Meeting/Event Information

Description:

Date:  Tuesday April 30, 2024

Time: 

Check-in - 8:30 am

Conference begins at 9:00 am

Location: South Carolina Department of Archives and History, 8301 Parklane Rd, Columbia, SC 29223

Cost:

Members - FREE

Non-members - $99

We are also offering a few scholarships to law enforcement attendees. If you are interested in applying for the law enforcement scholarship, please email [email protected].  

**Space is limited so register early

CPE Hours: 6 hours (includes 2 hours of Ethics)

Topics include:

• Financial Fraud/Investigation (2 hrs)
• Behavioral Ethics (2 hr)
• Money Laundering/Terrorist Financing in Film/Television (1 hr)
• Healthcare Fraud (1 hr)

SPEAKERS/TOPICS:

S. Creighton Waters, Chief Attorney, State Grand Jury Division - Office of the South Carolina Attorney General

Creighton Waters has been prosecuting criminals in the Attorney General's office his entire legal career.  Following a decade primarily handling appeals against defendants convicted of murder, Waters moved to the AG Office’s Criminal Prosecution in 2010 and became Chief Attorney of the State Grand Jury Division in 2017.  There, Waters partnered with SLED, state, local, and federal law enforcement agencies to lead prosecutions and investigations not only in corruption cases against all types of government officials, but also against drug traffickers and gang members.  Most recently, Waters was the lead attorney in convicting prominent lawyer Alex Murdaugh for a double murder, while also leading the investigation, indictment, and conviction of Murdaugh and co-conspirators of hundreds of offenses for allegedly stealing money from clients and abusing the judicial system for over a decade.  Waters also continues to focus on convicting traffickers causing the opioid and methamphetamine epidemic affecting all South Carolinians, while also addressing complex white collar crime and public corruption.  Waters is a lifelong resident of South Carolina who graduated from Dreher High School, the University of South Carolina, and the USC School of Law. 

Carson Burney, Forensic Accountant - Office of the South Carolina Attorney General

Carson has been with the SC Attorney General’s office since September 2021 where he examines financial records to trace the source of disposition of funds and to detect evidence of embezzlement, corruption or other misappropriation of funds.  Prior to his current role, Carson was the Owner/Principal Content Producer of Burney Media, a social media entertainment company that created content for Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and Twitch.  He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration - Finance as well as his Paralegal Certificate from the University of South Carolina.

Creighton and Carson will be presenting the financial investigation involving former attorney Alex Murdaugh. 

Ramona R. Farrell, MBA, CFBA, CFE, CFCI - Farrell Insights LLC

Ramona is an independent forensic accounting consultant and the founder/owner of Farrell Insights LLC, a management consulting company whose purpose is to bring calm and clarity to chaos and avenues for closure with simple, specialized solutions. She holds a master’s degree of business administration (MBA), is a certified family business advisor (CFBA), certified fraud examiner (CFE), and certified financial crimes investigator (CFCI). As a former managing partner of a boutique accounting firm and principal with a national CPA firm, Ramona capitalized on her more than 20 years of diversified consulting and forensic accounting experience to form her own company, Farrell Insights, in September of 2020. She uses her specialized skills to assist counsel, family-owned and other privately-owned businesses, and organizations with forensic accounting matters and financial investigations, business ownership and management issues, and mergers and acquisitions.

In addition, until May, 2023 as an Adjunct Faculty member Ramona taught an ethics course for Furman University’s Business and Accounting Department in Greenville, SC. Previously, she was an Adjunct Faculty member of California State University-Sacramento’s Business School where she taught ethics and business communications courses. She is also an instructor for the South Carolina Association of CPAs and primarily provides training sessions on ethics, fraud awareness, and leadership/professional development related topics.

Behavioral Ethics: Avoidance is Risky 

Do you feel awkward or uncomfortable when having a conversation about ethics and the choices we make? What makes that conversation complicated and difficult? How do we get ourselves into these questionable ethical situations? How can we help our employees avoid ethical pressures and from going down that slippery slope? Join this presentation for a lively discussion as we look at statistical data, use case studies to address these questions and discuss solutions for ethical situations that might work for you and your organization.

Aminah Harris, CAMS, CFE - TD Bank

Aminah Harris joined TD Bank, NA in September 2010.  Aminah’s mandate is focused on two Personal and Commercial programs (transaction monitoring and monitoring program. She earned a BA-Economics and MBA-Professional Accounting from Rutgers University-Newark.  In addition, she holds the Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) and Certified Anti-Money Laundering Speciality (CAMS) designations.

The Evolution of Money Laundering/Terrorist Financing in Film and Television

Discussion on how financial crime is having a popular culture moment where money laundering schemes are plot points. This discussion will outline financial crime typologies presented in film and television and similar anti-money laundering (AML) typologies/red flags seen in real life examples.

Nancy Cote - Assistant United States Attorney for the District of South Carolina

Nancy Cote is an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of South Carolina.  She graduated from Clemson University with a BA in Spanish and International Trade, and received her J.D. from the Charleston School of Law.  She worked as an Assistant Solicitor for several years in Richland, Georgetown, and Horry Counties in South Carolina before becoming a prosecutor with the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office’s State Grand Jury and General Prosecution division.  Nancy then moved to the South Carolina Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, where she served as the Deputy Director and then Director.  With the United States Attorney’s Office, she handles Affirmative Civil Enforcement cases, primarily focusing on healthcare fraud.   

Beth Warren - Assistant United States Attorney in the District of South Carolina

Beth Warren has been an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of South Carolina since 2012, primarily handling Affirmative Civil Enforcement (ACE) cases under the False Claims Act.  She also serves as the ACE Coordinator for the office. Beth has handled health care and procurement fraud cases that have received national attention.  She has led or assisted in cases resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars being returned to the government.   Beth completed the South Carolina Bar Leadership Academy in 2018, and is incoming Chair of the Health Law committee for the South Carolina Bar. She is a member of John Belton O’Neill Inn of Court.

Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Beth clerked for the Honorable Chief Justice Jean H. Toal of the South Carolina Supreme Court.  In her former career, Beth worked in the healthcare industry as a pharmaceutical sales representative.  Beth graduated with Honors from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 2010, where she served as Symposium Editor of the South Carolina Law Review, a student member of the Inn of Court, and as Chairperson of the Honor Council. 

Jamie G. Seales, Assistant Chief Investigator - Office of the South Carolina Attorney General, Medicaid Fraud Control Unit

Jaime Seales has over 25 years Law Enforcement experience conducting and supervising a wide variety of complex Criminal and Narcotics investigations on the State and Federal level.  He was previously a Crime Scene Agent with SLED and Former Lieutenant supervising Criminal and Narcotics Investigations at the Marlboro County Sheriff’s Office.  Currently he conducts Health Care fraud with the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit for the SC Attorney General's Office.

Nancy, Beth, and Jamie will be discussing healthcare fraud and case studies.

Hope to see you there!