Ernesto A. "Pete" Castillo is presently an Investigative Analyst for the Department of Justice, United States Attorney. Prior to this endeavor, he was a Special Investigator to the County Attorney’s Office, Nassau County and a New York City Detective at DANY-The New York County District Attorney’s Office Squad. Pete has worked in various fraud concentrations in both the private and public sector. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from The City University of New York at John Jay College, a Master of Public Administration from Marist College and is a CFE. He considers his service with the New York City Police Department one of his major accomplishments in life. Upon retirement from the NYPD, he entered the Insurance and Banking Industries specializing as an investigator, then auditor and moved to the production side of the business as a Senior Fidelity underwriter. Additionally, he was a training resource providing instruction in risk avoidance.

Pete was born and reared in New York City as the youngest of five children. He has raised and educated three children, all of whom he considers his stellar accomplishment and substantive contribution to his work and mantra. “Luck is the residue of effort”. They are, for him, a beacon of hope for the future.

E-mail Address: Ernesto A. Castillo
 

Mr. Blass is the President and founder of Alan I. Blass, CPA, CFE, PC. The firm’s practice area includes Forensic Accounting & Litigation Support Services. Alan specializes in Business Disputes, Construction Matters, Insurance Claims, Matrimonial Litigation and Governmental Investigations.     

Mr. Blass has over 25 years of experience in Forensic Accounting.  He has served as Deputy Chief Investigative Auditor for the New York City Dept. of Investigation. He has spent the last 15 years managing and performing Forensic Accounting engagements for prominent consulting groups, including Kroll Associates and Anchin Block and Anchin. 

Alan’s most important cases include monitorships of the Deconstruction of the World Trade Center, the Construction of Grand Central Station and an investigation of the use of New York City funding by the Salvation Army.

He has lectured before attorneys, corporate executives, government officials and CPA’s on topics including Financial Statement Fraud, Construction Liens and Matrimonial Litigation. He has also written several articles for the New York Law Journal., including “To Find A Fraud Find A Frauditor” and “Ten Common Errors in Business Valuations”.    

Alan has been a CPA since 1988 and a CFE since 1992.

E-mail Address: Alan Ira Blass
 

Ms. Bertucelli is an Assistant Vice President-Senior Fraud Investigator for Commerce Bank.  Ms. Bertucelli has previously worked as a branch manager and as an internal auditor in the banking industry.  Ms. Bertucelli is both a Certified Fraud Examiner and a Certified Financial Crimes Investigator.  Ms. Bertucelli is a member of various fraud organizations including the New York External Fraud Committee and the International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators.

E-mail Address:  Kristen M. Bertucelli
 

Carol is a fraud examiner and tax accountant specializing in U.S. tax information reporting and withholding compliance, high net worth individual income taxation and project management. Carol has worked in public accounting as well as in the financial service sector in Private Banking. A graduate of the Master’s in Economic Crime Management program of Utica College, Carol  spent several years working as a forensic accountant and business consultant. Presently, Carol is a U.S. Tax Operations Manager working with a team of individuals who focus on U.S. information reporting and withholding compliance for a large international bank.

E-mail Address: Carol L. Moretti
 

Theresa’s focus is the identification of money laundering in fraud schemes, and anti-money laundering compliance. She has recently been involved with assignments including BSA/AML compliance audits for money service businesses and the discovery of money laundering and mortgage fraud linked to a cold case murder for a private investigator.

Her prior experience includes business banking, government programs for small businesses, and credit and security in the construction industry in the New York City area.  While in London, England, she was an international consultant for high-net worth individuals involved with projects in film, fine art and antiques.

In addition to her membership in NYCFE and ACFE, Theresa is an active member of ACAMS (Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists) and their NYC chapter, and of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Committee of the NYSSCPA.

E-mail Address: Theresa B. Vanderbilt
 

Mary Vavruska has been a CFE since 1990, when she also was a founding member of the NYC chapter of ACFE. She was a Vice President of Equitable companies in charge of Internal Control Evaluations in the Internal Audit Department. She is now President and CEO of TCE Systems, Inc. a telecommunications company based in Astoria, Queens. She is Historian of the NYC Chapter ACFE. She is Associate Treasurer of the Queens Chamber of Commerce and serves on its Executive Committee. She also chairs its Information Technology Committee. She was the domain expert for an artificial intelligence project to assess the risk of non-audit.

E-mail Address: Mary Vavruska
 

Bruce H. Hulme, CFE, is a past president of the National Council of Investigation and Security Services (NCISS) and of the Associated Licensed Detectives of New York State (ALDONYS). He is also chairman of, or liaison to, several professional association legislative committees representing licensed private investigators, security professionals and certified fraud examiners. He serves as a member of the executive board as legislative liaison of the New York Chapter of Certified Fraud Examiners, and has lectured extensively at seminars presented by the profession’s leading associations.

Mr. Hulme assisted in drafting a provision of the federal Drivers Privacy Protection Act of 1994, with respect to obtaining access for licensed private investigators and security firms. He testified before the Federal Trade Commission on behalf of the private investigation industry’s position on consumer information privacy. His participation helped create the record that formed the basis of the FTC’s analysis of computer database services. He has testified before Congressional committee hearings including the House Committee on Banking and Financial Services on Identity Theft and Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act Implementation and the House Committee on Ways and Means with respect to privacy issues.

He was appointed by Governor George E. Pataki to serve as a member of the New York State Security Guard Advisory Council, and is an advisory board member of John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Mr. Hulme is president of Special Investigations, Inc., in New York City. 

E-mail Address: Bruce Hulme
 

Mike Jaeger is an Assistant Inspector General at the Office of the Inspector General, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, State of New York, in charge of the Financial Investigations Unit.  Mike has a BS in Public Accounting from the University at Albany, and is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Fraud Examiner, and a Certified Inspector General He has been among other things, Deputy Chief Auditor with the NYS Attorney General’s office, Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, a Director at Decision Strategies, and a Managing Director at Kroll Associates.

E-mail Address: Michael C. Jaeger
 

E-mail Address: Noel Barreto
 

Mr. Matatov is a member of the Advisory Services group of Marcum LLP, a top 20 accounting firm, where he is often engaged by clients to assist with business disputes and valuations in a variety of  industries. He has been involved in several high-profile and complex  matters, including determining trademark damages related to $7 billion  in alleged lost sales; valuing the brand and patented technology for a  food technology company; calculating the destroyed value of several  businesses affected by the September 11th terrorist attacks;  investigating malpractice related to a "Big Four" audit of an  international company; and tracing recoverable assets in connection  with a well-known, multi-million dollar mortgage fraud.

E-mail Address: Roman Z. Matatov
 

Mr. DeFoe is a Director with Thacher Associates, a corporate investigations and integrity risk management firm. Previously he was a Senior Investigator and Coordinator of IPSIG Services with the New York State Organized Crime Task Force.

E-mail Address: Barry M. DeFoe
 

E-mail Address: Steven R. Levine
 

E-mail Address: Anthony J. Luizzo
 

E-mail Address: John F. Matula
 

Mr. Melucci is a licensed Private Investigator in NY and NJ and is the President of E.E.D.Co, Inc specializing  in Counter-Surveillance.

Mr. Melucci - is the Past President of the “Associated Licensed Detectives of New York State”, Past President of the “New York Chapter of Certified Fraud Examiners”, Past President of the “Society Of Professional Investigators” , Regional Vice President of the Institute Of Security & Safety Management, Member of  “The Former Intelligence Officers Assoc.”, and was appointed by Governor Pataki to his “Security Guard Advisory Council". 

Mr. Melucci - has been a special guest on the “Alan B. Colmbs, P.M. Magazine, Wall Street Journal, and Discovery Channel, TV shows and has been featured in “Discover”, “Venture”, “Mirabella” and “Peter Mondheiser” Magazines - (Germany). He has also been featured in “Newsday”, “The NY. Times”, and “The NY. Daily News”.

E-mail Address: Ranier A. Melucci
 

Mr. Reilly is the President of The Reilly International Group Ltd., a licensed investigative consulting firm offering corporate and individual client certainty through intelligence, investigative, and risk assessment services in civil and criminal investigations, international asset recoveries, and anti-money laundering audits.  As a specialist in financial investigations and litigation support, Mr. Reilly has successfully conducted sensitive corporate financial due diligence inquiries exposing fraud and corruption and enabling clients to evaluate losses, recover assets, avoid damaging  publicity, and prevent future frauds.            

Previously, he was a co-founder of Decision Strategies International, the world’s largest independent consultant investigative firm, where he managed numerous corporate and environmental investigations for the legal, business, and insurance communities. Mr. Reilly, is a former U.S. Postal Inspector, who investigated business and securities fraud, organized crime, narcotics trafficking, and official corruption.

E-mail Address: Thomas J. Reilly
 

Mr. Semaria is a former IRS agent, and President of Semaria Fraud Consultants, is a graduate of Long Island University. He began his professional career in taxation and fraud as an Internal Revenue Agent examining all types of individuals and companies. Special assignments and expertise included the Strike Force (Organized Crime), Medicaid Fraud, sensitive cases and undercover work with the Inspection Division of the IRS, and cases involving bribery of Internal Revenue Agents.

Mr. Semaria is a self-employed certified fraud examiner, forensic accountant, certified security consultant and tax consultant. Since 9/11, he has had special training by the New York City Police Department in terrorism and has achieved the status as a Certified Homeland Security, Level 3 by the American College of Forensic Examiners International. 

Mr. Semaria has expertise in reviewing office procedures, including fraud investigation, detection and prevention, including the installation of fraud prevention security systems. He specializes in employee and executive embezzlement. He is an expert in the field of Identity Theft and preparation for Internal Revenue Examinations. He provides investigative fraud accounting services, including computer & video forensics  involving embezzlement, asset searches, divorces, fraudulent accounting and bookkeeping practices. 

Some of his cases have included check forging, purchasing of gold bars by people involved with the Taliban and Al Qaeda, identity theft, discovery of embezzlement by third parties, ponzi schemes, payroll embezzlement,  money laundering, and investigating corrupt accountants.                     

E-mail Address: Ronald Semaria
 

Mr. Sulner, an internationally renown Forensic Document Examiner, is a former N.Y. State prosecutor.  His publications include The Role of the Forensic Document Examiner in Medical Malpractice Cases published by the NY State Bar Association and A Brief Overview of Forensic Document Examination published by the NJ Institute of Continuing Legal Education.  Mr. Sulner is a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, a Diplomate of the American Board of Forensic Examiners, and a member of the American Society for Testing and Materials, the Society of Medical Jurisprudence, and the National District Attorneys Association.

E-mail Address: Andrew Sulner
 

Jon is a Principal at Proactive Integrity Associates, LLC.  The firm specializes in corporate investigations, risk management and integrity compliance consulting.

Prior to joining Proactive Integrity Associates, LLC, Jon worked for several investigative consulting firms, including UHY Advisors FLVS, Inc., Citigate Global Intelligence & Security, Inc. and Decision Strategies, LLC.  His expertise in developing and executing investigative plans and managing a variety of investigative resources and personnel are complemented by his skills as an investigative researcher. He has supervised complex litigation support, fraud and internal investigations, investigative due diligence assignments and other sophisticated investigative engagements.

In addition to being a CFE, Jon is a licensed Private Investigator.  He co-authored an article regarding due diligence investigations in emerging markets. He has presented to professionals regarding the use of digital information in forensic accounting investigations and has conducted training in interviewing, fact gathering and investigative strategy.

E-mail Address: Jonathan Newcomb