Nancy Rich, CFE

Nancy Rich, CFE, is a top fraud expert at the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and recently received the Certified Fraud Examiner of the Year award at the 25th Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference in San Antonio, Texas. She's twice been selected as the NCIS Fraud Agent of the Year and has led several large-scale and highly visible fraud investigations during her career, which resulted in a cumulative recovery of more than $140 million in government funds and more than 25 fraudsters incarcerated.

Bribery is an act of seduction. Once you've taken a little bit of money or a gift, it only grows from there. People who engage in fraud are greedy, and there is never enough money to satisfy that need. Never take anything from someone you are doing business with, especially if you work for the government — you are a target.

The mission of the NCIS is to investigate and defeat criminal, terrorist and foreign intelligence threats to the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps — ashore, afloat and in cyberspace. I work in the Procurement Fraud Division, which supports the overall NCIS mission by safeguarding the Department of Navy's major acquisition programs and responding to allegations of corruption, financial fraud and product substitution.

Before I worked for the NCIS, I conducted background investigations for the Defense Investigative Service. While playing softball I met former special agent in charge, Richard Warmack, who told me about the NCIS and convinced me to apply to become a special agent.

I was born in Illinois and raised in the Bay Area [Northern California]. I enjoyed riding horses, playing volleyball, soccer, softball and cheerleading. My high school volleyball team won the North Coast Championship in California.

One of my fondest memories from my time at California State University in Long Beach was living with five girls during my freshman year. We took many road trips together, including to Mexico and Lake Mead. To this day, they are still some of my best friends.

My passion for fighting fraud began when I first started working with our drug suppression squad. After a year on the drug squad, I was asked to join NCIS' fraud unit. My first fraud investigation resulted in the prosecution of an Iraqi scientist — who worked at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, California — for double billing on a U.S. Navy grant. After that prosecution, I was hooked! That case was followed by several high-profile prosecutions, including a case against a major defense contractor for providing fraudulent airplane parts on the U.S. Navy's F/A-18 aircrafts and Drone program.

I am currently investigating a bribery scheme involving seven defendants. Around 2004, five defendants joined an extensive bribery conspiracy, which included two different companies and resulted in the payment of more than $200,000 in cash bribes to two employees at the U.S. Navy Military Sealift Command [MSC]. In exchange for the cash bribes paid, the company received lucrative business from MSC in the amount of approximately $3 million. To date, five individuals have pleaded guilty. One has been sentenced to 48 months in jail and was ordered to pay $175,000. Two other individuals were sentenced to eight years incarceration for their role in the bribery scheme.

The CFE credential is recognized worldwide. Having a CFE credential and attending the training offered by the ACFE keeps you current on many trends in the public domain. Our desk officer, former NCIS assistant special agent in charge, Louis Lockwood, procured the money to obtain CFE credentials for about 10 anti-fraud-dedicated NCIS special agents. He realized our work force needed to have the credential and training the ACFE offers.

Always follow your gut feeling. Many times the last interview you do is the one that breaks a case wide open. Cultivate good relationships and partnerships with other law enforcement agencies. Utilize the strengths and resources of other agencies, and keep your case focused.

"NCIS" is one of the top-rated shows on TV, and millions of people watch it each week. The show has given our organization great name recognition, which has led to more applicants and more tips being called in to our hotlines. Also, I have personally met Mark Harmon [Special Agent Gibbs], who is much more handsome in real life than on TV! Everyone on the set is very nice to all the NCIS agents who come out to watch them film the show.

The CFE award is the highest honor I have received to date because it is an award that is recognized by private industry — not just law enforcement. I hope this award will give me the ability to bring my skills to private industry since I will be retiring from NCIS in the near future.

My greatest achievement is my family. I am very proud of my son and daughter. I coach my son's basketball team and my daughter's soccer team, both of which recently won their divisions. My daughter and I volunteer at Equi Kids — a therapeutic horse-riding program — and I enjoy playing volleyball and jogging. My husband is also an NCIS special agent who works counterintelligence.

Professionally, my greatest achievement was an investigation that resulted in $106 million recovery for the U.S. Navy for an investigation on fraudulent F/A-18 airplane parts. One of the perks of the job also included meeting former President Ronald Reagan at his office in Los Angeles.

My personal motto: Follow the money and you will find the fraud!

For more information about NCIS or if you wish to report a crime, please see: NCIS.Navy.mil.

Emily Primeaux is assistant editor of Fraud Magazine.