Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA

Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA, is the former president and CEO of the ACFE.

Honoring a fallen whistleblower and a living torchbearer

Who’d have thought a multimillion-dollar fraud case would have the intrigue of a Cold War spy novel? And who could’ve predicted the irony of the grandson of the leader of the American Communist Party becoming a prominent capitalist in post-Soviet Russia? Truth really is stranger than fiction.

Written By: Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA


Lisa Osofsky's passion for fighting fraud on two continents

The ACFE bestows our Cressey Award annually on someone who’s demonstrated a lifetime of achievement in the detection and deterrence of fraud. This year’s winner couldn’t be more deserving. Lisa Osofsky, the director of the U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO), has devoted a lifetime of service to fraud awareness on a global scale.

Written By: Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA


Smarter tech necessitates smarter fraud examiners

Modern technology advances quickly. What’s innovative and fresh one day can be quickly outdated and short-lived in just a few months. As smart devices get smarter, business and industry depend more heavily on them and the data they store, which makes fraud examinations more challenging and complex.

Written By: Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA


Let's provide anti-fraud training to possible sentinels

Tyler Shultz, our 2019 Sentinel Award winner, wasn’t a CFE. He was a young, idealistic, budding scientist who helped unravel one of the most prolific frauds in years. His intuition led him to start questioning what was going on at Theranos, a blood-testing company founded in Silicon Valley.

Written By: Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA


Unified truth seekers expose fraud and corruption

The initial exchange of the Panama Papers began at Bastian Obermayer’s parents’ home in Germany. His wife and kids were sick with stomach bugs, and he was graciously cleaning up one mess after another. In his words, it was a “really bad day.” He couldn’t know that one strange email would change his life, his newspaper and investigative journalism forever. The subject line read, “Interested in data?”

Written By: Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA


Dive into the dark web to protect your organizations and clients

As Emily Wilson, CFE, points out in her cover article, content on the dark web is designed to be hidden from search engines and from casual users. We can’t simply stumble across dark web sites by accident, Wilson writes. However, we might be surprised to learn that the dark web, which conjures images of abhorrent crimes, also stores legitimate common data and allows legal transactions.

Written By: Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA


Jules Kroll hired staffers with diverse skills to prevent and fight fraud

Jules Kroll didn’t start out to create one of the largest investigative firms in the world. However, he did recognize the need for such a service for corporations and governments after he battled corruption against his father’s printing business.

Written By: Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA


The power of one

Daphne Caruana Galizia had the same dogged pursuit of fraudsters and the desire to bring them to justice that you do. She was an investigative journalist in Malta who was unwavering in her pursuit of allegations of corruption by government officials and businesspeople in her country. Tragically, she lost her life because of that pursuit.

Written By: Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA


Peña and Murphy challenge us to rise up in our battles

As I listened to the stories of former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents, Javier Peña and Steve Murphy — the inspirations behind the Netflix series “Narcos” — I sensed their passion for catching Pablo Escobar and other drug traffickers. Despite enduring constant danger and peril, they seized the mission to disrupt the narcotics trade in Colombia.

Written By: Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA


Better understanding fraudsters' justifications

One of the greatest challenges in our field is to think like the fraudsters we’re trying to stop. It’s not easy for CFEs to live inside crooks’ minds, but it’s important to put on those “glasses” and try to see our organizations from the fraudster’s mindset.

Written By: Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA


Refusing to retreat into the dark

Refusing to retreat into the dark

Written By: Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA


Number-pattern tests, like Benford’s, are still valuable

From the President

Written By: Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA


She didn't avert her eyes from 1MDB corruption

Clare Rewcastle Brown just couldn’t ignore the corruption. “I could see it was a massive and underreported scandal of vast proportions,” Brown says in the cover article, written by Sarah Hofmann, CFE. “I asked why no one was covering it, and for some time I hoped someone else would. Then I realized all the local people who knew about it felt disempowered.”

Written By: Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA


Integrity is more than a robust code of conduct

Fraud examiners have implemented codes of conduct and compliance programs for decades in their organizations and agencies. Management challenges them to measure the returns on those programs and add an adjective like “integrity” to a list of potential fraud risks. But the overarching question is, “Are our people doing the right things at the right times for the right reasons?”

Written By: Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA


Beyond the spreadsheet into global intrigue

Bryan Fogel has most likely never performed a ratio analysis on corporate financial statements or testified in court during a fraud trial, but the story he told through the Academy Award-winning documentary, ICARUS, resonates with what we do as fraud examiners.

Written By: Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA


Kathe Swanson's courage in a small town

Most of our event speakers instruct from the knowledge they have in specific areas of fraud examination. But Kathe isn’t trained in law enforcement, auditing or compliance. She’s someone who noticed something wrong and had the guts and determination to shine a light on it.

Written By: Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA


Exposing fraud at 'Germany's Enron'

Wirecard was once a fast-rising European fintech company that grew primarily through acquisitions. Now it’s dubbed the “Enron of Germany.”

Written By: Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA


Moxie and the fight against corruption

Our profession requires plenty of insight and knowledge to understand the fraud landscape. But it also takes a good measure of moxie. Thulisile “Thuli” Madonsela is one of those unique people who possesses that know-how and fortitude — at an extraordinary level.

 

Written By: Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA


Deciphering the cyber threat

Cyberattacks have always made headlines. But they’re now occurring more frequently and causing widespread damage. Hackers have broadened their reach by infecting supply chains with ransomware and have recently crippled oil pipelines, meatpacking plants and grocery stores across the globe.

Written By: Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA


Record relief money and the fight against fraud

In some of the first COVID-19 articles Fraud Magazine published nearly a year ago, we warned how the pandemic was creating the perfect storm for fraudulent activity to thrive. Sadly, those predictions have proven true as record amounts of COVID-relief money flood the economy.

Written By: Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA


Reflecting on Enron and lessons learned

When I first started teaching fraud at the university level about 20 years ago, I had no idea that I was about to be handed a case study like no other. A few months later the now-infamous accounting scandal at Enron hit the headlines, and the once-celebrated energy firm collapsed in disgrace soon thereafter.

Written By: Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA


We’re remote, but we must connect

2020 is officially behind us, but its repercussions will live with us for a long time. Nothing prepared us — professionally or personally — for the pandemic. COVID-19 probably has permanently changed the ways we operate. But we’ve been resilient as we work through tremendous disruptions. We’re fighting the good fight to protect our organizations from fraud despite our limitations.

Written By: Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA


Sowing the seeds of success

ACFE President and CEO Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA, discusses Cressey Award winner, Tony Kwok and his success fighting corruption in Hong Kong. Kwok was the deputy commissioner of Hong Kong's anti-graft agency, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). Dorris also discusses the growing problem of corruption all over the world.

Written By: Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA


Documenting corporate deceit

Alex Gibney has documented many fraud cases in his three decades as a filmmaker. From his first big hit in 2005, “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room,” to the more recent documentary about Elizabeth Holmes, “The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley,” Gibney has long been exploring the psychology of deceit and why bright and talented people turn to the dark side.

Written By: Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA


Wirecard's sentinel helps trigger anti-fraud regulations

The ACFE honors Pav Gill as the Wirecard whistleblower.

Written By: Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA


Fighting fraud on the new frontier

ACFE President and CEO Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA, discusses quantum technology to fight fraud and how important it is for CFEs to anticipate fraudsters using the technology as well.

Written By: Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA


Supply disruptions and the need for vigilance

From paper to computer chips, products we once took for granted have become precious commodities as the global supply chain cracks under the weight of labor shortages and renewed demand in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. And as every fraud examiner knows, whenever there’s a need for a product or service, fraudsters are there to exploit it for their own gain.

Written By: Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA


Old tactics, new landscape

ACFE President and CEO Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA, discusses the importance of understanding cybercrime and the tactics used by cybercriminals to prevent fraud in an increasing complex financial landscape.

Written By: Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA


Gold standard for inspectors general

ACFE President and CEO Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA, praises Cressey Award winner Michael Horowitz's achievements in detecting and preventing fraud in his role as inspector general and chair of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee (PRAC).

Written By: Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA


Blind faith

ACFE President and CEO Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA, reflects on the lack of oversight and controls that led to the fall of FTX and the importance for CFEs to prevent and detect fraud in the growing cryptocurrency market.

Written By: Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA


A journalist’s battle to expose corruption

“Corruption is an integral part of humanity,” says investigative journalist Miranda Patrucic in this issue of Fraud Magazine. It’s a sad summation, but it rings true. According to the ACFE’s Occupational Fraud 2022: Report to the Nations, corruption was indeed the most common fraud scheme in every global region we surveyed. Thank goodness the public has strong journalists like Patrucic, the focus of our cover story and the recipient of the ACFE’s Guardian Award, which we’ll present to her at the 34th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference in Seattle, June 11-16. The award honors journalists whose determination, perseverance and commitment to the truth have contributed significantly to the fight against fraud.

Written By: Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA


Use advanced tools to fight Medicare fraud

Fraud, waste and abuse emerge in most areas. But, theoretically, the health care system is where most people should least expect them. Of course, fraud has long been a problem in this sector. And most recently Medicare Advantage — the private-sector arm of the U.S. national health system for elderly Americans — and the insurers that manage it have come under intense scrutiny for allegedly submitting false diagnosis codes to inflate payments from the government.

Written By: Bruce Dorris, J.D., CFE, CPA


 

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