Designated with Yaya Jata Fanusie

What does it take to run a nation’s anti-financial crime agency and stay one step ahead of those adapting to the changing world of finance faster than the government agencies tasked with stopping them?  By building better investigative and analytic methods through new technologies. Dr. Shlomit Wagman was the Director-General of the Israel Money Laundering and Terror Financing Prohibition Authority. She served when terrorist groups ...

Scott Baucum’s official title at Bayer U.S. is Vice President of Special Compliance and Asset Protection. But his day-to-day focus is stopping those bad actors attempting to infiltrate American technology companies to steal their proprietary data. Sometimes those scheming to steal exist within the ranks of the companies targeted. And as Scott Baucum knows firsthand, these “insider threats” often pose the most risk. Designated’s hos...

Sometimes it takes a money launderer to catch a money launderer. 

During the 1980’s, Ken Rijock was starting his career as a lawyer in Miami. But he soon found himself acting as a middleman between Colombian drug cartels and their expanding US network, helping launder illicit funds gathered through flooding cocaine onto America’s streets. By his account, he ended up “cleaning” about $200 million in drug cash. Eventually, Ken was ca...

The textbooks tell us financial intelligence is the process of gathering and analyzing financial activities in an effort to uncover threats or criminal dealings. But financial intelligence is more than just studying bank accounts and online transactions. To make an impact, financial intelligence requires bold, creative action in the real world. Perhaps no one is more suited to offer perspective on financial intelligence than John C...

Have you ever met a corporate whistleblower? Most of us haven’t. They do make the subjects of great movies, though. There's intrigue, suspense, and high stakes.  And usually a happy ending. But what exactly happens in real life when someone high up in a company, privy to corporate secrets, witnesses illicit dealings in their midst? How does that process play out? And at what cost.. Personally and professionally?

Designated host Yaya...

Money launderers use creative schemes to go undetected while moving illicit funds. But what happens when the person fighting launderers is someone with firsthand knowledge of these tactics, honed through real world life experience and unique cultural insights?  Enter Lourdes Miranda, a former CIA Officer and FBI Analyst who now consults in the private sector in Crypto Investigations, Blockchain Analysis, Financial Crime investigati...

C4ADS- Center for Advanced Defense Studies- is a nonprofit that works to uncover illicit networks that threaten global peace and security through deep-dive investigations and intelligence analysis on data that may be publicly available, but hard to find. Through their investigative work, they’ve been able to map out secret business and real estate networks designed by corrupt military leaders in Sudan and unravel the multilayered s...

As with the transition of power for every Presidential administration, agendas are rethought, and priorities realigned.  And although America’s global economic and political power is buttressed by the integrity of its markets and sound rule of law, we must still be mindful of evolving methods of economic warfare and continued threats to our national security and economic standing. So what exactly should the incoming Trump administr...

In October, TD Bank pled guilty to money laundering and violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, incurring $3.1 billion dollars in penalties, putting the general public at risk, and shattering the trust of its own customers.  Sadly, this latest case of money laundering and lack of transparency is nothing new, joining a past roster of scandals involving many of the biggest banks in the U.S.   Charges against TD Bank indicate some employe...

Beginning in 2011, the Silk Road was the place to go online for any number of illegal drugs and contraband or other illicit items.  And as long as a buyer had some of this new digital currency called Bitcoin to spend, they could find whatever they wanted for purchase. This illicit activity on the Silk Road really put crypto on the map…. especially for law enforcement.  In  2013, the Silk Road was shut down as part of an intense fed...

A text message out of nowhere, from a number you don’t know, from someone thinking you’re someone else.  These messages might represent the digital bait in a global phishing operation called “pig butchering.” These scams may start with a text message. They could begin with a conversation on a dating app. But the scammers on the other side know how to reel people in and take them to the financial slaughterhouse.  Erin West is a Depu...

In Part 2 of the debut episode of "Designated," host Yaya Jata Fanusie continues his examination of Tigran Gambaryan, a former IRS special agent and financial crime fighter unjustly imprisoned in Nigeria for over seven months. Tigran was known for his groundbreaking work in combating cybercrime and cryptocurrency fraud.  His expertise led him to Binance, where he was pivotal in enhancing compliance measures. Tigran was unjustly det...

In the debut episode of "Designated," host Yaya Jata Fanuise shines a spotlight on Tigran Gambaryan, a former IRS special agent and financial crime fighter unjustly imprisoned in Nigeria for over seven months. Tigran was known for his groundbreaking work in combating cybercrime and cryptocurrency fraud, and his expertise led him to Binance, where he was pivotal in enhancing compliance measures. Tigran was unjustly detained after a ...