James Candelmo is executive vice president and chief Bank Secrecy Act and AML Sanctions officer for The PNC Financial Services Group.

In this role, he is responsible for the enterprise program within the Independent Risk Management (IRM) organization. Prior to joining PNC in June 2021, Candelmo was the chief Anti-Money Laundering officer (CAMLO) for Capital One.

Before joining Capital One, he served as Bank Secrecy Act officer at Ally Financial. Prior to that, Candelmo was deputy criminal chief (National Security) for the United States Attorney’s office in Raleigh, North Carolina. Before joining the U.S. Attorney’s office, he served 10 years with the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., as senior trial attorney with the Department’s elite counter-espionage section and fraud section. He is a veteran of both the New England Bank Fraud Task Force and San Diego Bank Fraud Task Force.

Candelmo is a member of the FBI National Security Branch financial sector working group, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations’ bank forum and the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) global advisory board and educational task force. He is on the board of the Bank Secrecy Act Coalition and the ABA Financial Crimes Enforcement Conference advisory board. He is a former member of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force Executive Council for North Carolina.

Candelmo’s awards include the Department of Justice’s Director’s Award for Terrorism Prevention and National Security for his work in public/private partnerships combating money laundering and terrorist financing, and the Central Intelligence Agency Seal Medal for his contributions to national security. He was also named AML Professional of the Year by the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering.

He has served as a guest lecturer in financial crimes intelligence units, terrorism and terrorist financing, espionage, cybercrimes, know your customer, suspicious activity review teams, fintech and bank fraud. He has taught as an adjunct professor of law on compliance, national security law and federal criminal law.

Candelmo attended the University of Dayton School of Law where he was named to the Law Review. After graduating law school, he served on active duty with the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps and received his Master of Laws in International Law from Georgetown University.