Financial Crime Compliance Archives

Katherine Odendaal

Katherine Odendaal is a Chartered Accountant with over 15 years of experience. She has been appointed as a forensic accounting expert and has assisted the named expert on more than 20 occasions.

Katherine has testified in disciplinary hearings across Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as before the labour court of Mozambique. She has assisted private and listed corporations facing serious fraud and misconduct issues, accounting misstatements, and regulatory issues, including allegations of bribery, corruption, and money laundering.

Katherine has experience conducting high-profile and complex multi-jurisdictional forensic fraud, misconduct investigations, and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act compliance reviews across Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and the UK. She has previously been seconded as the global head of investigations for a FTSE 250 client, conducting internal investigations into whistleblowing, financial, conflict of interest, and misconduct matters in subsidiary operations across the UK and Africa.

Katherine assists clients to establish the facts surrounding wrongdoing, as well as to identifying related regulatory concerns and internal control failures. Her work has supported internal and external counsel, boards, and regulators for organisations across multiple sectors, including energy and natural resources, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, telecommunications, and financial services.

Katherine is an accredited Counter Fraud Specialist and an Advanced Cryptocurrency Investigator. She is an associate member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners and a member of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants, the Association of Corporate Investigators, the Women’s White Collar Defence Association, the Female Fraud Forum, and the Fraud Women’s Network.

Priya Giuliani

Priya Giuliani is a Chartered Accountant with nearly 30 years of experience in financial crime investigations and compliance.

Priya has testified and provided witness statements and reports on UK criminal confiscation and civil recovery matters under the Proceeds of Crime Act.  She has supported experts in civil proceedings at the UK High Court and in HMRC tribunals regarding investigations, quantum analyses, and report writing.

Priya has experience as an investigator of money laundering, terrorist financing, fraud, bribery, and corruption. She has worked with corporates, financial institutions, regulators, and law enforcement agencies.

Priya specialises in financial crime risk management matters, including anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist and proliferation financing, sanctions evasion, anti-bribery and corruption, fraud, and tax evasion.   Her recent expert work has been under the Financial Conduct Authority’s skilled person framework, where she has conducted numerous reviews and produced reports on financial services clients’ compliance with UK laws and regulations.

Priya is an accredited counter fraud specialist and holds an International Compliance Association diploma in anti-money laundering. She is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales.

Guler Ann Wiefling

Guler Ann Wiefling is a Certified Fraud Examiner with over 25 years of experience in providing investigative, forensic accounting, financial analysis, litigation support, regulatory, corporate compliance, and advisory services.

Guler provides litigation support services with a focus on both commercial and matrimonial matters. She assists clients with forensic accounting, fraud investigations, asset tracing, breach of contract analysis, partnership disputes, business interruption, and the evaluation of lost profits and economic damages.

Guler’s extensive experience includes the assessment of third-party contracts and compliance, conducting royalty and license audits, identifying financial misreporting, evaluating internal control environments, and developing corporate compliance and governance programs to mitigate risk. She has worked with a broad range of clients, including corporations, government entities, boards of directors, C-level executives, and both in-house and external legal counsel.

Guler has expertise in directing large-scale investigations into domestic bribery, allegations of employee misconduct, embezzlement, misappropriation of funds and assets, vendor collusion, kickback schemes, payroll fraud, False Claims Act violations, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and white-collar crime investigations. She has served as an independent monitor and advises clients on strengthening internal controls, mitigating risk, and implementing remediation strategies to address fraud and misconduct.

Guler holds a master’s in finance and holds a certification in the fundamentals of environmental, social, and governance (ESG). She is a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners and the Women’s White Collar Defense Association. Guler regularly presents on the topics of anti-bribery and anti-corruption practices, fraud detection and prevention, and regulatory and corporate compliance initiatives.

Vanessa Varona

Vanessa Varona is a Certified Public Accountant with over 15 years of experience.

Vanessa has presented before the Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission regarding FCPA investigations and enforcement actions, as well as financial statement fraud and restatements. She has assisted on matters regarding damages for lost profits and business interruption, inventory theft, and post-acquisition. Vanessa has produced expert reports on disputes with values of up to $100 million.

Vanessa has assisted clients with proactive work such as compliance and fraud risk assessments. She has experience in a range of industries, including transportation, healthcare and life sciences, power and utilities, manufacturing, oil and gas, telecommunications, construction and engineering, aerospace, and aviation.

Vanessa has expertise in investigating fraudulent customs and financial reporting, fraudulent financial statements, investment management, vendor kickback schemes, and rogue trading. She has conducted due diligence and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act investigations and led process improvement initiatives, financial restatements, contractual compliance assessments, and COVID-19 economic relief analyses.

Vanessa holds a degree and a master’s in accounting. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Sean Sarsfield

Sean Sarsfield is a Certified Public Accountant with over 20 years of experience. He has been appointed as an expert witness on more than ten occasions.

Sean has provided forensic accounting, business interruption, and litigation support services. He has guided clients through the dispute process, from initial fact-gathering and discovery through arbitration, mediation, and trial. He has prepared for the deposition of fact and opposing expert witnesses, provided opinions through expert witness reports and testimony, and assisted with trial preparation for disputes with alleged damages of up to $100 million.

Sean has provided fraud detection and forensic accounting services for the investigation of allegations of embezzlement, misappropriation of assets, financial reporting fraud, and breach of fiduciary duty. He is qualified to assist in tracing assets, reconstructing financial records, and handling various compliance-related issues. He previously served as an instructor at Deloitte University, the global learning and leadership development center for one of the largest public accounting firms in the world, where he led training sessions for fellow employees and Deloitte clients.

Sean has determined economic damages and lost profits in breach of contract cases, business torts, and intellectual property disputes, among other types of cases. He has also provided guidance regarding business interruption claims and assisted one of the largest oil and gas companies in the world in defending hundreds of thousands of economic damage claims.

Sean is currently the chair of the forensic, litigation and valuation services committee for the Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants. He has presented to attorneys, certified public accountants, and professional associations on several topics, including forensic accounting, business valuation, and the quantification of economic damages.

Michael Bandemer

Michael Bandemer is head of digital forensics and data solutions at HKA. He has over 20 years of experience and has acted as a digital forensic investigation expert on over 500 occasions.

Michael Bandemer is a well-respected digital forensic expert with over two decades of experience navigating the complexities of electronically stored information in high-stakes matters ranging from trade secret misappropriation to regulatory investigations.

Lexology Index – Consulting – Digital and Data – Digital Forensic Experts

Michael has qualified in court as an expert in e-discovery and digital forensics, and provided testimony at deposition, arbitration, federal, and state court. He has been selected as an independent e-discovery and computer forensics expert and has served as a 30(b)(6) corporate representative, special master and court-appointed third-party forensic neutral in various engagements. In these matters, he has addressed discovery and forensic issues concerning records management, forensic protocols, accessibility, authentication, burden, preservation, collection, spoliation, misappropriation, remediation, search and production.

Michael has led hundreds of digital forensics, eDiscovery, data analytics and high-tech crime investigation matters. In the capacity as either a testifying expert, forensics neutral, consultant and/or corporate representative, he has performed, directed, and testified to the preservation, defensible collection, search and analysis (using traditional, emerging advanced analytics, and AI-enabled methods and tools) of digital evidence from virtually every type of device, system, account, and platform.

Michael’s forensic data analysis expertise includes misappropriation of trade secrets, internal employment investigations, asset tracing, business email compromises (BEM), falsified or altered emails, texts and documents, metadata analysis, fraud investigations, unstructured data analytics, and regulatory inquiries (SEC, USPS and FTC).

Michael is a Certified EnCase Computer Examiner, Certified Information Technology Professional, Certified in Financial Forensics, a Certified Public Accountant, and a Certified Management Accountant. He is a member of the International Board of Directors for the High Technology Crime Investigation Association, the Sedona Conference (working groups include the electronic document retention and production and forensic issues in trade secret disputes), the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, and the Institute of Management Accountants. He holds the patent for a structural relational database and interface developed for managing electronic information, photos, and digitized field drawings and notes, and other information in construction defect matters. 

I would definitely recommend Michael. He is well-respected by fellow team members. Mike has an extensive network in the California area.

Lexology Index – Investigations – Digital Forensic Experts

Tony Mauritz

Tony Mauritz is a Chartered Accountant with over ten years of experience. He has assisted the named expert on numerous occasions.  

Tony has provided litigation support on a range of financial and accounting matters. He has assisted clients with shareholder disputes, business interruptions, minority interest valuations, accounting irregularities, and investigations supporting collective actions.

Tony’s experience covers analyzing post-acquisition disputes in international settings, where he evaluates appropriate balances and interprets share purchase agreements. He is proficient in calculating lost profits in complex corporate contexts and conducts event studies to statistically assess shareholder damages following negative media exposure. 

Tony’s expertise includes leading investigations into accounting irregularities, economic crimes, and corruption in both domestic and international cases. He performs financial analyses on bankrupt companies, identifying red flags that may indicate fraud or irregularities and procedures to support trustees in the causation investigation. 

Tony holds a master’s in accounting and finance, and a postgraduate degree in financial auditing. He is a member of the Royal Netherlands Institute of Chartered Accountants and is bilingual in Dutch and English.  

Ramon de Legorburu

Ramon de Legorburu (Ray) is a Certified Public Accountant with over 25 years of experience. He has been appointed as a forensic accounting expert on multiple occasions.

Ray has testified in both depositions and trials as an expert witness on matters involving economic damages and business valuation with disputed values of up to $100million. He has presented to the US Securities and Exchange Commission regarding a financial statement restatement for a large publicly traded packaging company.

Ray has assisted financial services clients during the acquisition of foreign entities and in detecting and deterring elaborate money-laundering schemes at the target entities internationally. His sector experience includes construction, manufacturing, financial services, transportation, healthcare, consumer goods industries, and media and entertainment.

Ray specialises in dispute services including damages and lost profit calculations, and has investigated allegations of suspected FCPA violations, management fraud, financial statement misrepresentation and embezzlements. Having been a former financial statement auditor, he has assisted in the defense of public accounting firms involved in accounting malpractice suits.

Ray holds a degree in accounting and is a member of both the American Institute and Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He is bilingual in English and Spanish.

Pamela Verick

Pamela (Pam) Verick is a Certified Compliance and Ethics Professional and Certified Fraud Examiner with over 25 years of experience in corporate compliance and forensic investigations.

Pam has assisted organizations, key stakeholders, and their legal counsel on fraud governance matters and unplanned event response in 40 countries across six continents. She has also performed investigations and root-cause analyses of economic crime and misconduct by corporate directors and officers, management, employees, and third parties.

Pam has worked with private, public, and not-for-profit organizations to develop and defend their anti-fraud program strategy and spend. She has implemented confidential reporting systems and processes, value-driven fraud risk assessments, right-sized fraud controls, bespoke fraud audits, and resonant training and communication activities to help combat internal and external vulnerabilities arising from fraud and misconduct.

Pam has deep expertise in global ethics, integrity, and anti-corruption compliance matters. She has developed internal control frameworks, program reviews, control evaluation, first and third-party compliance assessments, and technology-enabled monitoring activities to prevent, detect, and deter unethical business practices, integrity lapses and failures, and various forms of corruption. This includes bid-rigging, self-dealing and other conflicts of interest, economic extortion, illegal gratuities, and kickbacks.

Pam holds a master’s in justice with a concentration in judicial administration. She is a member of the COSO Fraud Risk Management Guide Taskforce; the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners; the Association of Certified Sanctions Specialists, Ethics and Compliance Initiative; the Institute of Internal Auditors; and the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics; the Women’s White Collar Defense Association and is an affiliate member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and affiliated professional of the American Bar Association.

Darren Mullins

Darren Mullins is a Certified Computer Examiner with over 15 years of experience. He has been appointed as a digital forensic expert or assisted the named expert on multiple occasions.

Darren has provided expert testimony in identifying tampered email communications between the involved parties and has provided both written and oral testimony in litigation and arbitration cases in Europe and the Middle East. He has undertaken fraud and regulatory investigations regarding financial crime, digital evidence recovery, electronic discovery, and data analytics with disputed values of up to $9 billion.

Darren is an accomplished and recognized expert in forensic and cyber investigations, digital evidence recovery, electronic discovery, and data analytics. Prior to HKA, Darren has led teams at Deloitte, EY, and KPMG, developing and delivering forensic investigations and cyber services for high-profile clients across industries including fraud, financial crime (AML and Sanctions), cyber breaches, intellectual property (IP) theft, corporate espionage, internet, and email investigations.

Darren has been based in the Middle East for the last 14 years, undertaking investigations into billion-dollar frauds, complex regulatory matters, cybercrime investigations, and IT related technical disputes for key corporates and government entities across the region.

Darren holds a master’s in computer forensics and security. He has spoken at high level government workshops and international conferences on digital forensics and cybercrime, and has been published on topics relating to corporate investigations, white-collar crime, and compliance.

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