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 – 8:45AM: Check-in/Registration

8:45AM – 9:00AM: Opening Remarks

9:00AM – 9:15AM: Executive Perspective 1:

Debra Geister, CEO at Section 2

9:15AM – 10:15AM: 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: Donna Shawhan, VP of Partnerships & Channel Sales at authID

10:15AM – 10:30AM: Executive Perspective 2

Buck Elton, Major General (Ret.) at U.S. Air Force, Former Commanding General at NATO Special Operations

10:30AM – 10:40AM: Break

10:40AM – 11:55AM: 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

11:55AM – 12:45PM: Lunch

12:45PM – 2:00PM:  The 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

2:00PM – 3:00PM: Executive Perspective 3

Margarito Jay Flores, American Narco, Surviving El Chapo

3:00PM – 3:10PM: Break

3:10PM – 4:10PM: US Enforcement Priorities Panel

Moderator: Ingo Steinhaeuser, Senior Risk & Fraud Specialist at Thomson Reuters

Panelist 1: Kevin Hartzell, Vice President & Chief Counsel – Enforcement Legal, FINRA

Panelist 2: David Meisenheimer, Director, IRS Narcotics and National Security Section, IRS CI

Panelist 3: Louis De Titto, Illicit Finance Strategy Consultant, Chenega Defense and Aerospace Solutions

Panelist 4: Andrew Schlossberg, Counsel at Akin, U.S. Economic Sanctions, Export Controls and Customs

4:10PM – 4:15PM: Closing Remarks

4:15PM – 5:00PM: Networking

5:00PM: Event Concludes