is trying to join the FBI, the best resource can be to become a CPA which can really help you out towards your career. Some “take-aways” I got from the guest speaker Jeremy Tar Water were the process of entering to become an FBI agent. The process of entering to become an FBI agent can be difficult, just like any other job. This job as an FBI agent requires a job application and requires exams as well. Most people that apply to become FBI agents do not get accepted by one little process that was not met. People applying can get approved on the process and can continue with the application process, but failing a requirement disqualifies you now. Something that caught my attention from the guest speaker as a takeaway was the fitness test. The fitness test can be the hardest part of the whole process. We were told by the guest speaker that not many applicants get to the fitness test. The fitness test requires so much work, and they time you for the whole test. If you do not meet a requirement like the mile run, you are disqualified now. Every part of the exam must be passed one hundred percent to continue with the process. This fitness test seems hard, but if you put down the effort you have nothing to worry about. Any candidate that is applying to be an FBI agent must have a clean record as well. This means no felonies, or any problems you had before with the government. I was most surprised about the starting salary for beginners as the top pay for agents that have five or more years as agents. Something that inspired me was that this career seemed interesting for me. I will need to think if this might be a good role for me or not. My reactions to the guest speaker and how he related to the class had several things in common. Another reaction for me was that Ponzi schemes is something that we learned in class; his job is to find fraud for the Ponzi schemes that are committed from other people. I could say that we have similar objectives like his career is having several cases that he must study. Our class is based on fraud, there were several cases that he went through, that we also learned the cases in class. A reaction I had towards the speaker was, he has been an agent for several years and I could tell he enjoys his job. As getting to know him, he really enjoys what he does every single day for a living. That is a reaction that I notice, it is important that any individual enjoys what they do for a living. He made me think if I should apply to this job. I will make further research and see if this is the right direction and I want to face.