Financial crime investigations are not just about documents, data and suspicious activity. They are also about human behavior, decision-making, bias, deception and the mental patterns that shape how investigators interpret evidence. In this Fincrime Virtual Week 2026 session, Pete Staffell will explore the psychology behind effective investigations, including how investigators can recognize cognitive traps, assess credibility, manage uncertainty and think more clearly when the facts are incomplete or deliberately obscured.

Drawing connections between investigative practice and behavioral psychology, this session will examine how fraudsters exploit trust, pressure and perception, while also looking inward at how investigators can sharpen their own judgment. Attendees will leave with practical insights for improving investigative interviews, case analysis and decision-making in complex financial crime matters.

By the end of this session, attendees will be able to:

1. Identify common cognitive biases that can affect financial crime investigations and evidence interpretation.
2. Explain how fraudsters use psychological manipulation, social engineering and pressure tactics to influence victims, institutions and investigators.
3. Apply behavioral insights to improve investigative interviews, credibility assessments and case analysis.
4. Recognize the role of uncertainty, intuition and structured thinking in complex investigations.
5. Develop practical strategies for maintaining objectivity, reducing tunnel vision and strengthening investigative decision-making.

No hero travels alone! Connect with fellow FinCrime Virtual Week 2026 attendees through speed networking powered by Grip. These short three minute meetings make it easy to meet peers, exchange ideas, and start meaningful professional connections.

Stablecoins are moving beyond crypto trading and increasingly becoming part of the broader financial infrastructure for payments, treasury management, cross-border settlement, institutional liquidity, and commercial transactions. As banks and financial institutions encounter stablecoins through clients, counterparties, fintech partners, exchanges, payment providers, and custody relationships, financial crime risk teams must understand how these flows intersect with traditional banking activity.

In this session, Timothy Dunfey and Ross Delston will explore how stablecoins are reshaping AML, sanctions, fraud, counterparty risk, vendor risk, and investigative expectations for financial institutions. The discussion will examine the evolving stablecoin ecosystem, key risk touchpoints, and red flags. The session will also address what banks need before engaging with digital asset activity, including governance, risk assessments, monitoring, customer segmentation, escalation protocols, and board-level oversight.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Explain how stablecoins are evolving from crypto trading instruments into payment and settlement infrastructure used by commercial clients, fintechs, exchanges, and financial institutions.
2. Identify key financial crime risks associated with stablecoin activity, including fraud, sanctions exposure, illicit finance, counterparty risk, wallet risk, exchange exposure, and third-party dependencies.
3. Recognize practical red flags and investigative considerations involving stablecoin flows, including unusual redemption activity, high-risk counterparties, scam tokens, wallet clustering, sanctions exposure, and rapid movement across platforms.
4. Assess the foundational controls banks should consider before engaging with stablecoin-related activity, including digital asset policies, AML/BSA controls, new product risk assessments, vendor risk frameworks, governance, and escalation procedures.

Blockchain investigations require a different way of thinking. Transactions are transparent yet pseudonymous, data is abundant yet easy to misinterpret, and criminal behavior often hides in plain sight across wallets, chains, and platforms. For financial crime professionals, success as a blockchain investigator depends less on mastering tools alone and more on developing the right investigative skills.

This webinar focuses on the essential skills investigators need to analyze blockchain activity, identify illicit patterns, and build defensible investigative narratives. Participants will explore how blockchain data fits into broader financial crime investigations, how to ask the right questions of on-chain activity, and how to avoid common analytical pitfalls. The session emphasizes practical judgment, investigative logic, and cross-functional thinking, equipping attendees to approach crypto investigations with confidence and clarity.

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Understand how blockchain investigations differ from traditional financial investigations, including the strengths and limitations of on-chain data.
• Apply core investigative skills to blockchain activity, such as pattern recognition, hypothesis testing, and transaction flow analysis.
• Identify common red flags and typologies associated with illicit crypto activity, including fraud, laundering, and sanctions evasion.
• Interpret blockchain data in context, combining on-chain insights with off-chain information such as customer behavior and transaction purpose.
• Develop clear, defensible investigative narratives that translate complex blockchain activity into meaningful risk and compliance insights.

Join us for a live demonstration of Abrigo's fraud management capabilities and learn how institutions are addressing today's most common payment fraud threats, including check fraud, wire fraud, and ACH fraud.

We'll walk through real-world fraud scenarios and highlight tools that help streamline investigations and reduce losses.

During this live demo, you'll see how to:

• Detect potential check fraud activity
• Investigate wire fraud and account takeover risks
• Monitor ACH transactions for suspicious behavior
• Prioritize alerts and streamline case management
• Improve fraud detection across payment channels

Don’t miss this session to see how institutions today are seeing an ROI of 6 months or less and a 90%+ fraud detection rate.

The strongest fighters don't go it alone. This demo walks you through what ACFCS membership unlocks, from a global network of financial crime professionals to exclusive resources, events, and community tools that keep you connected year round.

The illegal e-cigarette trade is more than a public health or consumer protection issue. It is a fast-moving financial crime risk involving illicit supply chains, trade-based money laundering, counterfeit goods, tax evasion, smuggling, shell companies, online marketplaces, and cross-border payment flows. As demand for vaping products continues to grow, criminal networks are exploiting regulatory gaps, fragmented enforcement, and complex distribution channels to move product and profits through the financial system.

In this session, Dr. Zoya Faynleyb will examine how illicit actors use the illegal e-cigarette market to generate, disguise, and move dirty money. The discussion will explore typologies, red flags, investigative challenges, and the broader financial crime implications for banks, payment providers, marketplaces, logistics firms, and compliance teams. Participants will gain a clearer understanding of how seemingly low-level retail activity can connect to larger networks involving organized crime, fraud, customs violations, and money laundering.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Explain how the illegal e-cigarette trade creates financial crime risk through smuggling, counterfeit products, tax evasion, illicit distribution, and cross-border sales.
2. Identify common money laundering and fraud typologies associated with illegal vape and e-cigarette activity, including shell companies, trade misinvoicing, online sales, payment processor abuse, and third-party logistics networks.
3. Recognize red flags that may indicate illicit e-cigarette-related activity, including unusual merchant behavior, inconsistent business profiles, high-risk imports, rapid account turnover, suspicious payment patterns, and links to counterfeit or unlicensed products.
4. Assess how illicit e-cigarette networks may intersect with broader organized crime, customs violations, consumer fraud, public health risks, and underground financial activity.
5. Describe practical steps financial institutions and compliance teams can take to improve detection, escalation, and investigation of suspicious activity tied to the illegal e-cigarette trade.

Every legend needs a story! Connect with fellow FinCrime Virtual Week 2026 attendees through speed networking powered by Grip. These short three minute meetings make it easy to meet peers, exchange ideas, and start meaningful professional connections.

In a field built on trust and expertise, certification is your mark of mastery. See how ACFCS's certification program validates your knowledge, elevates your professional standing, and opens doors across the global compliance community.

Details Coming Soon!

Digital asset regulation is no longer developing in one jurisdiction at a time. Around the world, regulators are building new frameworks for virtual asset service providers, stablecoins, tokenized assets, custody, consumer protection, sanctions compliance, and AML/CFT supervision. For financial institutions, fintechs, exchanges, and compliance professionals, the result is a rapidly shifting global map of obligations, expectations, and enforcement risk.

In this session, Lana Schwartzman will explore key trends in digital asset regulation across major markets and regions, including how jurisdictions are approaching licensing, supervision, financial crime controls, cross-border activity, and regulatory convergence or fragmentation. The discussion will examine what global regulatory change means for AML, sanctions, fraud, risk assessment, customer due diligence, transaction monitoring, governance, and engagement with crypto-related clients or counterparties.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Identify major global trends in digital asset regulation, including developments related to virtual asset service providers, stablecoins, custody, tokenization, and AML/CFT obligations.
2. Compare how different jurisdictions and regions are approaching digital asset supervision, licensing, enforcement, and financial crime risk management.
3. Explain how evolving digital asset rules may affect banks, fintechs, exchanges, payment providers, and other institutions with crypto-related exposure.
4. Recognize key compliance challenges created by regulatory fragmentation, cross-border activity, inconsistent definitions, and differing expectations for digital asset controls.
5. Assess practical considerations for updating AML, sanctions, fraud, customer due diligence, transaction monitoring, governance, and risk assessment programs in response to digital asset regulatory change.

Details Coming Soon!

Crypto investigations do not end when illicit funds are traced. The next challenge is turning blockchain intelligence into recoverable assets, defensible legal action and, where possible, victim restitution. In this Fincrime Virtual Week 2026 session, Mike Castiglione from the FBI’s Asset Forfeiture Team will examine how asset forfeiture works in crypto-related investigations, from identifying digital assets and tracing wallet activity to coordinating seizures, preserving evidence and navigating legal processes.

This session will explore the practical realities of crypto asset forfeiture, including how investigators connect blockchain activity to real-world actors, what makes digital asset seizure different from traditional forfeiture and where financial institutions can support law enforcement efforts. Attendees will gain a clearer understanding of how crypto can be traced, restrained and seized, and why strong investigative documentation is critical when virtual assets move at the speed of the chain.

By the end of this session, attendees will be able to:

1. Explain the role of asset forfeiture in crypto-related financial crime investigations.
2. Identify key investigative steps involved in tracing, restraining and seizing digital assets.
3. Recognize how blockchain analytics, wallet attribution and off-chain evidence support forfeiture actions.
4. Understand the legal, operational and evidentiary challenges unique to crypto asset seizure.
5. Describe how financial institutions can support law enforcement through timely reporting, documentation and collaboration.

Behind many financial crime schemes is a familiar question: who is really in control? Shell companies, trusts, nominees, layered ownership structures, and cross-border corporate vehicles can be used to obscure the individuals who ultimately own, benefit from, or direct financial activity. As jurisdictions continue to update beneficial ownership rules and transparency expectations, financial institutions, regulators, investigators, and compliance teams face the challenge of separating legitimate complexity from deliberate concealment.

This session will examine how beneficial ownership transparency supports the fight against money laundering, sanctions evasion, corruption, fraud, tax crime, and other illicit finance threats. Speakers will explore how criminals misuse legal entities and arrangements, where ownership information can break down, and how investigators can use registries, customer due diligence, open-source information, transaction patterns, and public-private cooperation to identify the “real hero” behind the structure. Participants will gain practical insight into global trends, red flags, investigative challenges, and control considerations for identifying and verifying beneficial ownership in an increasingly complex financial system.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Explain how shell companies, trusts, nominees, and layered ownership structures can be misused to obscure beneficial ownership and facilitate financial crime.
2. Identify financial crime risks associated with opaque ownership structures, including money laundering, sanctions evasion, corruption, fraud, tax crime, and misuse of legitimate corporate vehicles.
3. Recognize red flags that may indicate hidden ownership or control, including complex or unnecessary entity layering, nominee arrangements, inconsistent customer information, unusual jurisdictional links, and unexplained source of wealth or funds.
4. Describe how beneficial ownership information, customer due diligence, registries, open-source intelligence, transaction monitoring, and public-private cooperation can support investigations.
5. Assess practical challenges in verifying beneficial ownership across jurisdictions, legal entity types, trusts, and corporate structures, and consider steps institutions can take to strengthen detection, escalation, and reporting.

Environmental crime is one of the world’s most profitable and complex illicit markets, spanning illegal logging, wildlife trafficking, illegal mining, waste trafficking, fisheries crime, and related corruption. Like a hydra, these crimes often have many heads: organized criminal networks, shell companies, complicit intermediaries, trade fraud, cash-intensive businesses, fraudulent documentation, and cross-border payment flows that can obscure the true source and destination of funds.

This session will examine how financial intelligence can help identify, investigate, and disrupt the money flows behind environmental crime. Speakers will explore the role of financial institutions, FIUs, regulators, and law enforcement in detecting suspicious activity tied to environmental harm, including trade-based money laundering, procurement fraud, bribery, sanctions exposure, beneficial ownership opacity, and misuse of legitimate supply chains. Participants will gain practical insight into red flags, typologies, and investigative approaches that can help compliance and financial crime teams spot the financial roots beneath the forest floor.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Explain how environmental crime generates and moves illicit proceeds through the financial system.
2. Identify common typologies associated with environmental crime, including trade-based money laundering, shell companies, corruption, document fraud, and misuse of supply chains.
3. Recognize red flags that may indicate financial activity linked to illegal logging, mining, wildlife trafficking, waste trafficking, fisheries crime, or related environmental offenses.
4. Describe how financial intelligence, suspicious transaction reporting, beneficial ownership information, and public-private cooperation can support environmental crime investigations.
5. Assess practical steps financial institutions and compliance teams can take to improve detection, escalation, and reporting of suspected environmental crime-related activity.

Details Coming Soon!

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Crypto fraud rarely respects borders. From investment scams and romance fraud to mule networks, exchange abuse, sanctions exposure, rapid asset movement, and cross-chain laundering, digital asset crime can move across jurisdictions faster than traditional compliance programs can comfortably follow. As regulators, law enforcement, exchanges, banks, and compliance teams confront these risks, understanding regional differences and shared red flags is essential.

In this session, Claudia Hernandez, Founder of Fehu, and Mobin Mohammadi, Legal Consultant, will examine how crypto fraud and AML risks are evolving across multiple jurisdictions. The discussion will explore common typologies, emerging red flags, regulatory challenges, investigative considerations, and practical lessons for identifying suspicious digital asset activity. Speakers will also address how financial institutions and virtual asset businesses can strengthen controls, improve escalation, and better understand the cross-border nature of crypto-enabled financial crime.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Identify common crypto fraud typologies across multiple jurisdictions, including investment scams, romance scams, mule activity, exchange abuse, sanctions evasion, and cross-chain laundering.
2. Recognize AML red flags associated with suspicious digital asset activity, including rapid movement of funds, high-risk wallets, unusual exchange behavior, use of mixers or bridges, inconsistent customer activity, and links to scam or illicit finance networks.
3. Explain how jurisdictional differences in regulation, supervision, enforcement, and reporting expectations can affect crypto fraud detection and AML compliance.
4. Assess investigative considerations for tracing digital asset activity across wallets, exchanges, fiat off-ramps, counterparties, and cross-border transaction flows.
5. Describe practical steps financial institutions, virtual asset businesses, and compliance teams can take to strengthen risk assessments, transaction monitoring, escalation procedures, and suspicious activity reporting related to crypto fraud.

Details Coming Soon!

Details Coming Soon!

Explore the paths less taken! Connect with fellow FinCrime Virtual Week 2026 attendees through speed networking powered by Grip. These short three minute meetings make it easy to meet peers, exchange ideas, and start meaningful professional connections.

Mortgage fraud continues to evolve as criminals exploit gaps in identity verification, property records, loan documentation, valuation processes, and digital lending workflows. From fictitious borrowers and synthetic identities to ghost properties, inflated appraisals, straw buyers, occupancy misrepresentations, and organized fraud rings, today’s schemes can create significant exposure for lenders, financial institutions, compliance teams, and investigators.

In this session, Sean Sowards, VP, Fraud Investigations for Fannie Mae, will examine how mortgage fraud schemes are structured, how suspicious activity can hide inside legitimate lending and real estate processes, and where financial crime teams should focus their detection efforts. The discussion will explore key typologies, red flags, investigative challenges, and control considerations tied to borrower identity, property legitimacy, transaction flows, documentation, third-party participants, and post-closing activity. Participants will gain practical insight into how institutions can better identify fraud risks before the mirage becomes a loss.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Identify common mortgage fraud typologies involving fictitious borrowers, synthetic identities, ghost properties, straw buyers, occupancy fraud, appraisal manipulation, and loan documentation fraud.
2. Recognize red flags that may indicate fraudulent borrower identities, suspicious property information, inflated valuations, unusual transaction flows, or coordinated third-party involvement.
3. Explain how mortgage fraud can intersect with money laundering, identity theft, elder exploitation, organized fraud rings, and misuse of legitimate real estate channels.
4. Assess investigative considerations for reviewing loan files, property records, payment activity, beneficial ownership, third-party relationships, and post-closing behavior.
5. Describe practical steps lenders, financial institutions, and compliance teams can take to strengthen fraud detection, escalation, reporting, and cross-functional collaboration.

Every hiring manager has a wishlist. The professionals who check every box, the ones who combine sharp expertise, the right credentials, and an instinct for the field, are rare. But they're not mythical. They're built, deliberately and strategically, one career move at a time. Join Gretchen Keller for a candid session on what it takes to become that professional in financial crime compliance from your first role to your next big leap. Walk away knowing exactly what sets the legends apart, and how to become one.

In this session you’ll learn:

• The most common barriers to entry in financial crime compliance and strategies to overcome them.
• How certifications and continuous learning signal value to prospective employers and decision makers.
• Actionable career advancement strategies tailored to the financial crime prevention profession.

Before algorithms and artificial intelligence, there existed an ancient and mysterious art of glamour. In Celtic legend, glamour was a spell of profound deception, cast by cunning beings to disguise their true nature, manipulate perception, and lure the unsuspecting into believing what was never real. Now, the spell has been recast, this time in the hands of sophisticated financial criminals armed with generative AI.

Today's fraudsters have mastered the ancient art of glamour in its most dangerous modern form. Deepfake videos impersonate trusted executives to authorize fraudulent transactions, AI cloned voices bypass security protocols and deceive employees in real time, synthetic identities meticulously constructed from stolen and fabricated data sail through onboarding and KYC processes undetected, and AI generated documents replicate legitimacy with a precision that challenges even the most experienced financial crime professional.

In this session, FINRA experts will help you see through the spell on how generative AI is supercharging fraud and financial crime across the securities industry. Attendees will gain insight into:

* The evolution of AI enabled impersonation from crude phishing attempts to sophisticated, near-undetectable deepfake schemes
* Synthetic identity fraud how criminals are conjuring fictitious personas that pass compliance checks and exploit financial systems
* Real world cases and typologies observed by FINRA across member firms
* Detection red flags and defensive strategies that compliance and financial crime teams can operationalize today
* The regulatory response how FINRA is evolving its oversight framework to address AI driven threats

A career in federal law enforcement is often viewed as mysterious, intimidating, or out of reach, but the path into the FBI is built on a wide range of backgrounds, skills, and professional experiences. From financial crime investigations and intelligence analysis to cyber-enabled fraud, public corruption, counterterrorism financing, and national security work, the FBI relies on professionals who can follow facts, connect patterns, and serve a mission larger than any one case.

In this session, Jen Hays will help demystify FBI career pathways and provide insight into what it means to pursue a role with the Bureau. The discussion will explore the types of skills and experiences that can translate into FBI careers, the importance of financial crime and compliance expertise, and how candidates can think about readiness, professionalism, and public service. Participants will gain a clearer understanding of how their investigative, analytical, compliance, banking, fraud, AML, cyber, or risk-management backgrounds may align with opportunities at the FBI.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Identify potential FBI career pathways relevant to financial crime, AML, fraud, investigations, intelligence, cybercrime, and compliance professionals.
2. Explain how private-sector, banking, regulatory, legal, analytical, and investigative experience can support a transition into federal law enforcement or public service.
3. Recognize the skills and professional qualities that are valuable in FBI roles, including critical thinking, integrity, communication, collaboration, adaptability, and attention to detail.
4. Describe common misconceptions about FBI careers and better understand how candidates from varied backgrounds may contribute to the Bureau’s mission.
5. Assess practical next steps for exploring FBI career opportunities, preparing for the application process, and evaluating whether an FBI role aligns with their professional goals.

The final dragon has been faced, the legends have been written, and now it's time to gather one last time before the quest comes to a close. Join the ACFCS team for an informal and heartfelt send off as we look back on the moments, connections, and conversations that made this event truly unforgettable.

We'll revisit some of our favorite highlights from the week, the breakthroughs, the laughs, and the legendary sessions that sparked new thinking across our community. But before we close the chapter, we have a few final treasures to award: stay for our closing giveaways for your chance to take home one last piece of treasure.

Most importantly, we are proud to close the event with one of our most meaningful traditions: the announcement of this year's ACFCS Scholarship recipients. These are the rising stars of our field, the next generation of financial crime prevention professionals, and it is our honor to celebrate them in front of this incredible community.

Thank you for being part of the quest. The myths we built together this week are just the beginning and we can't wait to see the futures you'll go on to create. Until next time, may the dragon rest and the legends live on.