AFC in Practice: Law Enforcement engagement with the Crypto Industry

Alison K. Jimenez is President of Dynamic Securities Analytics, Inc. where she utilizes her extensive background in the financial industry to consult and provide expert witness testimony on complex matters involving financial crime, fraud, and Anti-Money Laundering (‘AML’). Ms. Jimenez’s expertise in illicit finance has been sought out by federal and international agencies including DOJ, DOD, DHS, and the United Nations.

Ms. Jimenez has been retained as a testifying expert in federal and state courts, domestic and international arbitration, and criminal and regulatory enforcement actions on a variety of financial crime issues including corruption, business email compromise, cryptocurrency scams, and Ponzi schemes.

Alison has published original research on financial crime topics including cryptocurrency crime, human smuggling, and Suspicious Activity Reports. The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, American Banker, and government agencies have cited Alison’s research.

Ms. Jimenez frequently presents on AML and fraud issues at national and international conferences including at Interpol, the World Bank, and the North American Securities Administrators Association. In addition, Alison testified before the House Financial Services subcommittee on Digital Assets on the use of cryptocurrency in illicit activity.

Alison serves on the Irregular Warfare Center- Defense of the Homeland and Counter Threat Finance working groups and previously served as a member of U.S. Special Operations Command- Working Group on Counter Threat Finance. Alison also serves on the Fraudulent Virtual Assets Services working group of the Global Coalition to Fight Financial Crime. Ms. Jimenez previously served on the Education and Examination Task Forces for the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS).

Prior to this role, Alison worked at a large financial services firm and was a securities regulator. Ms. Jimenez holds a master’s degree in economics and is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist.

As CCO and BSA officer at United Texas Bank, Pamela oversees and manages all aspects of compliance within the bank. She is responsible for compliance and regulatory obligations of UTB Global’s innovative digital platform that meets the correspondent banking needs of international banks and seamlessly enables the Digital Asset and Fintech/Digital Payment revolution. UTB Global, together with its correspondent banks, fintech partners and customers enable real-time open global digital banking.

Prior to joining UTB, Pamela was Vice President of Crypto Investigations and Risk for Ciphertrace at Mastercard, where she worked with governments, law enforcement officials, regulators, law firms and financial institutions around the world to understand and mitigate cryptocurrency risk and conduct cryptocurrency financial investigations. She was previously Assistant Vice President - BSA and Information Security for First State Bank. She also has 15 years of international experience with investigations, due diligence and operations mostly in Latin America with the U.S. Government.

Pamela has her Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS). She obtained her B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin and her MBA from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. She has conducted trainings and workshops, and spoken about cryptocurrency and financial crimes globally, to include speaking engagements at INTERPOL, UN, EUROPOL, Basel Governance, ACAMS, ACFCS and other international and federal agencies and organizations. Pamela is an acknowledged industry expert in cryptocurrency intelligence and evidentiary criminal investigations. Her opinions and advice have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and on the TV program News Nation. Pam is fluent in both English and Spanish.

Carlos Orozco is a Supervisory Special Agent and Program Manager in the Office of Cyber and Forensic Services within IRS - Criminal Investigation. Mr. Orozco has played an instrumental role in building and growing IRS:CI’s Cyber Crime section. Since joining the section in 2017, he has helped develop and implement IRS:CI's global cybercrime strategy and virtual asset investigations program. In other roles, Mr. Orozco has gained firsthand experience overseeing and conducting complex, multi-jurisdiction financial investigations including those involving the illicit uses of virtual assets. As the unit chief over the Washington DC based Cyber Crimes Unit (IRS:CI’s investigative unit into the illicit uses of virtual assets) he oversaw dozens of sophisticated and complex global money laundering investigations involving the illicit uses of virtual assets, including the 2016 theft of approximately 120,000 BTC from a virtual currency exchange which led to the seizure of over 94,000 BTC, valued at approximately $3.6 billion. Since its establishment in 2015, the Cyber Crime Unit has led some of the most impactful investigations into the illicit uses of virtual asset including Bitfinex hack, Hydra marketplace, Eastern Metal Securities, Helix bitcoin mixer, Bitcoin Fog mixer, welcome to video CSAM site, BTC-e, SSNDOB marketplace, Twitter hijacking, and others involving national security threats such as terrorism financing and financial sanctions evasion.

Brandi B. Reynolds is Managing Director of AML & Compliance at Bates Group.  She has more than 17 years of experience in the financial services industry supporting companies in the areas of anti-money laundering (AML) and consumer protection compliance. 

Ms. Reynolds was President and Chief Executive Officer of CorCom, LLC—a consulting firm (that is now part of Bates Group) specializing in federal compliance and risk management offering services in  BSA/AML/OFAC Program Development, Risk Management, Training, and Independent Reviews and specializing in areas such as AML, Financial Crimes Prevention (FCP), Consumer Lending, and Money Services Businesses (MSBs).  Prior to CorCom, she was an in-house Deputy Chief Compliance Officer for 11 years. More information about Brandi can be found by visiting https://www.batesgroup.com/experts/brandi-reynolds