INVESTMENT FRAUD PREVENTION TRAINING
THE REAL WARNING SIGNS OF INVESTMENT FRAUD
What You Need To Know To Protect Your Assets
| Workshop
This presentation focuses on how criminals commit investment fraud and the steps required to avoid becoming a victim. Beginning with his opening sentence, James lays out a fraud prevention blueprint and then delivers targeted solutions that can be implemented immediately to identify investment fraud risk before handing over a check to fund private investments.
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James shares the methods, techniques, and documents he used to fool everyone for nearly eight years, including falsifying client statements, creating fictional audits and auditing firms, trading at multiple brokerage firms, and maintaining close relationships with his clients.
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This presentation is invaluable to individual and institutional investors, and persons responsible for advising clients with alternative assets including attorneys, CPAs, Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs), banks, and trust companies.
THE PROOF IS IN THE PERFORMANCE™
Quantitative Techniques To Uncover Investment Fraud
| Workshop
Investment professionals, especially those engaged in fraudulent activity, entice prospective investors early and often in the sales process with “quality” investment returns. Regulatory agencies and the media have flooded the market with fraud prevention tips and warnings for decades to help protect investors, e.g., “If it looks too good to be true it probably is.” Unfortunately, well-intentioned wisdom provides little guidance to determine if an investment opportunity is “too good.” This workshop begins where the potency of conventional wisdom ends.
The Proof is in the Performance™ workshop teaches participants how to apply a series of quantitative techniques to uncover investment fraud by measuring volatility, analyzing distributions, comparing returns to benchmark instruments and strategies, examining interdependent variables, and testing for errors and biases where data gravitates to specific levels or ranges. Using Excel, participants are guided through real-world examples of actual and fictitious data to identify warning signals that are reliable predictors of investment fraud.
Fraud investigations are conducted through the fraud consulting division at Investment Fraud Solutions. We consult with individuals, family offices, law and accounting firms, corporations, and non-profits concerning the prevention and detection of outright theft from both investment fraud Ponzi schemes and traditional securities fraud perpetrated by FINRA and NFA-licensed investment professionals. Our thorough fraud investigations encompass the investment, investment management firms and principals, and third-party service providers.
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Clients retain James to identify investment fraud risk exposure prior to investing in hedge funds, managed futures, private equity, or other alternative investments or when warning signals arise with an existing investment or investment professional that may lead to fraud and a complete or partial loss of assets.
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Consulting engagements are based on the risk assessment scope, investment complexity, and jurisdiction. Many clients begin with an initial assessment to evaluate their exposure to fraud risk. Depending on the warning signal severity and corresponding potential threat level, opt for a thorough investigation encompassing the investment, investment company and principals, and third-party service providers.
​James can be booked for one or two-hour telephone consults and video conference calls. This option is perfect for addressing any new or intermittent warning signal concerns that have alerted your ‘sixth sense’ but may not yet require a risk exposure assessment or extensive fraud risk investigation. James will meet with individual investors, investor groups, and fiduciaries at his office or your location contingent upon availability.
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Typical Consulting Assignments:
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Vet investment professionals to uncover intentional fictitious, exaggerated, or otherwise misleading educational and career information achievements including criminal, legal, and regulatory disclosures.
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Analyze that performance returns match the advertised strategy and correlate to established benchmarks.
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Confirm the investment performance returns as real versus hypothetical.
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Validate the authenticity of exchange-traded securities and OTC derivatives trading records.
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Verify the existence and valuation of investor assets and AUM.
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Evaluate the policies, procedures, and ability of investment firms to both detect and deter ethical, regulatory, and legal wrongdoing which may lead to fraudulent activity.