National Procurement Fraud Task
Force
 Alice
S. Fisher
Assistant Attorney General
Criminal Division
The
National Procurement Fraud Task Force was created on
October 10, 2006, to promote the prevention, early
detection and prosecution of procurement fraud. In
announcing the formation of the Task Force, former
Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty explained,
"Procurement fraud cheats American taxpayers and
harms the government's efforts to obtain the goods
and services needed for its mission. At a time of
heightened concern for our nation's security, every
tax dollar is precious."
The
Task Force is chaired by Assistant Attorney General
for the Criminal Division Alice S. Fisher, and
includes the FBI, the Department of Justice
Inspector General and other federal Inspectors
General, defense investigative agencies, federal
prosecutors from United States Attorneys offices
across the country, as well as the Criminal, Civil,
Antitrust and Tax Divisions of the Department of
Justice. The Task Force’s emphasis will be to
increase civil and criminal enforcement where it can
have the greatest effect, including defective
pricing, product substitution, misuse of classified
and procurement sensitive information, false claims,
grant fraud, labor mischarging, fraud involving
foreign military sales, ethics and conflict of
interest violations, and public corruption
associated with procurement fraud. The Task Force
also will focus on maximizing information sharing
and take significant leadership in addressing issues
such as grant fraud, relations with the private
sector, training and legislation. As Assistant
Attorney General Fisher has stated, “The public
needs to have faith in the integrity of the
procurement system and know that anyone who is
cheating the system will be held accountable.”
Three of the
most common ways
that
unscrupulous
businesses
exploit supplier
diversity or DBE
programs.
1)
Faking
eligibility.
This is pretty
straight-forward
in that the
owner is
claiming
membership to a
group that they
don't belong
to. For
example, one
business owner
claimed to be
Native American
in order to win
contracts, his
own brother
turned him in to
authorities. In
the case of DBE
eligibility,
there are net
worth
requirements
that can not be
exceeded even if
the person is a
member of a
group (women,
African-American,
etc.). Some
people may
choose to hide
assets and get
creative with
the numbers so
that the
business
continues to
qualify as a
DBE.
2)
Figure-head
owner.
This is the case
when the
purported owner
does not truly
control, manage
and/or own the
business. The
figure-head is
installed in
order to qualify
for diversity
programs. The
figure-head
scheme is
usually run
within a family
on a gender
basis, i.e.
the wife,
mother, sister
or daughter is
named owner when
the father,
husband, son or
brother truly
controls and
owns the
company.
3)
Pass-through or
Front Company.
This is a
really common
DBE fraud method
where a W/MBE
front company
wins the
contract and
passes the
contract on to a
non-W/MBE for a
fee.
Source:
http://tanjeble.typepad.com/tanjeble/2007/09/supplier-divers.html
|
TRAINING
Tampa Bay Chapter
March 11, 2008
"Vending Gender and the Race to Defraud: Supplier Diversity Fraud"
Alison Jimenez, President, Tanjeble Inc.
April 8, 2008
"Testifying as an Expert Witness"
John Gudavich, Retired Investigator, United States Attorney's Office
9th Annual Fraud & Computer Crimes Seminar
May 6-7, 2008
Clearwater, Florida
2006 - 2007
OFFICERS &
DIRECTORS
PRESIDENT
Christine Dever, CPA, CFE
Accountabilties Consulting Services
(813) 417-1825
VICE PRESIDENT
Steve Hooper, CIA, CFE, CCSA
Clerk of the Circuit Court Hillsborough County, FL
(813) 276-2029 x3703
SECRETARY
Clark J. Bolton, CFE
Bolton Risk Management LLC
(727) 771-5255
TREASURER
Laura Krueger Brock, CPA, CFE
Kirkland, Russ, Murphy & Tapp, P.A.
(727) 572-1400
DIRECTOR
Mark Dubina,
CFE
Florida Department of
Law Enforcement
(813) 878-7366
DIRECTOR
Ellen Wilcox, CFE
Florida Department of
Law Enforcement
(727) 298-2482
DIRECTOR
Gary Chapman, CFE, CGAP
City of Tampa, Internal Audit
(813) 274-7163
CHAPTER TRAINING
Wayne Boytim, CFE
Retired |
News from the ACFE
 2008-2009
Board of Regents Elected
Congratulations to Peter R. Callaway, Bert F. Lacativo, and
Delena D. Spann who were recently elected as the newest ACFE
Regents. Mr. Callaway, Mr. Lacativo, and Ms. Spann will replace
Angela Henschel, Don Mullinax, and Jim Whitaker as they are
sworn in at the Board of Regents meeting in Austin later this
month.
Chapter News
 A
Tampa Bay Chapter first - two of our members tied the knot.
JaNeanne (Rhynehart) Miles, Assistant Controller, Bowen Brothers
Fruit LLC and Bill Miles, Special Agent, Florida Department of
Law Enforcement were married. The Tampa Bay Chapter wishes the
Miles all the best.
Local Chapter Elections
Local chapter elections are coming
up soon. If you are interested in serving, please email
tampacfe@tampabaycfe.org. |
Dinner Meeting News
Our next Dinner Meeting is scheduled for March 11th
 Alison
Jimenez is a forensic economist,
a member of the Association of
Certified Fraud Examiners and a
Certified Anti-Money Laundering
Specialist. Jimenez is the
author of Vending Gender and the
Race to Defraud: Fraud by Women
and Minority Owned Businesses
published in the August edition
of Fraud Magazine.
The
proliferation of fraud in
government and corporate
contracts to minority- and
women-owned business enterprises
(W/MBE) has led to the creation
of Tanjeble, Inc., a
first-of-its-kind company
focused exclusively on the fraud
aspect of supplier diversity.
Created to
prevent the abuse of supplier
diversity programs and the
resulting financial waste due to
fraud, Tanjeble offers corporate
and governmental clients new
tools for managing risk and
installing more reliable
controls in supplier diversity
programs.
Tanjeble
increases the integrity of
governmental and corporate
supplier diversity programs
through the company’s four
service offerings:
1) Tanjeble
Supplier Diversity AuditTM. The
Tanjeble Supplier Diversity
Audit service roots out fraud
from governmental and corporate
supplier diversity programs by
rigorously testing the programs
to eliminate the opportunities
for fraud. The Tanjeble Supplier
Diversity Audit also tests
whether the government or
corporate agency’s own policies
and procedures were followed,
and whether they correctly
reported spending with W/MBEs.
2) Tanjeble
Results Consulting. Tanjeble
consulting assists agencies in
developing and refining
quantitative measurements toward
supplier diversity goals,
independently investigating
complaints by diverse suppliers
of fraudulent W/MBEs,
determining any mistreatment by
prime contractors or
inequalities in contracting
opportunities, litigation
consulting and preparing a
supplier diversity annual report
for stakeholders.
3) Tanjeble
Economic Research. Tanjeble
produces independent research on
various supplier diversity
issues such as Report Cards on
various industries and fraud
prevention best practices.
4) Tanjeble
Supplier Diversity Project
Management. Tanjeble partners
with prime contractors to ensure
they meet government, contract
and company-wide supplier
diversity goals on large
construction projects.
The dinner meeting will be held at the Westshore
Hotel, located at 1200 N. Westshore Blvd. The hotel
is just north of I-275 and Cypress Avenue on the east side of Westshore (map). Evenings will begin with a social at 6:00 P.M.,
followed by a buffet dinner at 6:30 and a presentation at 7:00. The
cost is $20, payable at the door.
To make your reservation, please use the following link
Chapter
Meeting Reservation and complete the form at the bottom of
the page. You can also make your reservation by emailing
Wayne
Boytim by the Friday before the
meeting date. Reservations will be accepted after that date and
walk-ups are always welcome. Please remember that cancellations are
accepted up to the afternoon of the meeting. No shows will be billed
after the second missed meeting. Please help us keep our costs down
by letting us know if you are unable to attend.
February 12th Dinner Meeting
On Tuesday, 1/12/08, Cresha Cason of Forensic Technology provided a 60
minute presentation Ballistic Imaging Investigation to the
chapter members at the West Shore Hotel in Tampa.
Ms, Cason’s presentation began at 7:00 p.m. She prefaced her
remarks by providing a brief biography and summary of her
company’s history. Below are a few of the high-lights from her
discussion:
-
The discussion was broken
into 4 segments: Firearms identification, ballistics and
forensic history, components of ammunition and functioning
of firearms.
-
The International Ballistics
Identification System (IBIS) is recognized as one of the
leading methods in ballistic imaging.
-
Without computerization, the
science of ballistic identification and matching is very
time consuming.
-
The process has automated
and reduced turnaround time significantly, albeit the
workload is still significant.
-
The next generation of
technology centers on 3D which will provide examiners the
ability to conduct more in-depth analysis.
-
In 2001 the FBI and ATF
attempted a short-lived joint program by creating the
National Integrated Ballistics ID program.
-
Biggest challenge to
ballistic imaging is securing adequate resources at local
levels.
|
President's Message
We are moving swiftly
through the year. We do hope that you have enjoyed the
presentations thus far. Please make sure to give us feedback as
we share that with speakers. The seminar speakers are nearly
finalized and we will be making the detail as soon as it is
available.
One of our goals this
year as a Chapter was developing a student board. The focus of
this student board would be to act as a liaison with the local
Universities, potential recruiting source of future membership.
In return it would allow the students the opportunity to learn
about the ACFE our chapter and potential career development in
the future. While the board will be doing the preliminary work
we would like your assistance. We understand everyone has a
very busy schedule, however, if each member could share a little
time and/or information it would ease the workflow and really
help the Chapter overall.
By now you will have
received a survey via an email blast. We will send a second
reminder as well. If you have been kind enough to respond
already, please ignore the reminder and thank you in advance for
your cooperation. Clark Bolton and I will be contacting you
directly to assist us with this project goal.
The other primary
goal at this moment is Chapter of the year. Again, the
questionnaire will greatly help us in accomplishing that.
We are asking for
nominations for Chapter Officers. Gary will provide information
for nominations and the election process in the Newsletter and
on the website.
We look forward to
seeing you at the next meeting on March 11th! Until
then, best wishes!
Christine A. Dever, CPA, CFE |
|
