New York City Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners

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OCTOBER 30, 2008 MEETING

Tom Borgers, CFE

Mortgage and Financial Crisis

               and its Impact on the CFE Professional

We have heard a great deal about the mortgage and financial crisis in the media over the last several weeks. We have seen the parties and presidential candidates pointing fingers at each other. Wall Street has fallen to the depths not seen since the “Great Depression”. Thousands of people are losing their homes every week and hundreds of thousands are losing their jobs in New York City and around the country. The Congress and the Administration are bailing out the financials with the taxpayers’ money. Confidence in our domestic and global political and economic systems is at all time low. Who was responsible for this crisis? What was the cause for this meltdown: negligence, gross negligence or fraud? Who are the culpable parties? Will the taxpayers be repaid for the bailout? Will the private and public sectors go after the culpable parties? How will these issues and questions impact Certified Fraud Examiners? These and other points will be address by a seasoned Certified Fraud Examiner and Financial Analyst Tom Borgers.
 

Keith S. Balla, CPA, PSA

 Forensic Accounting

                     and Its Benefits to Municipalities

Keith S. Balla is a Director in the Roseland, New Jersey office of M&K Rosenfarb LLC. With more than 25 years combined experience in private industry and public accounting, Keith has mastered several unique approaches to auditing and investigative accounting which have proven to be extremely successful for clients, including the State of New Jersey, Essex County, City of Newark, Woodcliff Lake and Plainfield.He has consulted for several New Jersey Boards of Education including Newark, Union Township, Vineland, Lakewood and Princeton.

Mr. Balla’s presentation will include topics such as savings millions for municipalities, developing systems for efficiency, fraud prevention and awareness programs, fraud investigations and recovery, capitalizing on additional revenue opportunities, and Independent Inspector General services.

 

 Alan I. Blass, CPA, CFE
Recognizing and Preventing Fraud in the Construction Process

Alan Blass has spent over 25 years as a forensic accountant performing financial investigations and litigation support in both the public and private sectors. He specializes in white collar crime, construction frauds and disputes, insurance claims and matrimonials. Among his most notable projects was the coordination and supervision of the financial monitoring of the World Trade Center.

Today, Alan will be discussing various aspects of the construction process, describe the various potential frauds and several recommendations for prevention and detection. Mr. Blass will also discuss the role of forensic accountants as an integral part of the anti-fraud and construction claim teams, at the outset and throughout the construction process.

                   

                 Sam Lau, EnCE

Introduction to Computer Forensics and E-Discovery

Sam Lau specializes in computer forensics, e-discovery, and data analysis. Mr. Lau’s expertise includes forensic identification, preservation, collection, analysis, and presentation of electronically stored information. Mr. Lau has assisted attorneys, federal, state, and local agencies with the recovery of digital information, involving cases such as sexual harassment, stock options backdating investigations, theft of intellectual properties and proprietary information, financial frauds, and subpoenaed evidence destructions.

Included in Mr. Lau’s presentation on Computer Forensics and E-Discovery will be topics such as preservation and analysis of electronic evidence and providing users of electronic evidence with the means to review what has been recovered.