Speakers

MANUEL PARREIRA, REGIONAL DIRECTOR Manuel Parreira was appointed Regional Director for the Bank of Canada’s Ontario Regional Office in July 2007. In this capacity, he promotes the Bank across Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic Provinces and delivers its products and services to key stakeholders. His role includes building and maintaining relationships with financial and business communities, law enforcement and government agencies, educational institutions, and the general public. In addition, Manuel supports the Regional Outreach program, aimed at explaining the Bank’s activities and mandate and will be called upon to testify in court on the impact of counterfeiting and the cost to Canadians. In his 43 years of service, Mr. Parreira’s experience has provided him with opportunities to work in various Bank departments and Internationally with the focus being on the Currency function.

Detective Adam Stover, a Waterloo Regional Police officer since 2000, specializes in financial crimes. Currently assigned to the Organized Financial Crime Team, he's been a fraud investigator since 2017. Most recently focusing on mortgage and NOSI fraud linked to HVAC and home renovation, Detective Stover actively collaborates with the government, other police services, and civil litigators pursuing criminal cells exploiting vulnerable citizens across the province. He has advocated for legislative change while successfully arresting and charging fraudsters resulting in the recovery of millions in lost funds and home equity.

Mark Luimes (JD, University of Toronto Faculty of Law) has been Crown Counsel at the Ministry of the Attorney General since his call to the bar in 2020. His practice has included criminal trials, appeals, and prosecution and investigation support. Since January 2023, he has been a member of the Complex Prosecutions Bureau’s Cybercrime Team, where he advises on cybercrime investigations and conducts cybercrime prosecutions and appeals.

Kathleen Lavigne - Forensic Specialist – National Anti-Counterfeiting Bureau (NACB), RCMP National Forensic Laboratory Services (NFLS) Kathleen began her career with the RCMP NFLS in 2004 in Biology Services (DNA profile development). She held various roles within Biology Services prior to becoming a Forensic Specialist with the NACB in 2018. As a Forensic Specialist, she conducts forensic examinations to determine the authenticity of the following exhibit types: Canadian, American and foreign bank notes as well as other negotiable instruments, travel and identity documents. In addition to forensic examinations, her duties include providing training to law enforcement agencies, and expert court testimony, when required. Kathleen holds an Honors Bachelor’s of Science in Biology from the University of Ottawa.

Detective Constable Valerie Dahan has been a member of the Toronto Police Service since 2001. Her policing career has been predominantly spent within the field of criminal investigation including a total of 12 years assigned to the Homicide Squad, the Street Crime Unit, the Criminal Investigation Bureau, the Divisional Fraud Office, and as a Field Intelligence Officer. Detective Constable Dahan regularly lectures at the Toronto Police College, the Ontario Police College, as well as the Canadian Police College on the topics of Fraud Investigations, Organized Crime, Elder Abuse, and Asset Forfeiture Investigations. Valerie also shares her expertise as a speaker at conferences and symposiums on the topic of Anti-Money Laundering. In January 2015, Valerie transferred to the Financial Crimes Unit - Corporate Crime Section, where she was assigned to investigate organized, multi-jurisdictional, and complex Fraud cases. Since July 2020, Valerie has been assigned to the Asset Forfeiture Section of the Financial Crimes Unit. The mandate of this unit is to identify, seize, restrain, and obtain forfeiture of proceeds of crime and offence-related property. The Asset Forfeiture Section also investigates money laundering activities and generally provides a body of expertise for persons involved in the administration of justice.

Mr. Robert Whitaker served in Federal, State, and international law enforcement for 23 years. He now serves as the Law Enforcement Affairs for Blockchain Intelligence Group. Mr. Whitaker has previously served as a Supervisory Special Agent with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and has held several senior executive management positions in the blockchain industry. Mr. Whitaker has a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice Administration. Mr. Whitaker is a Certified Bitcoin Professional and is regarded as an expert witness in cryptocurrencies.

Acting Detective Sergeant John Armit is seconded to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) as a law enforcement Liaison Officer, who provides support to law enforcement, government and CAFC partners nationally and internationally. John has been with the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) for over 23 years and is a member of the OPP’s Anti-Rackets Branch (ARB) Ottawa Unit, investigating complex economic crimes and political corruption.

John-David Bradley began his career with the U.S. Secret Service in 2002. During his time in the Miami Field Office, he worked on financial crime investigations including U.S. counterfeit currency, credit card fraud, check fraud and identity theft. Following this, he spent several years as a member of the Special Operations Division and the Presidential Protective Division. Other assignments include being a senior instructor at the U.S. Secret Service training center. He is currently assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa where he coordinates protective activities between the U.S. Secret Service and Canadian law enforcement agencies during all visits to Canada by the U.S. President, Vice-President, and others authorized protection by law. He also works closely with Canadian law enforcement agencies, U.S. and Canadian financial institutions to coordinate criminal investigations that transcend our common borders.

Detective Constable Tom Houlihan started with Peel Regional Police in 2005. Tom has gained experience working in Uniform Patrol, Neighbourhood Policing Unit, Street Crime, Homicide Unit, Canine, Intelligence Gang Unit, and is currently assigned to the Fraud Unit.

Melissa Adams has been Crown Counsel with the Crown Law Office – Criminal of the Ministry of the Attorney General since 2003. Since 2009 her practice has been primarily focused on proceeds of crime and all things criminal asset forfeiture, and she is the Team Lead of the Ministry’s Restraint & Forfeiture Office. In this role, she regularly advises and lectures on criminal asset forfeiture issues to police and Crowns across the province, brings pre-trial restraint and seizure applications related to criminal assets, provides guidance and support on interlocutory and forfeiture applications, and argues criminal appeals related to asset forfeiture issues.

Ranjit Rai has 30 years of experience with TD Bank. She is currently the manager for the Production Order Team who oversees all production orders coming into TD Bank within Canada.

Sherry Lee has 25 years of experience with TD Bank, currently working as an AML Operations Analyst since March 2024. She previously worked as a Production Order Specialist for 14 years where she was responsible for complying to all Production Orders coming into TD Bank within Canada.

Detective Sebastian Cuoco has served with Peel Regional Police for the past 22 years. He has worked in a number of different investigative assignments throughout the course of his career, including divisional Criminal Investigation Bureau, Homicide, the Fraud Bureau, Intelligence Services, Professional Standards and now Cyber Support Services (CSS). His educational background includes a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Sociology from York University, as well as a Master of Public Safety (MPS) degree from Wilfrid Laurier University. He has been the Officer-in-Charge of Peel Regional Police CSS since January of 2022, and he is the lead investigator for Project Tripartite, which is the Canadian equivalent to Operation Callcenter Crackdown, a joint FBI / United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) investigation into a tech support scam operating in three different countries: Canada, the United States and India.

Jason is advisory counsel for MAG’s Provincial Support Unit and counsel on MAG’s Cybercrime team. He conducts cyber-related appeals, trials and advisory work and is Director of MAG’s summer school course on Cybercrime. Previously, he was General Counsel with the Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC) with a practice focused on INSET-related national security investigations and prosecutions.

Pamela Morley is a Senior Forensic Accountant with the Forensic Accounting Management Group of Public Services and Procurement Canada. She is a Certified Fraud Examiner and a Chartered Professional Accountant, who is Certified in Financial Forensics. With over 20 years of experience in the field of forensic accounting, she has worked on a wide variety of assignments including alleged investment frauds; Ponzi schemes; employee thefts; health frauds; potential bribery, kickbacks and corruption; money laundering; human trafficking; missing persons and homicide investigations.

Cpl. Jennifer George has been a member with the RCMP for 21 years. She is currently posted at the London Detachment working with the Transnational Serious & Organized Crime Section. Jennifer investigates criminal organizations based or operating outside the GTA. The investigations focus on criminal organizations who are relying on proceeds of crime in order to expand their criminal enterprise with an interprovincial or international nexus.

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Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent (SA) James Fountain began his US federal career in 2007, serving in the US Army Military Police Corps, Department of Defense Police, and in 2016, becoming a Special Agent with HSI. While assigned to the San Diego field office, James conducted complex investigations in narcotics-based smuggling, darkweb and cryptocurrency, as well as bulk-cash smuggling, with case work that spanned throughout the United States and globally. He is currently assigned as an HSI Representative with HSI Calgary, Canada at the US Consulate General – Calgary. He has taught both basic and advanced cryptocurrency investigations throughout the United States, Canada, Spain, and Dubai. James holds a Bachelor’s degree in Social and Criminal Justice from Ashford University as well as numerous industry standard and advanced certifications in cryptocurrency.

Jeff Good is a Senior Forensic Accountant with the Forensic Accounting Management Group of Public Services and Procurement Canada, providing forensic accounting services to law enforcement and other government agencies in Canada. He is a Chartered Professional Accountant, who is Certified in Financial Forensics, also a Certified Fraud Examiner and a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist. With almost 25 years of experience in the field of forensic accounting, he has worked on a wide variety of cases including drug trafficking, human trafficking, proceeds of crime, money laundering, and other financial crimes. He has testified as an expert witness in Ontario courts on a number of these cases.

ERICA FOSBERY – Senior Manager, Fraud Management Erica has been in the payments industry for nearly 15 years and working specifically in fraud management for 13 years. At Interac Corp., Erica previously worked very closely with Law Enforcement, assisting in fraudulent Interac e-Transfer investigations. Now, as a Senior Manager, Fraud Management, Erica is responsible developing and implementing fraud strategies on the Interac e-Transfer service.