Join us for the Houston ACFE Monthly IN-PERSON luncheon!  It's on the 2nd Tuesday of each month, so mark your recurring calendars!

This month you can earn your 2 hours of Ethics CPE, plus 2 more hours of regular CPE!

Note: We will have a drawing for one (in person and virtual) free entries to the Houston ACFE conference October 5-6 and another drawing for one free National virtual conference entry June 12-14 (not in person).   We will also have a drawing for the CFE exam prep course at the event.  Must be present to win!

Date: Tuesday, April 11, 2023

Time: 9-11 am - Ethics Presentation; 11 am-Noon, Banking Fraud; Noon-1 pm, Lunch;  1-2 pm, Healthcare Fraud

First Speaker:  David W. Waddell, Esq.

Title: Ethics - Black and White?

Description: Ethically based decisions are not always black and white.  All of us have had to make an ethical decision that was difficult to decide what was right and what was wrong.  This presentation will address the laws regarding ethics, the impact of these laws, and some examples of such situations.

Bio: Mr. Waddell is self-employed as an independent arbitrator with ProActive Arbitration.  He has been a solo and panel arbitrator - three panels, one as chair; arbitrator in 20+ awarded arbitrations since 2014.  He has been an American Arbitration Association (AAA) arbitrator since 2002.  Also, he is a member of AAA's Construction, and Large, Complex Commercial Panel; R-7 Arbitrator. And he is a ProActive training instructor.  

He has been an arbitration advocate in 60+ construction and commercial disputes since 1989.  Successfully advocated for a foreign company in a contract matter in a two week International Centre for Dispute Resolution arbitration in the Permanent Court of Arbitration, Peace Palace, The Hague, Netherlands.  He has more than 30 years as a trial attorney, and business and legal consultant assisting clients in clear thinking.  He has 15-20 jury verdicts, 25-35 bench trial judgments, and has represented clients in 120-160 mediations.  He completed mediator training in 1992.  

He has construction experience in commercial, industrial, and residential projects including the prosecution and defense of claims involving architects, bid awards, bond and lien claims, delay claims, design defects, environmental issues, erection disputes, payment and performance issues, site conditions, surety issues, warranty issues, wrongful termination, Texas Residential Construction Liability Act, Exterior Insulation and Finish Systems, and mold claims.  He also has commercial experience in real estate, bankruptcy (Board Certified in Business Bankruptcy 1990-1995), mergers and acquisitions, recapitalization, healthcare, Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, shareholder derivative and minority oppression, and products liability, as well as commercial experience with national financial institutions involving Fair Credit Reporting Act, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, lender liability, real estate, and defamation.  

He is a retained ethics expert, on the speaker's directory for the Texas Bar Professionalism Committee, and former 4-H grievance committee member.  He also served as a Member/Chair of the Supreme Court of Texas Grievance Oversight Committee from 1997 to 2002.  He was admitted to the State Bar of Texas in 1986; to the U.S. District Courts: Southern, Western, Northern, and Eastern Districts of Texas; to various other state and federal courts; and to the U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.  He attained his JD from St. Mary's University in 1986, and a BA in Psychology, emphasis in Finance, from Trinity University in 1982.

Learning Objectives:  

• What laws and regulations concern ethical decisions in today's society.
• How these laws impact businesses, governments, and the general public.
• How we can be prepared to make better ethical decisions in the future.

Second Speaker: Katherine Cobb

Title: Payments Fraud Schemes Facing Banks and Their Customers

Description: Fraud schemes involving payment fraud continue to plague financial institutions and their customers.  Fraudster continue to test and develop better means to initiate and execute these fraud schemes.  Banks and customers must be constantly on top of the latest schemes and methods to stop and rectify the losses that may occur.

Bio: Ms. Cobb manages the Cyber Incident Response and Insider Threat teams at Zions Bancorporation.  She is responsible for actively improving the bank’s cyber incident response capabilities, developing and maintaining key risk indicators, and driving automation.  Prior to this role, she managed the Enterprise Fraud department and was responsible for the fraud technology strategy and roadmap, fraud reporting and analytics.  Before joining Zions, she managed the Treasury Management Department at Post Oak Bank.  She is a Certified Fraud Examiner and Certified Treasury Professional.  When she isn’t working, she enjoys spending time with her husband, three children, playing piano, and strategic board games.

Learning Objectives:  

• What payment fraud schemes are occurring and the impact on the financial world.
• Who is behind these schemes and what is being done to stop them.
• What measures are being taken to identify and stop the fraud.

Third Speaker: Robert Rodgers, CFE

Title: Trends in Healthcare Fraud

Description: Healthcare fraud rapidly adjusted after the Covid-19 pandemic, opening to new and easier ways to steal from the healthcare trust funds.  Bad actors exploited this situation to fatten their pockets with ill-gotten gains.  Federal, state, and local governments, as well as private insurers have been fighting an uphill battle to stop the fraud and recover the losses.

Bio: Mr. Rodgers is self-employed and has over 29 years of experience investigating fraud, waste, and abuse of governmental assistance programs, such as Medicare, Medicaid, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Community Based Alternatives, Food Stamp Trafficking, and Internal Affairs, and bringing those who abuse those programs to appropriate justice and/or remediation.  He has served on several task forces composed of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies.  He has worked numerous joint investigations with federal and state partners regarding healthcare fraud, immigration fraud, loan fraud, identity fraud, mail fraud, arson, credit card fraud, social security fraud, tax fraud, bank fraud, money laundering, SARS reporting evasion, and terrorism linked fraud.  He has developed and revised several work procedures and instruction manuals for several of his prior employers, and educated and mentored others to improve their investigative skills.  He is a persistent problem solver and enjoy finding ways to discover how fraud, waste, and abuse occurred and how to prevent it in the future.  He graduated from Houston Christian University with a MA in Psychology in 1994 and a BA in Psychology in 1987.

Learning Objectives:

• What types of healthcare fraud have arisen since the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Why these types of fraud are occurring and who is profiting from it.
• How governmental agencies are combating the fraud.

Presentation Timeline:

8:45 am: Gathering

8:55 am: Houston ACFE Board Remarks

9:00-11:00 am: Ethics Presentation

11:00 am -12:00 noon: Banking Fraud Presentation

12:00 noon-1:00 pm: Lunch

1:00 pm-2:00 pm: Healthcare Fraud Presentation

Recommended CPE hours: 4.0 credits.  

Event Policies:

Program Cancellation Policy

If you have registered and/or paid for an event and you need to cancel, you MUST cancel online through your account no later than 5 days prior to the event, unless otherwise indicated in specific event policies, to request a refund and/or cancel your registration. The Chapter must confirm event registrations with the venue prior to the event and any changes after this time period can become a financial cost to the Chapter. The Chapter reserves the right to make the final determination on what percentage charge/refund will be returned for cancellations made after the cutoff. The default condition is that cancellations made after cutoff will be charged at 100% and/or no refunds will be allowed. In the event the Chapter determines that partial charges or refunds will be allowed, they will be made on a case by case basis.

In the event of having to cancel one of the events,  the Chapter would immediately send an email blast to all registrants with the emails they used for registration.  The Chapter media relations officer would post on all social media platforms notifying members of the cancellation, and the Chapter webmaster would also post cancellation on the Chapter website.

In the event an attendee does not show up to the event, the registration cost will be forfeited. If payment at the door was the selected method, then the attendee will be billed for the full cost of the event. The Chapter reserves the right to bar future registrations for any attendees who routinely register and fail to pay and/or attend the event.  If you have any questions you may email events@houstonacfe.org."

For more information regarding refund, complaint and/or program cancellation policies, please visit the Terms & Conditions section of the website, or email us at events@houstonacfe.org.  

Additional Information:

Delivery Method:  Group Live
Prerequisites: Not Applicable
Field of Study: Specialized Knowledge
Who Should Attend:  Anti-fraud professionals, Auditors, Accountants, Attorneys, Investigators, Law Enforcement, Educators, Students
Advanced Preparation: None
Program Level: Basic

NASBA Sponsor No.  125230

The Houston Area Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors.  State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit.  Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its web site: www.nasbaregistry.org

For concerns regarding course offerings, certifications or complaints, please contact:  Sasha Gartman, Training Director at the Houston ACFE.