Date and Time
- Wednesday, Sep 3, 2025 8am - 4:30pm
Location
Great Hall
Details
Financial Integrity & National Security Conference: Safeguarding the Financial System Against Threats at Home and Abroad
Illicit finance doesn’t just fuel crime—it undermines national security. From sanctions evasion and terror financing to cyber-enabled fraud and foreign corruption, financial institutions sit at the frontlines of defending against global threats.
The Financial Integrity & National Security Conference brings together professionals from across the public and private sectors—law enforcement, intelligence, regulatory agencies, and financial institutions—for a high-level, solutions-driven day focused on how illicit finance intersects with national security priorities.
Key Themes Include:
Countering sanctions evasion and trade-based money laundering
The role of financial institutions in protecting critical infrastructure
Detecting and disrupting foreign influence through financial channels
Strengthening public-private partnerships to identify and mitigate national security risks
Deep dives into typologies tied to organized crime, terrorism, and geopolitical adversaries
Who Should Attend:
Government professionals working in AML, national security, intelligence, and law enforcement
BSA/AML Officers and financial crime teams at banks, credit unions, fintechs, and crypto firms
Compliance, legal, and risk professionals engaged in sanctions, fraud, and threat detection
Analysts and investigators on the front lines of financial intelligence and enforcement
Schedule:
8:00AM - 8:50AM: Check-in/Registration
9:00AM - 9:15AM: Opening Remarks
9:15AM - 9:30AM: Executive Perspective 1:
Robert Bacon, Academic Director at Section 2, Adjunct Instructor at National White Collar Crime Center
9:30AM - 10:30AM: Sanctions and Export Controls in the New Administration Panel
Moderator: Debra Geister, CEO at Section 2
Panelist 1: Howard Spieler, Business Sanctions Risk Officer at Citi
Panelist 2: Dr. Donna Broussard, Colonel (Ret.), Former Inspector General at U.S. Army
Panelist 3: Martijn Rasser, Senior Director for Economy at Special Competitive Studies Project
Panelist 4: Sepideh Rowland, AML Consultant
10:30AM - 10:45AM: Executive Perspective 2
Buck Elton, Major General (Ret.) at U.S. Air Force, Former Commanding General at NATO Special Operations
10:45AM - 11:00AM: Break
11:00AM- 12:15PM: Keynote: Counter Threat Finance in the Era of Strategic Competition
Joshua Fruth, Senior Intelligence Officer at U.S. Army, Former Head of Counter Threat Finance at NATO Special Operations
12:15PM - 1:15PM: Lunch
1:15PM - 2:30PM: Unmasking of Hybrid Threat Finance Panel
Moderator: John Calderon, Founder and Chair at Coalition Against Financial Crime
Panelist 1: Buck Elton, Major General (Ret.) at U.S. Air Force, Former Commanding General at NATO Special Operations
Panelist 2: Joshua Fruth, Senior Intelligence Officer at U.S. Army, Former Head of Counter Threat Finance at NATO Special Operations
Panelist 3: Jonathan Sullivan, Senior Special Agent (Ret.) at Drug Enforcement Administration
Panelist 4: Manuel Cordova, Former Military Intelligence Officer at U.S. Army
2:30PM - 2:45PM: Break
2:45PM - 3:00PM: Executive Perspective 3
Margarito Jay Flores, American Narco
3:00PM - 4:00PM: US Enforcement Priorities Panel
Moderator: Ingo Steinhaeuser, Senior Risk & Fraud Specialist at Thomson Reuters
Panelist 1: Robert Whitaker, Former Supervisory Special Agent, Illicit Finance and Proceeds of Crime Unit, Homeland Security Investigations
Panelist 2: Kevin Hartzell, Vice President & Chief Counsel – Enforcement Legal, FINRA
Panelist 3: David Meisenheimer, Director, IRS Narcotics and National Security Section, IRS CI
Panelist 4: TBA
4:00PM - 4:10PM: Closing Remarks
4:10PM - 4:30PM: Break
4:30PM - 6:30PM: Happy Hour (offsite nearby)
6:30PM: Event Concludes
