About this Event
Romance or relationship investment confidence scams are stealing billions of dollars from American adults. Recent FBI estimates place reported losses to cryptocurrency investment fraud at nearly $4 billion. Globally, loss estimates are much higher. Relationship confidence fraud, which the criminals refer to as “pig butchering” fraud, has been linked to overseas organized crime syndicates, and fuels an underground economy of human trafficking and money laundering. Learn about the growing scale of this fraud, how to detect it, and how you can help spread the word about a crime that preys on loneliness, steals life savings, and ruins thousands of lives around the world.
Join the CFTC Office of Customer Education and Outreach (OCEO) and Professor John Griffin, James A. Elkins Centennial Chair in Finance at the University of Texas, for a discussion of his recently released paper, How Do Crypto Flows Finance Slavery? The Economics of Pig Butchering. Dr. Griffin estimates losses from pig butchering to be as high as $75 billion.
In addition, a panel of state and federal regulators will discuss how to spot, stop, and report this fraud.
Location Details: The University of Texas Austin’s Robert B. Rowling Hall, RRH 5.210 Special Events Room, 300 W Martin Luther King Jr Blvd.
Nicholas Berta is a Supervisory Special Agent (SSA) in the FBI’s Economic Crimes Unit (ECU) at FBI Headquarters. SSA Berta is a Program Manager, supporting financial crimes investigations across the FBI. Additionally, SSA Berta serves as ECU’s training coordinator where SSA Berta develops and facilitates internal and external training. SSA Berta previously spent seven years as a case agent investigating financial crimes at the FBI Washington Field Office. Before joining the FBI, SSA Berta worked as a Certified Public Accountant at a public accounting firm.
Melanie Devoe has served as the Director of the Division of the Office of Customer Education and Outreach (OCEO) since October 2023. In her role, Ms. Devoe manages a team of employees dedicated to customer education initiatives at the CFTC’s Washington, D.C. Office.
Ms. Devoe has worked for the CFTC since 2008, both as an Attorney Advisor in the Whistleblower Office and as a Senior Trial Attorney in the Division of Enforcement. She has also worked for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Division of Investigations, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives’ Office of the Chief Counsel, and as a senior associate at an international law firm.
John M. Griffin is a professor of finance, and the James A. Elkins Centennial Chair in Finance at The University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business. A leading forensic finance expert, Griffin specializes in analyzing potentially illegal, illicit, or immoral actions in financial markets. His research covers a wide range of topics, including cryptocurrencies, the Paycheck Protection Program, the 2008-2009 financial crisis, and market manipulation.
Griffin has taught investments, international finance, and asset pricing at McCombs since 2004 and has been a visiting professor at Harvard, Yale, and HKUST. He is also the CEO and founder of Integra Research Group, which conducts forensic financial investigations. Griffin has published over 35 papers in top journals and is highly cited in the field.
Jorge Herrada is the director of the CFTC’s Office of Technology Innovation (the successor to CFTC’s LabCFTC). OTI serves as the CFTC’s financial technology innovation hub, driving change and enhancing knowledge through innovation, consulting / collaboration, and education (ICE). Jorge completed a one-and-a-half-year detail as the Senior Technology Advisor to the TechLab at the Federal Reserve Board, where he helped to guide the vision and experiments regarding Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). Prior to joining the Federal Reserve Board, Jorge served for four years as the Senior Technology Advisor for LabCFTC, where he focused on innovation, advanced technology, analytics, finance, Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), and cryptocurrencies. He led the CFTC Technology Advisory Committee’s Virtual Currencies Subcommittee, the DLT Subcommittee, and the High-Frequency Subcommittee. Prior to joining the CFTC, Mr. Herrada served as a Senior Principal at American Management Systems (AMS--now CGI). At AMS, he was a systems architect and software engineer.
Stefanie Schwartz is a trial attorney in the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, where she prosecutes federal cybercrime and cryptocurrency-related cases. As a member of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team, Stefanie prosecutes cases related to the illicit use of cryptocurrency, including cryptocurrency investment scams, illicit exchanges, and exploits to cryptocurrency platforms. Stefanie also advises and conducts training on legal issues related to computer crime, cryptocurrency, and electronic evidence.
Tahina Vatel has served as a Sanctions Investigator at Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for three years. She is currently an Investigator for the Human Rights Section of the Office of Global Targeting, where she investigates potential targets involved in sanctionable serious human rights abuse.
Additional speakers pending.
OCEO is dedicated to helping customers protect themselves from fraud or violations of the Commodity Exchange Act through the research and development of effective financial education materials and initiatives. OCEO engages in outreach and education to retail investors. The office also frequently partners with federal and state regulators as well as consumer protection groups. The CFTC’s full repository of customer education materials can be found at: cftc.gov/LearnAndProtect.
The views presented by participants are not necessarily the views of the CFTC or the federal government, and no part of the presentation should be construed as an endorsement of any person or entity.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
300 W Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, 300 West Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard, Austin, United States
USD 0.00
