Wednesday, Jun 8, 2011
In total, 175 law enforcement officers and business professionals attended the seminars hosted by the Center for Business Forensics.
by Meaghan Haugh
As part of a $150,000 grant from the National Institute of Justice, the Center for Business Forensics recently held two half-day seminars geared toward state and local law enforcement officers, and business professionals. In total, 175 individuals attended the seminars, earning 4 CPE credits in the process.
“The seminar series was a huge success and provided our colleagues in law enforcement, government and business with the latest information in the detection and deterrence of economic crimes,” said Dr. Marge O’Reilly-Allen, chair of the Accounting department. “By bringing professionals to campus, we also demonstrate our commitment to our fraud detection and forensic programs.”
On January 28, the Center held Detection and Prevention of Fraud & Economic Crimes, featuring Paul Zikmund, CFE, CFD, CFFA. The seminar addressed various topics, including fraud theory; understanding why people commit fraud; defining elements of fraud; seven investigative steps evidence management; forensic audit techniques; and detection and prevention strategies.
Zikmund has 25 years of experience in the forensic accounting area and has managed global fraud and forensic teams at various Fortune 500 companies. In addition to teaching graduate level courses in the Fraud Deterrence Track and the Forensic Accounting as an adjunct professor at Rider, he is a member of its Accounting Advisory Council. He is also an instructor for the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts’ (NACVA) Training Development Team.
The Social Networking Sites and Fraud Investigation seminar, held on April 29, featured Zikmund, Douglas Veivia, supervisory special agent FBI and Robert Gardner, JD, MS. Topics included how to use social networks to aid investigations; legal issues concerning information obtained from the Internet; optimization of investigative searches; and finding information through public records. The presenters also shared examples of computer related fraud schemes and case studies.
Veivia is the FBI coordinator of White Collar Crime Programs in New Jersey. He is a frequent guest speaker at seminars that deal with issues associated with white-collar crime.
Gardner has more than 25 years of experience providing a variety of litigation and forensic investigation services. He serves as principal at Robert Gardner and Associates, where he creates and leads the business investigations practice.
Rider received the $150,000 federal grant for its Cyber Crime and Forensic Institute. The Institute is a joint venture with Drexel University and East Stroudsburg University, and is designed to educate federal, state and local law enforcement, and conduct cross disciplinary state-of-the-art research in cyber crime investigations and computer forensics. The 18-month grant also funds research, testing and tool development in advanced search technology for evidence gathering, cyber fraud data modeling, and digital steganography and watermarking.