1MDB, a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund, was described by the US DoJ in 2016 as “the world’s largest case of cleptocracy to date”. I talked to the person who brought the facts to light: Xavier Justo, a Swiss banker and 1MDB whistleblower. This is the second and last part of my interview. It starts with Xavier describing his arrest in Thailand. In the first part, Xavier recounted how his career had started in Swiss banking, what his work entailed at PetroSaudi, why he passed 227.00 emails to the media and how he was arrested after the first articles started to appear. Direct support for this po ..read more

1MDB, a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund, was exposed as a massive fraud in 2015. In 2016 the US DOJ described it as "the world’s largest case of cleptocracy to date". $4 billion were stolen, 10 different countries initiated criminal investigations, $8 billion in loans are still due. In this episode, I talk to the person who braught the fraud to light: Xavier Justo, Swiss banker and 1MDB whistleblower. In this first of two parts, Xavier recounts how his career started, what his work entailed and why in 2015 he passed 227.00 emails to the media. Direct support for this podcast comes from Nemexis ..read more

Kevin Hart (CFE) is the president of ACFE’s Ireland Chapter and director of risk and advisory at the Fraud Prevention Training Center. In this episode, he argues that while crypto is far from being the money-laundering instrument of choice, investigators can and should learn how to investigate virtual currencies. He also points to a number of new developments which will make a significant impact in helping corporations and individuals who fall victim to crypto scams. Direct support for this podcast comes from Nemexis GmbH, a corporate crime investigations company based in Berlin, Germany (neme ..read more

This is the second and last episode of my interview with Sarah Chayes, award-winning international  journalist, author and former advisor to the US Joint Chiefs of Staff,  Admiral Mike Mullen. Our discussion revolved around a core question: Is corruption the most important issue of our time? Can anyone hope to  tackle any other global problem – be it climate change, migration,  security, wealth inequality – without addressing grand fraud and  corruption first? Sarah’s article mentioned in this episode can be found here: · https://aeon.co/essays/corruption-has-shaped-hi ..read more

Is corruption the most important issue of our time? Can anyone hope to  tackle any other global problem – be it climate change, migration,  security, wealth inequality – without addressing grand fraud and  corruption? This is the first in a series of episodes where I discuss  this question with Sarah Chayes, an award-winning international  journalist, author and former advisor to the US Joint Chiefs of Staff,  Admiral Mike Mullen. Sarah’s article mentioned in this episode can be found here: https://aeon.co/essays/corruption-has-shaped-history-why-do-we-still-igno ..read more

Bad communication can harm an organization as much as the fraud itself. So what's the role of a communicator in a crisis team? What should the other team members expect from a crisis communicator - and what should the crisis communicator expect from them? How did digitization and the fake news discussion affect crisis PR? For this episode, I talked to Ulf Mehner, co-founder and director of WeichertMehner, a public relations consultancy based in Dresden, Germany.  Direct support for this podcast comes from Nemexis GmbH (Berlin, Germany), a corporate crime investigations company specialized ..read more

Easter edition. We are seeking listener suggestions for speakers and topics. Full details in the audio. Email us at: grandfraud@nemexis.de Direct support for this podcast comes from Nemexis GmbH (Berlin, Germany), a corporate crime investigations company specialized on Central and Eastern Europe: nemexis.de Your host is Paul Milata, CFE, PhD. Views expressed by podcast guests are their own and not the view of The Grand Fraud Podcast, Paul Milata or Nemexis GmbH ..read more

The COSO/ACFE “Fraud Risk Management Guide” published 2016 is the global benchmark for investigators performing fraud risk assessments. In this episode, I interview one of the Guide’s principal authors, David L. Cotton (CPA, CFE, CGFM). David describes the key elements of a successful fraud risk assessment and outlines the Guide’s current structure. He also announces the upcoming publication of the Guide’s 2022 update and describes some of the added elements, including a massive expansion of the Guide’s popular online (free) tool. Fraud Risk Management Guide here Fraud Risk Management Guide’s ..read more

Russia sanctions: What should investigators worldwide focus on? What  risks - other than those associated with UBO, AML, cyber - have just  sky-rocketed? I talked to Olga Belikova (CFE) from Kiev. Like many  Ukrainian CFEs, since 2014 she gathered a wealth of experience  investigating Russian sanction evasion patterns. This episode is the second and final part of an interview recorded on March 12th. For part 1 see “006 – A Message From Ukraine”. Direct support for this podcast comes from Nemexis GmbH (Berlin, Germany), a corporate crime investigations company specialized on ..read more

This episode looks at the everyday reality of a colleague living in a  war zone. Olga Belikova (CFE) from Kiev talks about February 24 and how  her life has changed since then. She also describes her 48 hour, 600 km  trip across Ukraine, from Kiev to Lviv, during the war's second week.  The episode was recorded on Saturday, March 12th. In a second episode, to be published next Monday, we ask what she thinks the global corruption investigator community in general and CFEs in particular can or should pay attention to in the course of their work post 2/24. As Ukrainian investi ..read more