US Capital Chapter

Mr. Lormel retired from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) following over 30 years of government service, for almost 28 years of which he was a Special Agent in the FBI. In December 2000, Mr. Lormel was promoted to Chief of the FBI’s Financial Crimes Program. Immediately following the terrorist attacks of September 2001, Mr. Lormel formulated, established and directed the FBI’s comprehensive terrorist financing initiative. He developed and implemented a variety of proactive and progressive investigative methodologies. These efforts evolved into the formation of a formal Section within the Counterterrorism Division of the FBI, known as The Terrorist Financing Operations Section. Mr. Lormel has received numerous commendations and awards including the Department of Justice, Criminal Division’s Award for Investigative Initiative, and the Central Intelligence Agency’s George H. W. Bush Award for Excellence in Counterterrorism. Over the last ten years Mr. Lormel has provided risk advisory consulting services. He is the founder and President of DML Associates, LLC, a full service investigative consultancy. Mr. Lormel provides consulting services and training related to terrorist financing, money laundering, fraud, financial crimes, suspicious activity and due diligence. He also offers financial intelligence services through case studies and trend analysis. Mr. Lormel was presented with the 2010 Association of Anti-Money Laundering Specialists Volunteer of the Year Award.

Email: dlormel@dmlassocllc.com

Sepideh brings deep regulatory and operational knowledge of banking, money services business, virtual assets, and fintech from 25+ years of legal and compliance experience in developing and administering consumer and financial crimes compliance programs to exceed regulatory requirements and incorporate industry best practices. Sepideh has held leadership positions as chief compliance or BSA/AML and sanctions officer at several of the financial community’s most respected institutions, community banks, and money services businesses, and served as senior counsel with the American Bankers Association. Sepideh was the recipient of the 2023 American Bankers Association’s Distinguished Service Award for Financial Crimes in recognition of her career and contributions to the banking industry.

Ms. Rowland currently serves as Co-Chair of the U.S. Capital Chapter's Advisory Board for the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (“ACAMS”) and as Co-Chair of the Editorial Board of the ABA’s Risk & Compliance magazine. Ms. Rowland previously served as the Co-Chair of the Advisory Board for the ABA/ABA Financial Crimes Enforcement Conference and Chair for the American Bankers Association Certified AML and Fraud Professional (“CAFP”) certification program. Ms. Rowland also serves as an Independent Director for Battle Financial.

Barbara is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) and, as Principal at BIKConsulting LLC, she currently consults on anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regulatory issues. Barbara also co-leads workshops on AML compliance for financial intelligence units and central bankers in emerging market countries under the auspices of the Financial Services Volunteer Corps. In addition, she served as an Examination Task Force Vice Chair for the recent revision of the CAMS examination and study guide.

Barbara retired from federal service in August 2013. She spent the last four years of her federal career in a senior executive position at the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, FinCEN, where she oversaw the activities of the compliance and enforcement offices. She joined FinCEN in 2009 after 26 years with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). As an assistant director at GAO, she managed many assignments dealing with AML compliance and enforcement, and interagency cooperation and coordination.

Barbara serves on the boards of directors of the ACAMS US Capital Chapter, Women in Housing and Finance, and Global Ties U.S.

Email: keller.barb@gmail.com

Bob Pasley was with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) for 30 years as an attorney and then as an Assistant Director of the Enforcement and Compliance Division. After he left the OCC, he worked for FinCEN for a year as a consultant and then for Bank of America as a Senior Vice President. He has lectured and written on anti-money laundering issues, is a member of the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) and is on the Board of the Washington, D.C. Chapter of ACAMS. He is now a consultant in the area of anti-money laundering and bank regulatory matters.

Rachele Byrne is the Group Manager of AML Policy & Governance at PNC. She is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) with over 15 years of industry experience in financial crimes compliance and risk management. Her areas of subject matter expertise include Know Your Customer (KYC) standards; Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) requirements and compliance; policies and procedures, politically exposed persons; foreign embassy and government banking compliance; and general risk management and controls best practices. In her role at PNC, Rachele and her team are responsible for providing policy oversight and program governance for PNC’s enterprise BSA/AML Program. Prior to joining PNC, Rachele held AML Advisory and governance management positions at several large U.S. and foreign financial institutions, as well as worked as a consultant advising both private sector and government clients on financial crimes related matters.

Email: rachele.byrne@pnc.com

Kevin has been with Bank of America since 1990, working in various capacities in retail banking, insurance and wealth management. Since 1997, he has worked in compliance, primarily focusing on AML issues.

In the compliance capacity, he co-authored the initial enterprise-wide AML policy and program integrating requirements from various businesses as well as the laws and regulations. He has been involved in subsequent revisions, incorporating regulatory and other changes, as well as providing guidance to lines of business globally. In addition, Kevin initiated and managed a process to document legal and regulatory requirements in over 30 jurisdictions and to maintain this documentation as regulations are updated. He has developed and conducted AML training and supported risk assessments for the enterprise as well at the business unit level. He designed, implemented and managed the company’s process to obtain and validate Patriot Act certifications for non-U.S. banks for several years. In addition to AML policy work, Kevin helped design and establish a framework for overseeing the development and implementation of enterprise-wide compliance and operational risk policies, including privacy, fair lending and payment systems risk.

Kevin has been a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist since 2003; has served on the ACAMS Editorial, Education and Examination Revision Task Forces for several years, as well as co-edited the 5th and 6th editions of the CAMS Examination Study Guide. He has published numerous articles on money laundering topics in publications such as ACAMS Today and the ABA Banking Journal

Email: kevin.m.anderson@bofa.com

Since March 2010, Les has been the International Investigations Manager in the Financial Intelligence Unit at Wells Fargo Bank. The International Investigations Group (IIG) is made up of 35 Analysts, Supervisors, and Managers located in McLean (Virginia), Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Charlotte. The IIG’s primary mission is to identify, investigate, report, and trend suspicious activity conducted through the bank’s foreign correspondent customer accounts.

Prior to joining Wells Fargo, Les worked for the U.S. Department of Justice from 1984 to February 2010. From 2002-2010, he was the Principal Deputy Chief of the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section (AFMLS). He was a Deputy Chief in the Section since October 1991. Les began his career with the Department of Justice in 1984 as a Trial Attorney in the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section. From 1981-1984, he was an Assistant State’s Attorney in Cook County (Chicago), Illinois. He received his J.D. from The John Marshall Law School in Chicago and his B.A. from the University of Michigan. He is an Adjunct Professor at The George Washington University in Washington, DC, where he teaches in the Criminal Justice Program.

Email: lester.m.joseph@wellsfargo.com

Edward Rodriguez has been a very active member of the Anti-Money Laundering (AML community beginning with his 25-year career as a Special Agent and Supervisor with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). During his Tenure as a supervisor, he led three different task forces involving major financial investigations. These legal and illegal entities facilitated income tax evasion and money laundering. He transferred to IRS headquarters in DC overseeing the IRS’s national money laundering program and department of Justice (DOJ)in efforts to produce investigative reports analyzing the information obtained under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). After retiring from the IRS, he became a Senior consultant and OFAC investigator for Fannie Mae. After Fannie Mae, he engaged clients through his EORS Consulting LLC retained by a Money Service Business regarding SAR filings and BSA compliance programs. For two years he worked as a DOJ defense contractor as a Law Enforcement Advisor in Money Laundering classes for the Colombian judicial authorities in South America.  After this tenure in Colombia, he spent 5 plus years with the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority Agency (WMATA) Inspector General as a senior special agent investigating waste, fraud and abuse. Currently he is the Tax Fraud Compliance Manager for the Office of Tax and Revenue in the District of Columbia. Since 2008 he has been a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) and Certified Fraud Specialist (CFS). He has presented at various professional conferences.

Don is a nationally recognized subject matter expert in the areas of currency reporting, anti-money laundering, the detection of suspicious transactions and fraud investigations.

He has over 33 years of experience in the Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering field. He has extensive hands-on experience in the areas of the Bank Secrecy Act, financial investigations including financial fraud, anti-money laundering, due diligence, and Federal income tax investigations.

His experience includes a 26 year career in federal law enforcement as a Special Agent with the Internal Revenue Service where he led a Financial Investigative Task Force for 16 years.

Following his retirement from law enforcement Don became the BSA/AML subject matter expert for a leading AML software vendor, the BSA/AML subject matter expert and director in the BSA/AML group at a large regional bank, a director in the KPMG LLP forensic practice. He currently provides BSA/AML consulting services to financial institutions.

Ray Villanueva serves as the Special Agent in Charge for Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Washington, D.C. In this position, he oversees HSI’s field operations and investigative efforts in the District of Columbia and the states of Virginia and West Virginia. His office includes a broad cadre of special agents, intelligence analysts, and professional administrative personnel further assigned to several sub-offices, operational groups and task forces to include two HSI led Border Enforcement Security Task Forces. Mr. Villanueva is responsible for leading investigations into transnational crimes and threats, specifically disrupting and dismantling terrorist, transnational and other criminal organizations that threaten or seek to exploit the customs and immigration laws of the United States.

Prior to his current assignment, Mr. Villanueva served an Assistant Director for HSI. In his role he oversaw the Office of International Operations where he was responsible for a budget of more than $180 million and the operational oversight of 68 offices in 51 countries and 8 Department of Defense liaison offices with over 400 personnel. Mr. Villanueva has more than 26 years of law enforcement experience.

Mr. Villanueva began his law enforcement career in 1994 as a Police Officer with the Puerto Rico Police Department (PRPD) where he was subsequently promoted to a criminal investigator position assigned to the U.S. Customs Service Task Force, Office of the Special Agent in Charge San Juan. In 2015, due to his constant engagement and support to the mission of the PRPD, Mr. Villanueva was promoted to the rank of Honorific Lieutenant Colonel, the second highest rank within the police department.

Since joining HSI, Mr. Villanueva has served in numerous key positions ranging from group supervisor for the Financial Crimes Group at HSI Buffalo, NY, section chief for the Illicit Finance and Proceeds of Crime Unit in Washington, DC, unit chief for the Trade Transparency Unit in Washington, DC, Assistant Special Agent in Charge for HSI San Juan, Deputy Assistant Director for HSI International Operations and as an Assistant Director for HSI. Mr. Villanueva has been a member of the Senior Executive Service since 2015.

Mr. Villanueva is a member of the International Association of Chief of Police (IACP) where he currently serves as the International Vice President and Chair of the Global Policing Division.

John Wagner has more than 40 years of regulatory, compliance, and risk management experience and serves domestic and international clients, principally focusing on a company’s compliance, risk management and reputational risk when facing AML/Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)/sanctions regulatory or criminal enforcement actions. These services includes C-Suite training, AML/sanction risk assessment development and reviews; AML/sanctions compliance program development and implementation; C-Suite and AML Officer program oversight and monitoring; customer due diligence assessment and enhancement; suspicious activity monitoring and reporting technology and implementation; training program strategies and execution; compliance program remediation; examination strategies and planning; performance reviews; independent testing execution and assessment; forensic investigations; and expert witness testimony. Engagements serve various types of financial institutions including global domestic and foreign depository institutions, global and domestic non-bank financial institutions (fiat and Blockchain Digital Asset related businesses), casinos, and broker dealers.

Prior to joining Deloitte, Mr. Wagner was the Director for Bank Secrecy Act and Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) Compliance Policy at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). After 32 years with the OCC, he was one of their most senior AML officials at the time of his retirement in May 2014. As Director he was responsible for briefing the Comptroller of the Currency and senior management on issues and recommendations related to BSA changes, creation of OCC and interagency industry guidance; supervisory implications to proposed regulatory and international standards, advisor to OCC’s enforcement committee; examiner training; and acting as the primary liaison to FinCEN, Treasury, OFAC, and the other Federal Banking Agencies. Mr. Wagner also led several OCC committees and working groups offering policy and supervisory direction as well as guidance on remedial actions, innovative supervisory risk identification methodologies, and training initiatives.

Prior to being appointed Director, Mr. Wagner had extensive field examination experience, spending almost two decades as an examiner leading and supporting OCC high profile AML/sanctions examinations across the U.S. as well as internationally. During this time, Mr. Wagner led many critical, high profile, and complex BSA/AML/sanctions examinations, at times working directly with law enforcement, which frequently resulted in regulatory enforcement actions including some civil monetary penalties.  Mr. Wagner also mentored, developed, and trained OCC and FFIEC examiners in examination techniques and BSA/OFAC requirements/expectations. Mr. Wagner was selected as OCC’s sole representative in the creation of the first (2005) FFIEC BSA/AML Examination Manual and, as Director, was responsible for the periodic updates.

Mr. Wagner was also the primary liaison to foreign government representatives on AML matters. Mr. Wagner advised and was a U.S. representative to international organizations, such as Financial Action Task Force, Basel’s AML Experts Group, and International Monetary Fund. Mr. Wagner also coordinated supervisory activities and enforcement matters with foreign governments. Mr. Wagner was responsible for developing and providing training to bank supervisors worldwide, including overseas in Barbados, Peru, Chile, and the United Arab Emirates.

Mr. Wagner currently serves as a Board member of the U.S. Capital Chapter for the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (“ACAMS”).

Steve Gurdak is the group supervisor of Northern Virginia’s Financial Initiative (NVFI). As an Alexandria Police Detective,he helped establish this initiative as a national model for the aggressive use of SARs in the initiation of money laundering and financial investigations.

Steve has over 30 years of police experience. He has specialized in money laundering investigations since 1995, retiring from the Alexandria Police in 2010 to continue supervision of the initiative through Washington Baltimore HIDTA. Steve also regularly trains new detectives in general investigative skills for the Northern Virginia Criminal Justice Academy as part of the "New Detectives” course he helped design.

Email: sgurdak@wb.hidta.org