Fighting Fraud from Miami to Vancouver

As the vice president and head of anti-fraud and corporate governance, Guiseppe Tritto knows how wide fraud investigations can span. From Miami to Vancouver, Tritto supervises and monitors all corporate and investment banking anti-fraud efforts in North America for BNP Paribas.

May 2013

ACFE Member Profile

As the vice president and head of anti-fraud and corporate governance, Guiseppe Tritto knows how wide fraud investigations can span. From Miami to Vancouver, Tritto supervises and monitors all corporate and investment banking anti-fraud efforts in North America for BNP Paribas. Aligning those efforts across an organization, and a continent, can be a daunting, but necessary task.

What trends are you currently seeing in fraud investigations?  

We have received several requests for support for Internet-related fraud schemes. Currently the level of sophistication of these schemes is remarkable and requires more in-depth review of the materials and particular attention to details.

Please describe your most memorable case and its resolution -- feel free to use pseudonyms for suspects if the case is ongoing and no judgment has yet been made.  

When I worked for the Italian government as a special agent for the Italian Treasury I uncovered a major scheme involving sensitive figures. The scheme focused on a government insurance agency involving fraud, corruption, money laundering and bribery on a large scale. It eventually resulted in the seizure of hundreds of millions of dollars and the arrest of several public figures.

What advice would you give to someone hoping to follow a similar career path as you? 

Believe in what you do and provide the best service based on ethics, knowledge and a spirit of cooperation. Sometimes what we uncover is not pleasant, but nevertheless our mission is to prevent fraudsters and white-collar crimes criminals from exploiting our organizations.

What do you consider your greatest career achievement?  

The position I hold now was awarded to me as the result of the creation of an anti-fraud program me and my colleagues implemented in North America. In Italy, I would note the case I mentioned in the previous question as I felt I provided a great service to the community and was well received by the local authorities.

In your role, how important is making personal connections with other anti-fraud professionals?  

Networking is a key component, as it provides a great forum for information sharing. Professionals in the field remain closed in silos and the great amount of knowledge and expertise is not combined in a cooperative effort to combat fraud. What happens to an organization is not unique and networking allows knowledge to be transferred from one professional to another providing an invaluable fraud prevention tool.

What other thoughts can you share on your role as an anti-fraud professional?  

By nature, controls, compliance and audit are not seen as the friendliest departments within a financial institution. Creating a spirit of cooperation with business lines is always a challenge. Over the years I have noticed an increased awareness from the business lines about our responsibilities and tasks, which are not aimed at penalizing business, but preventing negative events... The head office and local senior management appreciate what I add to our fraud prevention effort. Being a member (of the ACFE) has provided a strong foundation in this endeavor and it was reflected by my appointment in my current role.