Moyara Ruehsen

This workshop explores the complexities of geographic risk assessment, with a focus on financial crime (money laundering, corruption, sanctions evasion, terrorism financing and proliferation financing), but with the opportunity to apply the skills to other areas of interest. The first day will be spent critically evaluating existing risk indices and scrutinizing the quality of possible source data. On the second day students will pair up to develop their own models, spending time on selection of variables and weighting of variables, and fine-tuning models to enhance accuracy and reliability. On the third and final day, students will complete their final reports and then consider how they might develop a similar risk model for other areas of risk such as organized crime or conflict. This hands-on exercise will provide insights into how suspicious activity is identified and risks mitigated.

More than $10 billion is lost by American residents to fraudulent scams every year, and that only includes what victims report to the FBI. Significantly more goes unreported. Sadly, most of it is never recovered. With the advent of AI, these types of financial crimes will likely increase, with potential losses rapidly multiplying. How can we prevent these types of crimes in the first place? Through educational outreach. In ten classroom sessions in the first month of the semester, students will learn more about different scam typologies and learn how to convey that information in training sessions delivered to schools and other non-profits, and possibly even law enforcement. The training can be delivered in Monterey County or to your local community, ideally with a partner. Students will also be required to complete IRB training.

This online workshop explores several areas of the professional financial crime fighting field, including law-enforcement investigations and prosecution strategies, government policy implementation and enforcement, investigations and compliance management at traditional financial institutions and fintech firms, public – private partnerships to address crypto crime, and multilateral agency efforts. All of these stakeholders have different approaches to investigations and different perspectives about compliance. We will also look at several sanctions regimes from the initial policy design to implementation, enforcement and compliance.

In this course we will closely examine the manner in which sanctioned actors (or their intermediaries) raise funds, move funds, and use funds to finance or support WMD proliferation programs. Using real cases, we will look at how different actors try to evade existing sanctions, and techniques investigators (in the public sector, private sector, and multilateral space) use to detect such activity. Students will also learn to illustrate a case and present a case. The presentation can be delivered in a press conference format, or a short pre-recorded video.

Public speaking is a critical skill in every policy professional’s life. It can mean the difference between coming up with great ideas that wither away for lack of support vs. pitching a proposal that generates excitement among funders, and may even land that sought-after promotion. There are also many types of speaking skills: delivering a prepared speech in front of a live audience, pitching a proposal to a venture capital firm, sitting on stage for an “interview conversation”, televised and radio interviews, organizing and delivering a press conference, working with consecutive and simultaneous interpreters, professional conference presentations, award ceremonies, diplomatic introductions, etc.
This course is designed to introduce you to these different skills and/or refine those skills. You will learn “tricks” of the trade, do’s & don’t’ s, how to “connect” with your audience, how to become a better listener (the secret to great speaking!), how to use body language to greatest effect, advanced vocal techniques, handling Q&A (especially in a press conference format), how to properly introduce someone (and be introduced), which is much harder than it seems, and how to wow an audience in both a live and pre-recorded media interview.

This course begins with an introduction to financial crime, beginning with traditional money laundering schemes, and then delves more deeply into financial crimes related to trade and investment, such as false trade invoicing, the black market “peso” exchange, the use of high value metals, and sanctions circumvention. Prevailing* laws, regulations and best practices will be reviewed. Students will look at a few case studies and learn how to spot “red flag” indicators, and conduct a simulation in class. This will require critical thinking. Students will also complete a take-home exercise involving visual presentation skills requiring the ability to convey a complex crime schematically.
This course is designed for students who hope to become financial crime specialists, or merely gain fundamental knowledge of financial crime risks and regulations. This expertise is useful for careers in public or private sector compliance, investigative analysis, trade finance, and security/intelligence.

Financial Crime Investigations & Compliance Management
This course is a follow-on to NPTG 8621: Introduction to Money Laundering and Trade-Based Financial Crime. It is designed for students who wish to pursue a career related to financial crime detection and prevention, whether in the government sector, private sector or multilateral agency.

The first part of the course covers all the elements of shaping an institution's financial crime compliance program, including AML, FCPA, OFAC and FATCA compliance. Students will develop their own risk scoring methodology for geographic risk and customer risk. We will also look at AML regulations and enforcement in other countries around the world.

Students will examine at what a number of multilateral organizations are doing like the Basel Committee Guidance, Wolfsberg Group recommendations, FATF blacklists and FATF mutual evaluations.

Many case studies will also be examined – both cases of banks behaving badly, as well as international criminal investigations – shedding light on how financial crimes are brought to light and how law enforcement can best investigate and prosecute.

Finally, any well-structured compliance program also has a system for escalating alerts for further investigation and reporting. In this class, students will review how to find and assess sources of evidence, spot red flags, and identify beneficial owners. Financial crime investigators, whether they be in the private sector or public sector, must master not only research skills, but also analytical and writing skills. For the final assignment, students will learn how to write up a suspicious transaction report with actionable intelligence.

Students will apply their on-chain tracing skills gained from the Blockchain Analytics course as they research a specific crypto-related threat intelligence topic such as a ransomware group or sanctions evasion case. Students will learn how to use Crystal Intelligence’s tracing tool, research and analyze digital asset flows related to a particular case or topic, write up a full crypto threat intelligence report with detailed findings and explanations, in addition to a short brief that is understandable to executives with no knowledge of the topic. At the end of the semester, students will deliver oral presentations in front of a Panel of Experts from academia and public and private sectors.

Behind nearly every international crime involving money lies a money laundering scheme. In this course we look at how corrupt dictators, terrorists, drug traffickers, sanctions evaders, and North Korean cyber hackers, among others, hide and launder their ill-gotten gains. We will identify red flags of suspicious behavior and explore traditional money laundering techniques, trade-based laundering techniques, black market peso exchange, Chinese mirror trades, the use of virtual assets, shell companies, etc. There are no prerequisites for this course. What makes for a great investigator is curiosity, great research/analytical/writing skills, and broad knowledge about the world.

Student must obtain a faculty advisor, complete a Directed Study proposal form, obtain signatures, and submit to the Associate Dean of Academic Operations for approval.