Fraudish

Connect with Laura: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fintechsalesleader/ Valid Systems: https://www.linkedin.com/company/valid-systems/home/ Women in Fraud: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/34470006/ Trail of the Lost: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/64000414-trail-of-the-lost Hailey Windham: https://www.revfcu.com/knockout-fraud/ Kelly interviews Laura Holloway, senior director of strategic grow...

Fraud in Law Firms: Trust Accounts, Controls, and ‘Surprise and Delight’ Auditing (with Kelley Brubaker, CPA) Connect with Kelley: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelleybrubaker/ https://www.profitscalethrive.com/link-in-bio https://www.profitscalethrive.com/about https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQx-5aFarKk&list=PLg49S9w-ON1IsOz0v3sk8nMwD_1PuLXyV&index=23 Host Kelly interviews Kelley Brubaker,...

Robert Nordlander on Fraudsters, IRS CI, and Building a Career in Forensic Accounting Kelly interviews forensic accountant and former IRS Criminal Investigation agent Robert Nordlander about fraud, career paths, and professional development. Nordlander names Kevin Mitnick, Marc Rich, and Charles Ponzi as fraudsters he’d most like to have dinner with, and argues most fraudsters are more charismatic...

Six-Year Anniversary Episode: Behavioral Science, Status Quo Bias, and How Culture Fuels (or Prevents) Fraud Kelly marks the six-year anniversary of Great Women in Fraud/Fraudish with guest Melina Palmer, host of The Brainy Business podcast and an applied behavioral economics instructor who co-created Texas A&M’s certificate program.  In a speed round, Palmer names Bernie Madoff (and possibly...

Kelly interviews Georgia attorney Jon David Huffman about fraud cases and victim experience. Huffman says embezzlement in positions of trust is more often committed by women in his experience, discusses the difficulty of finding good lawyers, and notes investigators could be stronger referral sources though rules limit referral fees.  Jon explains his career path was influenced by a mentor and a d...

From Hedge Fund Fraud to Redemption: Sean's Story at ACFE Global In this Fraudish episode, the host interviews Sean, a former hedge fund manager who spoke at the 37th annual ACFE Global conference closing. Sean describes growing up in a working-class Denver home, dropping out of college, becoming a stockbroker, and launching a short-term trading hedge fund at 32. After early success, a losing...

Psychology of Belief with Neal aka Fraud Guy Kellly interviews fraud attorney Neal, head of Global Fraud Investigations and Asset Recovery at the  law firm Rimón, about his 30+ year career representing receivers, trustees, banks, insurers, investors, and victims of large-scale Ponzi and other financial crimes.  In a wide-ranging discussion, Neal says men commit more fraud, explains why “clean” ban...

Hardcore Con, the Shoebox Scam, and How Fear Fuels Fraud with Johnathan Walton Kelly interviews returning guest Johnathan Walton about cons, victims, and his podcast Hardcore Con. They discuss how anyone can be scammed, especially those who believe it can’t happen to them, and how multiple “red flags” compound; Kelly also describes adopting a family “code word” to thwart scams.  Walton breaks down...

Fraudish welcomes guest Kathy Chambers, connected through LinkedIn, to discuss storytelling as a driver of change and effective marketing in cyber and fraud. Kathy shares her path from radio/TV degrees and 10+ years as a TV news producer to University of Florida media director, then pivoting during COVID to ITProTV, where she hosted 250+ audit episodes and later the Certified Ethical Hacker series...

Serena Morones on Forensic Accounting, Mentoring, and Using AI to Find Fraud Faster Podcast host Kelly interviews Serena Morones of Morones Analytics about fraud, forensic accounting, and her career path. In a speed round, Morones says she’d most like to have a meal with Robert Jesenick, the CEO behind Oregon’s largest Ponzi scheme (Aequitas), to understand how rationalization and the “slippery sl...

Returning guest Marguerite Lorenz is here to talk about all things trust and estate related. She has a new book, Luck or Control, The Life-Improving Power of Estate Planning,” reflecting on how a rushed, outdated will during the host’s husband’s terminal cancer diagnosis made planning urgent and life-easing.  Lorenz argues estate planning is not about wealth or only death, but about documenting pr...

Corporate Gossip’s Becca Platsky on CEO Myths, Enron Obsessions, and Why Humility Is Fraud Protection Kelly Paxton hosts Becca Platsky of the Corporate Gossip Podcast (a CPA-run “business podcast for Bravo lovers”) to discuss how the show deep-dives one company per week with heavy research, financial analysis, and human-interest gossip, including episodes on Enron and the Forbes 30 Under 30 pipeli...

This week on Fraudish, Kelly speaks with Mark Nigrini to discuss AI’s use in fraud examination.  Do you think Sam Bankman-Fried’s Anthropic investment to AI’s growing relevance? We discuss.  Nigrini shares AI applications like detecting inconsistent invoices (think Rita Crundwell), finding fraud “fingerprints” in dollar amounts, analyzing contradictions in hearings, and raising ethical concerns. C...

Guest: Melissa Jones, SIU Investigator at Crum & Forster ("OSINT Millennial") Host Kelly Paxton sits down with Melissa Jones — insurance fraud investigator, OSINT trainer, and self-described "OSINT Millennial" — for a wide-ranging conversation about building a career in Special Investigations, the art of digital digging, and why connection (both online and on the ball hocke...

Can you even negotiate fraud?  This episode on Fraudish we discuss how negotiation and fraud are more related than you would think.  I am joined by Martin Medeiros about fraud, negotiation, and AI. Martin is an attorney (I know, another one!) who helps organizations build value by treating intellectual property as a strategic asset. In the episode, Martin describes his career building Fortune 500...

Which fraudsters would you have dinner with?  Most people would answer Bernie Madoff or Charles Ponzi. But how many of you would pick a famous fraud investigator? Our guest in this episode does! Michelle Tavares recently launched Standard and Proof Investigations, a litigation support focused on financial fraud, OSINT searches, corporate governance, and assessing the integrity of AI-produced data....

What does your grandmother have to do with corporate governance? More than you might think. In this episode, Kelly Paxton sits down with Evan Tsai, an auditor, compliance veteran, and newly minted founder of Phoenix Ascent, for a conversation that travels from the fraud pandemic in Taiwan, to a book theft at an auditors' conference, to why governance starts long before any consultant walks th...

Have you hear of the False Claims Act? This whistleblower statute recovers $2–6 billion per year for taxpayers. But most of us have never heard of it.  Well, If you report fraud against the government (a "qui tam" action) and the government recovers, the whistleblower receives 15–25% of the recovery. Sam Buffone is our guest on this episode of Fraudish, he is whistleblower attorney and f...

What happens after someone gets scammed? The money's gone but the shame, the confusion, and the vulnerability to being hit again? That often sticks around.  This week I'm joined by De'Airra "Dee" Belcher, founder and fraud-prevention lead of JRMT Consulting, and she is tackling the part of fraud recovery most of us aren't talking about. Dee spent a decade in banking b...

You may think fraud is a financial issue. And you would be wrong! According to my guest, “Fraud is a culture issue with financial consequences.” And I tend to agree.  Everything in an organization — good or bad — begins and ends with culture. When leaders look the other way (as illustrated by Tom Hardin's first fraudulent trade going unchallenged by his boss), a culture of permissiveness take...

When your last name is Riddle , solving problems kind of feels inevitable. In this episode, Kelly sits down with Kelly Riddle, founder and CEO of Kelmar Global, to unpack a 37-year career in fraud investigation — from insurance fraud and corporate theft to how the field has evolved in the digital age. They dive into what actually makes someone commit fraud, the differences between male and female...

She knew she would get caught one day but kept stealing… Every day at work: "Is this the day?" and when FBI showed up with her boss, she knew immediately. This is Michael's choice for any fraudster to interview: Sue Sachdeva (Koss Corporation).  Michael Blevins, a fraud prevention consultant based in Palm Springs, California, about his 35+ year career in mortgage banking and fraud p...

What does it actually take to build a career catching fraudsters? In this episode, Kelly sits down with Justin Burns, CPA, CFE and founder of Space Coast Forensics, to talk about his journey into forensic accounting — and why success in this field (and honestly, any field) comes down to one simple mindset: just go do the thing. From cold-emailing his way onto podcasts to building his own practice,...

Tipper X is back. Tom Hardin, former Wall Street analyst, convicted insider trader, and author,  returns to Fraudish to talk about what happens after the scandal. Most people in Tom’s position would disappear. Instead, he’s chosen to do the opposite: speak openly about his mistakes and turn his scars into service. Tom joins Kelly to discuss his new book and the real story behind his insider tradin...

Before launching her own forensic accounting firm, Carla Blake CPA, CFE spent 15+ years with the IRS tracking down fraudsters. In this episode, she joins Kelly to break down how investigators actually follow the money—and the surprisingly simple red flags that expose embezzlement. From ghost employees to Ponzi schemes, Carla breaks down how fraud really happens, how investigators catch it, and why...