Trade Currents: Countering TBML Threats from China-Based Money Laundering Organizations

Dr William Scott Grob, CAMS-FCI, CGSS, FRM, CAIA, is the Director of Research and Analysis, responsible for promoting quantitative research methods. He has built customized programs, such as the two Illegal Wildlife Trade certificates developed with the WWF & WJC and the two Ending Modern Slavery & Human Trafficking with the FAST Initiative & Polaris. Previously, he was the ACAMS AML Director for the Americas and Asia. Dr. Grob has over 25 years of financial and banking expertise. His most recent role was as Regional Head of Affiliates Management, HSBC, where he worked on mitigating financial crime and correspondent banking risks across Asia. His 12-year career at the bank also included managing risk within the Equity/FX prime brokerage business, Structured Funds business, and Hedge Fund units.

Michael Clarson leads Citibank’s Global Financial Crimes Investigation & Intelligence Unit (GFCII) in APAC and is based in Hong Kong as APAC GFCII Regional Head. In this role, Michael will lead the GFCII across the region, including teams in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, China and Taiwan. GFCII is a global team with responsibility for financial crimes related investigations involving complex and cross jurisdictional matters, driven by intelligence and data analytics. Michael came to Citibank from Deloitte, where he was a Director in Deloitte Forensics, assisting clients by performing investigations related to money laundering, bribery and corruption and major fraud. In this role Michael worked with clients in China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Russia, Eastern Europe and the Pacific across financial services and other multinational industries. Michael is a qualified Certified Practicing Accountant (CPA), having worked in wealth management prior to joining the Australian Federal Police (AFP) as a Federal Agent. Michael’s focus in the AFP was multinational organized crime and money laundering investigations. After completing nearly 13 years in the AFP, Michael completed his MBA at the Australian Graduate School of Management and then moved to Deloitte Forensics.

Gregory Mandoli is the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Deputy Attaché China. In this role, he oversees investigative teams in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Guangzhou and Beijing.  Prior to this, Greg supervised the Southern California High Intensity Financial Crime Area task force and developed the El Camino Real Community of Interest, both based in Los Angeles (2015-2019). Other assignments included the US Embassy in London (2010-2015), HSI’s Office of International Affairs in Washington DC (2007-2010) and the Office of Investigations in San Francisco (1998-2007). While in San Francisco, he participated in multi-year secondments to the Drug Enforcement Administration’s High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) task force and the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) where he focused on money laundering to the Middle East.

In 1991, Greg received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Economics with an emphasis in accounting from the University of California, Santa Barbara. In 1994, Greg graduated from Golden Gate University School of Law with the recognition of a Public Interest Law Scholar. Before becoming a Special Agent, Greg practiced law as a deputy public defender in California where he handled felony matters involving homicide, Three Strikes, gangs and drug offenses. In 2006, Greg graduated from the Naval Postgraduate's Master of Arts program in Homeland Defense and Security where he authored an original theory thesis, The Sandbox Strategy, regarding the interoperability of federal law enforcement agencies. His related professional activities include eight years as an Army Reservist in the Judge Advocate General Corps (2000-2008) and current position as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland where he has designed and taught courses in the undergraduate and graduate programs since 2007. Greg is also CAMS certified.