Over the next two days we will hear from several leaders in fraud prevention and detection and will learn valuable tips to help improve our own investigation skills. This conference is being held in person at the Mountain America Credit Union Tanner Building in West Jordan and broadcast live through Zoom to virtual attendees. The Zoom link for each presentation is the same and can be access by clicking on the link to the right. For those that wish to dial in, additional information is provided below:
Zoom Link Information
Day 1 - Thursday
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89993774361?pwd=wP2bkgdItvsUdaLiLU5qzPygtfjxe5.1
Meeting ID: 899 9377 4361
Passcode: 045604
Day 2 - Friday
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84838955987?pwd=zWJ5dBhAfOBFnhoIsnUr3wllaqVvUn.1
Meeting ID: 848 3895 5987
Passcode: 307696
Additional Information
If you have any other technical difficulties, need assistance, or have questions, do not hesitate to contact us at events@utah-acfe.org.
Thank you, and have a great conference!
Aaron Clark is a shareholder in Dentons’ white-collar defense, government investigations, and business litigation practice groups. He is also a former Assistant United States Attorney (in both Utah and Southern California), with nearly two decades of litigation experience, including dozens of federal jury trials.
Angela Mennitt is the FBI’s Supervisory Forensic Accountant in Salt Lake City, UT. Among her current responsibilities, she teaches on expert disclosure content at the FBI Academy.
To be determined
Aaron Burgoyne is an investigative accountant for the Division of Securities at the Utah Department of Commerce, where he is tasked with providing financial and accounting-related analyses for investigations into potential violations of the Utah Securities Act. Aaron also works as an adjunct professor at Utah Valley University, teaching a class on fraud examination and forensic accounting. Aaron is a CPA and a CFE.
Cidne Orchard is the senior investigator in the Enforcement section of the Utah Division of Securities. Cidne has been a securities regulator for approximately fourteen years over the course of two terms of employment at the Division. She previously worked as an examiner in matters of securities licensure and compliance. She has investigated fraud related to the offer and sale of securities in or from the state of Utah. She is the recipient of the 2024 US Attorney Law Enforcement award for outstanding investigative skills.
Get ready to "unbox" the world of Finfluencers! This training equips investigators with the knowledge and tools to identify and unravel fraudulent investment schemes promoted by social media financial influencers. We're “spilling the tea” on how to detect red flags in misleading investment advice, analyze patterns of deceptive behavior, and leverage digital evidence to build strong cases. This training is tailored to help investigators stay ahead of emerging Finfluencer fraud trends and take you from "rizz" to real-world application.
Leah is the CEO and Founder of Workman Forensics in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Leah is a licensed Private Investigator in Oklahoma and a licensed Certified Public Accountant in Oklahoma and Utah.
While working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Leah discovered an interest and talent for forensic accounting. After leaving the FBI, she served as a senior certified fraud examiner in a Tulsa public accounting firm before leaving to open Workman Forensics in 2010.
With over 18 years of experience and a track record of more than 300 cases, Leah has refined her expertise to develop the Data Sleuth® Process—a scalable, data-driven approach to forensic accounting and fraud investigations. This innovative method is featured in her book, Data Sleuth - Using Data in Forensic Accounting and Fraud Investigations, and explored further in the bi-monthly Data Sleuth Podcast.
She holds an undergraduate degree in accounting from Oral Roberts University and an MBA from Oklahoma State University.
Based on a multi-million dollar embezzlement investigation performed by Workman Forensics — this interactive case study applies the standard of objectivity using the Data Sleuth® Process to explore the fraud risks that created opportunities within an oil and gas company for the subject to steal.
This fast-paced, facilitator-led group training utilizes case story videos and sample evidence packet (or online dashboard) to simulate the investigative process. Participants complete various solo decision-making and investigation activities to calculate the embezzlement loss by the fraud scheme and identify assets purchased with the funds that might provide a recovery avenue for the victim.
Learning Objectives:
1. Apply the ethical standard of objectivity.
2. Apply the basic data analytics concepts to a real-world experience.
3. Quantify the loss based on best evidence.
4. Communicate the loss and other findings to clients, judges, juries, and law enforcement.
R. Blake Hamilton is a partner at Dentons Durham Jones Pinegar. He is a member of the Commercial Litigation, Health Care, Insurance, White Collar and Government Investigations practice groups. Blake’s primary focus is representing governmental entities in civil rights litigation. He has represented governmental entities and their employees through the Utah Local Government Trust, Utah Counties Indemnity Pool, Utah Risk Management Agency, Utah Highway Patrol Association, and Professional Law Enforcement Association. Blake serves as general counsel for the Utah Peace Officers Association and the National Institute of Jail Operations. He also serves as general counsel for the Hurricane City Police Department and the Powder Mountain Water & Sewer Improvement District.
Blake also focuses on representing individuals and entities in complex criminal matters (CJA Panel member), collections work, professional liability, and health care litigation including licensing matters before the Utah Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing (DOPL). Blake has significant trial experience in both Federal and State Courts. As well as administrative hearing experience. He has also worked on briefs and/or argued before the Utah Court of Appeals, Utah Supreme Court, the 9th & 10th Circuit Courts of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Blake was born and raised in Utah. He is deeply committed to contributing to the community. While in law school, Blake interned at the Gonzaga University Legal Assistance Clinic, which provides legal services for elderly and low income individuals. He has also co-chaired through the Utah State Bar the Wills for Heroes committee, which provides wills and other estate planning services for emergency first responders and their families. Blake has served in many leadership positions both at the firm and with the Bar. This includes serving as a member of the firm’s Board of Directors, chair of the firm’s Governmental Entity Defense group, and President Elect of the Utah Chapter of the Federal Bar Association. When he’s not working, Blake is usually coaching one of his three daughters’ basketball or soccer teams, depending on which is in season.
Luke Vreeken is a shareholder at Sage Forensic Accounting, a highly specialized consulting firm that offers services in forensic accounting, economic damage analysis, and business valuation. Over the past eleven years, Mr. Vreeken has been involved in the analysis of hundreds of cases involving investigative accounting, damage analysis, and business valuation for a wide variety of industries.
Mr. Vreeken enjoys learning new skills, which has translated into working in several industries and the completion of degrees in graphic design, military intelligence operations, economics, and accounting. Mr. Vreeken is a Certified Public Accountant, Accredited Business Valuation expert, Accredited Member of the American Society of Appraisers and a Certified Fraud Examiner.
Mr. Vreeken currently president of the Utah Chapter of the American Society of Appraisers, serves on the board of the Utah Chapter of Certified Fraud Examiners, and services on the law day run committee for And Justice For All, a non-profit organization providing legal services to Utah's most vulnerable citizens.
Before joining Sage, Mr. Vreeken served as a sergeant in the United States Army as a human intelligence collector and Spanish linguist.
This presentation explores how federal prosecutors have pursued fraud under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) initiatives created through the CARES Act. The session walks through the statutory framework, common charges, prosecutorial strategies, defense themes, and practical lessons learned from real-world cases.
Drawing from examples involving high-profile defendants, the presentation highlights how prosecutors establish fraud, the investigative tools they use, and the consequences defendants face. It also examines viable defense strategies, including good faith reliance, evolving SBA guidance, and plea negotiations. Attendees will gain a clear understanding of the ongoing enforcement landscape and emphasis on how fraud examiners can prepare a thorough and complete analysis that aligns with the ACFE's standards for fraud examinations.
Learning Objectives:
1. Understand the statutory framework and enforcement tools surrounding PPP and EIDL Loans.
2. Recognize prosecutorial strategies and red flags.
3. Evaluate viable defense themes and the importance of a complete and thorough forensic accounting analysis.
4. Apply lessons from real world case examples and enforcement trends.
Jessica Smith is an Assistant Attorney General and Division Director of the Mortgage and Financial Fraud Division at the Utah Attorney General’s Office. The Division prosecutes mortgage, securities, tax fraud, and other complex financial fraud cases throughout Utah. She has spent her twenty year career prosecuting a wide range of criminal offenses, including violent crimes, drug, child sexual exploitation, and complex multidefendant financial crimes. She graduated from the S.J. Quinney School of Law at the University of Utah.
Lieutenant James Russell is currently the supervisor of the Utah Attorney General's Office Special Investigations Unit (SIU). As a law enforcement officer with over 20 years of experience, James has focused the bulk of his career investigating fraud, property crimes, and complex organized crime. James has a Master of Criminal Justice degree and teaches several Utah POST police academy classes at Tooele Technical College.
A discussion about resources at the Utah AG’s Office, common themes, trends we are seeing, considerations in criminal prosecutions and case study.
Trinity Jordan is a former Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, based in Miami, Florida. While an Assistant United States Attorney, he was involved with prosecuting international Ponzi schemes and white-collar fraud. He has lead investigations with the IRS, FBI, State Department, Homeland Security, and Secret Service. Currently, Mr. Jordan is a shareholder at the international law firm DENTONS, where he specializes in federal white-collar investigations and defense. He has successfully represented clients against allegations of fraud by the Federal government in multiple cases, including conservation easement tax cases, ERC fraud cases, money laundering allegations, and securities fraud matters
Kevin has over 25 years of experience in accounting and financial investigations. He began his career in public accounting where he worked for four years in audit and tax in Salt Lake City, Utah. Kevin spent the next 20 years working as a Special Agent for the FBI in Midland, Texas; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Washington, D.C where he largely specialized in investigating complex financial matters. Since May of 2024, Kevin has worked as a managing director for Trajectory Forensics, a forensic accounting firm specializing in financial investigations, litigation consulting, and forensic accounting.
Utah is considered to have one of the highest rates of affinity fraud, particularly affinity fraud targeting members of religious and church groups. This is usually due to the large number of individuals who are likely to trust individuals who present themselves as members of the same religious organization, leading to a lower level of due diligence before investing. We will discuss the common characteristics of affinity fraud and give some sample real world cases which made headlines – giving some behind the scenes information insights learned from these cases.
Ben Barnum recently completed a 20-year career as a special agent with IRS-Criminal Investigation, where he had the opportunity to work a broad range of substantive financial investigations in Portland, OR; Washington, DC; and Salt Lake City, UT to include money laundering, narcotics, embezzlement, IEEPA, mail/wire fraud, terrorism related crimes, tax, and structuring cases. He was assigned to the FBI White Collar Squad (Salt Lake City, UT), Global Illicit Financial Task Force (Wash DC) and a Joint Counter-Terrorism Task Force (Wash DC). Ben has worked joint investigations with DEA, ICE, FBI, DCIS, USDA OIG, US Secret Service, US Postal Inspection Service, FDA-OCI and Army CID, as well as state and local law enforcement partners.
Prior to working as a special agent, Ben was a soldier with the 141st/142nd Military Intelligence Battalions for eight years. During this time, he was deployed for 15-months in the Middle East and lead a mobile intelligence collection team that successfully completed over 30 intelligence gathering missions. Additionally, Ben worked for the State of Utah as a criminal investigator for 4 years and graduated from the University of Utah with a degree in Accounting/Spanish minor.
US Army Capt. Michael Dung Nguyen, was sentenced to 30 months in prison following his guilty pleas to the crimes of theft of government property and structuring financial transactions. Cpt Nguyen admitted that while on deployment to Iraq, he stole and converted to his own use approximately $690,000 in United States currency. Nguyen gained access to the funds in his capacity as the Project Purchasing Officer in the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment of the United States Army. The money was derived from Commander's Emergency Response Program (CERP) funds. CERP funds are the property of the United States and are managed by the Department of Defense (DOD). The currency was intended as payment for security contracts with the Sons of Iraq as well as humanitarian relief and reconstruction programs. Nguyen transported the stolen CERP funds into the District of Oregon by mailing the stolen CERP funds to himself at his family’s Oregon residence prior to his return from Iraq. Shortly after his return from Iraq, Nguyen opened numerous new bank accounts and proceeded to deposit the stolen CERP money into those accounts in a manner that was intended to evade federal reporting requirements for the deposit of large amounts of currency.
Cassie Carvajal (CPA, CFE) is a Forensic Accountant in the FBI’s Salt Lake City Division. Cassie joined the FBI in 2023 and first learned to trace cryptocurrency during her forensic accounting training at Quantico. In 2024, she joined the FBI’s Virtual Currency Response Team, which provides specialized support for cases involving cryptocurrency. Prior to joining the FBI, Cassie worked as an internal auditor for the government of Salt Lake City and as a corporate tax auditor for the state of Utah. When not in the office, Cassie can be found biking to yoga or walking with her husband, daughter, and retired racing greyhound.
Crypto Fraud: Patterns, Prevention, and Recovery, with the aim of communicating the current trends and most common types of crypto scams, what banks and private entities can do to recognize the warning signs and prevent losses, and how we at the FBI respond to reports and when we can trace and take action to recover victims’ funds.
Bruce Hughes, CPA, graduated with a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Utah and a Master of Taxation from the University of Southern California. He has 40 years of experience as a CPA in personal and business taxation, small business consulting and wealth management. Bruce also has special expertise in real estate taxation and investment as a licensed real estate broker and currently serves on various boards.
To be determined.
Justin has 20 years of experience as an auditor, forensic accountant, and SEC Enforcement accountant. As a Senior Advisor at the SEC, he worked on national priority areas as well as local and regional matters in Utah. He has experience working with groups inside and outside the Commission, including various offices of the Department of Justice (DOJ), PCAOB, SEC’s Office of Chief Accountant, and Corporation Finance. He received MS and BS degrees in Accounting from Brigham Young University.
Will discuss the closure of the Salt Lake Regional Office of the SEC and the expected impact on SEC Enforcement of white-collar fraud in Utah. Will also discuss what to expect from SEC Enforcement under the new SEC leadership.
Ramsey is a CPA/CFE and has over 20 years of experience as a forensic accountant. Since 2008, Ramsey’s work has focused largely on anti-corruption matters, with work in over 30 countries for leading companies in multiple industries.
The annual cost of corruption is estimated to be in the trillions of dollars globally. The effects of corruption, outside of bribes and the theft of public funds, can be wide-reaching, often impacting areas such as: levels of investment and economic growth; the cost of doing business; the efficiency of public services; and increased inequality. Why is corruption so prevalent, and what role can Certified Fraud Examiners play in combating corruption?
In this presentation, Ramsey Pace, a Senior Director in FTI Consulting’s Forensic & Litigation Consulting practice, will explore the current state of global corruption and enforcement, explain significant updates to U.S. corruption laws, and provide real-world examples of how CFE’s can play a role in preventing and rooting out corruption. Ramsey is a CPA/CFE and has over 20 years of experience as a forensic accountant. Since 2008, Ramsey’s work has focused largely on anti-corruption matters, with work in over 30 countries for leading companies in multiple industries.
Rob Woellhaf is a Certified Fraud Examiner with over 20 years of experience in counter-fraud operations at one of the largest credit unions in the country. Rob’s expertise includes fraud detection, prevention, investigation, recovery, and analytics. Over the past 9 years, Rob has led teams that have been responsible for preventing over $600 million in fraud losses. Rob is currently a professional fraud consultant offering accessible consultations to small and mid-sized credit unions and community banks. Rob is a founding member of Utah Fraud Prevention Coalition, a group of law enforcement, government, credit unions and banks that focuses on increasing fraud awareness and education in Utah communities. The irony of being named “Rob” and working in fraud is not lost on him.
I am a professional fraud consultant with over 20 years of experience in fraud operations at one of the top-ten largest credit unions in the country. I specialize in offering accessible consulting for small and mid-sized credit unions and community banks.
I know that most of the attendees specialize in forensic accounting, internal audit and internal fraud. My expertise is more in first party fraud at a financial institution. This presentation will highlight some of the special considerations for pursuing fraud investigations at a bank or credit union highlighting the intersection between the two disciplines…a ven diagram if you will.
Eddie Miro is a Cybersecurity Researcher at Cyber Skyline. He has presented at DEF CON, HOPE, Wild West Hackin’ Fest, and has been published in 2600 Magazine. Eddie specializes in physical security and social engineering, and is also a current DEF CON Goon. Hack the planet.
Inside Social Engineering is a deeply personal exploration of crime, trust, and transformation from someone who’s lived on both sides of the system. From a childhood shaped by instability and manipulation to a career in ethical hacking and physical security, this talk reframes social engineering not just as a professional discipline, but as a survival strategy learned through experience. Blending lived experience with technical insight, it challenges conventional views of white-collar crime, showing how systems fail, how people adapt, and how redemption is often a quiet, complicated process.
After the conference, we will upload the video recordings for the trainings that were recorded to this attendees page. The link to view the recording will replace the Zoom link buttons next to each presentation.
After certifying your attendance for each session please fill out the survey below about your overall experience with this conference. Once the survey is complete, your certificate will be generated.
If you have any technical difficulties, need assistance, or have questions, do not hesitate to contact us at events@utah-acfe.org.
Chapter membership ranges from anti-fraud specialists with minimal experience to those with a wealth of anti-fraud knowledge. Chapter involvement is a great way to learn from the best or give back to the profession by mentoring the next generation of anti-fraud professionals.
