LA Global AML and Sanctions Symposium

We’re thrilled to bring the Global AML & Sanctions Symposium to Los Angeles! This premier event is hosted by the Coalition Against Financial Crime (CAFC) and proudly sponsored by Thomson Reuters, RedCompass Labs, Yanez Compliance, and SRA Consulting! 💸

📅 Date: Thursday, November 13, 2025

🕘 Time: 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM PT

📍 Venue: Brickroom LA (formerly The Conga Room)

📍 Address: 5364 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036, USA

🕵‍♀️ Continuing Education Credits: Five

Interested in sponsoring? Contact info@cafc.org

🌍 Global AML and Sanctions Symposium: Exploring the Evolution of Financial Crime in the Era of Strategic Competition

As global tensions rise and strategic competition intensifies across economic, military, technological, and supply chain domains, the financial crime landscape is undergoing a dramatic shift. Authoritarian regimes in China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea are increasingly central to sophisticated illicit finance networks that challenge traditional AML frameworks.

Since the enactment of the Bank Secrecy Act and RICO statute in 1970—cornerstones of President Nixon’s War on Drugs—U.S. financial crime policy has focused primarily on non-state actors. That focus persisted through the post-9/11 era with the USA PATRIOT Act. But the threat landscape has evolved. Today, transnational cartels, terrorist groups, and criminal syndicates are embedding themselves within financial ecosystems backed—tacitly or explicitly—by hostile nation-states. These hybrid threat networks leverage front companies, crypto obfuscation, export control violations, and sanctions evasion to undermine global financial stability.

This symposium convenes leaders from government, law enforcement, and the private sector to examine this paradigm shift. Together, we’ll explore national enforcement priorities, emerging risks, and the tools necessary to safeguard financial integrity in a world defined by geopolitical contest. Expect expert-led discussions, real-world case studies, and unparalleled networking opportunities with the brightest minds in AML and financial crime prevention.

Speaker Lineup:

Keynote 1: Jim Lee, former Chief of IRS-Criminal Investigation and current Global Head of Capacity Building at Chainalysis

As part of a powerhouse lineup of keynote speakers and expert panelists, Jim will share his insights on the most sophisticated, fast-evolving, and dangerous financial threats we face today—from ransomware and sanctioned actors to romance scams and violent extortion in crypto.

💸 Money Laundering & Stolen Funds on the Blockchain

•  Scam and laundering techniques involving DeFi, Layer 2s, and mixers

•  DPRK-linked operations, including IT worker & MOI case examples

🧠 AI & Investigative Innovation

•  What Chainalysis is doing to stay ahead of scammers and dark web operations

•  The role of AI in tracing illicit funds and automating detection

🚢 Trade-Based Money Laundering Meets Crypto

•  The growing convergence between TBML and digital assets

•  Practical insights for identifying red flags in cross-border activity

🔪 Wrench Attacks & Real-World Violence

•  The rising physical threat to crypto holders and employees

•  From extortion to kidnapping: what happens when digital theft turns violent

Keynote 2:  Jim Richards, former BSA Officer at Wells Fargo, AML LinkedIn Legend

The gloves are off. Jim isn’t here to sugarcoat anything. His keynote will cut straight to the dysfunctions, double standards, and disjointed policies affecting financial institutions and what leaders can actually do about it.

• 💥 BSA/AML Exams Are Broken — And You’re Paying the Price

• 💽 FinCEN’s Data Desert: Billions of SARs, Zero Feedback

• 🪙 Stablecoins, CBDCs, and the GENIUS Act: Should You Even Care?

• 🚫 Reputation Risk Is Dead — But the Fear Lives On

• 🏦 Banking-as-a-Service: Great Opportunity or Regulatory Trap?

• 🔧 AML Modernization: Great in Theory, Vague in Practice

Keynote 3:  Margarito 'Jay' Flores, former Sinaloa Cartel Operative, Surviving El Chapo

Margarito walked attendees through the full financial lifecycle of cartel operations — from street sale to shell company — explaining the step-by-step tactics used to clean illicit money:

💸 Bulk Cash Smuggling

• How millions in physical cash are broken down into manageable loads

• The “dead drop” network of stash houses and complicit businesses

🏦 Money Laundering Tactics

•  Use of cash-intensive businesses

•  Layering through shell companies across multiple jurisdictions

•  Exploiting weaknesses in financial institutions

•  Trade-Based Money Laundering (TBML) and the manipulation of invoices, false imports/exports, and over/under-invoicing

Keynote 4: Silvija Krupena, Director of FIU at RedCompass Labs, Anti-Human Trafficking Advocate

Silvija brings a cutting‑edge perspective to one of the darkest abuses in modern society. In this presentation, she lays out the evolving typologies of human trafficking, unpacking how criminals adapt, hide in plain sight, and exploit legal, financial, and digital loopholes.

🏷️ What attendees will learn:

• The most prevalent and emerging typologies of human trafficking globally — from forced labor to sexual exploitation, from migration fraud to exploitation via online platforms.

• How traffickers structure their networks financially and logistically: recruitment, transport, coercion, concealment, exploitation, and profit flows.

• The growing role of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data‑analytics tools in identifying traffickers’ patterns — signals in financial transactions, online grooming behavior, recruitment ad indicators, movement data, and suspicious digital footprints.

• Real‑world case studies where AI has helped detect trafficking behavior before it becomes entrenched, and where it still struggles — ethical issues, false positives, privacy, and biases.

  
  

Panel Discussion: Global Sanctions Strategy & Innovation Panel

In a rapidly evolving geopolitical and financial landscape, sanctions remain one of the most powerful—and complex—tools in the global security and compliance arsenal. This panel brings together a distinguished group of experts spanning the private sector, academia, and investigative services to explore how enforcement strategy and innovation intersect in shaping the future of global sanctions.

Moderator: Mark Sullivan Thomson Reuters Risk and Fraud Solutions

Panelist 1: Jose Caldera, Founder and CEO, Yanez Compliance

Panelist 2: Mike Jones, Partner and CCO, SRA Consulting, LLC

Panelist 3: Moyara Ruehsen, Professor, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey

Panelist 4: Afia Sengupta, Managing Director, CAT Investigators