U.S. Attorney’s Office Co-Sponsors Banking Conference on Counterterrorism and Financial Crimes

RALEIGH, NC—United States Attorney Thomas G. Walker announced that today the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina co-sponsored the 9th Annual Counterterrorism and Financial Crimes Forum. The training was held at SAS World Headquarters in Cary, North Carolina. SAS is the world’s largest privately held software company. Approximately 400 participants, including banking officials, federal agencies, and local law enforcement, attended the training. SAS, Ally Bank, Bank of America, PNC, and Teradata all co-sponsored the event.

Philip Mudd, former Deputy Director of the National Security Section, Federal Bureau of Investigation, served as the keynote speaker. Mr. Mudd also served as Deputy Director of the Counterterrorist Center with the Central Intelligence Agency. Other speakers included John J. Byrne, Executive Vice President of the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS); Lisa M. Grigg, Managing Director and Fraud Investigation Group Executive of Bank of America; and Dennis Lormel, President and CEO of DML Associates LLC. Mr. Lormel served as Chief of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Financial Crimes Program and was instrumental in establishing the Bureau’s anti-terrorist financing initiative. The training also featured Jane Rhodes-Wolfe, Acting Deputy Assistant Director of the Terrorism Financing Operations Section (TFOS), Federal Bureau of Investigation.

“This event is an excellent example of the vital collaboration needed between the banking community and law enforcement. Efforts to confront violent extremists must include a watchful eye over suspicious financial transactions that may be used to fund terrorist activities both at home and abroad,” said U.S. Attorney Walker.

This event brought together participants from the financial services, regulatory, and law enforcement communities to share best practices on managing the risks associated with financial crimes, including terrorism financing, fraud, sanctions compliance, and money laundering. Goals of the training were to demonstrate how innovative organizations are working with their public sector partners to fight the war on terrorism, manage fraud investigations more effectively, ensure regulatory compliance, and to detect and prevent money laundering among others.

SAS, located in Cary, North Carolina, is a market leader in business analytics. Founded in 1976, SAS has more than 11,000 employees and staffed offices in 55 countries. Together, the company provides software and services to more than 50,000 sites in 127 countries around the globe.