A bipartisan Congressional commission created to investigate the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression begins its work with two Certified Fraud Examiners serving in key positions: Martin T. Biegelman, CFE, CCEP, was appointed assistant director for the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC), and Thomas Borgers, CFE, was appointed senior investigator.
Biegelman and Borgers are working with eight other members of the FCIC to examine the causes – domestic and global – of the current financial and economic crisis in the United States. The commission will also examine the collapse of major financial institutions that failed, or would have failed, had they not received exceptional government assistance.
Biegelman is a Regent Emeritus and Fellow of the ACFE. He has a lifetime of experience in fraud, corruption and security investigations, and is currently on leave from his position as director of the Financial Integrity Unit at Microsoft Corporation in Redmond, Wash., while he serves on the FCIC.
“I am humbled to be offered this leadership position with the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and the opportunity to again serve my country,” Biegelman said. “Chairman Phil Angelides and Vice Chairman Bill Thomas have publicly stated that the commission will be aggressive in the pursuit of information on the financial crisis and provide an accounting of what happened and what went wrong.”
Borgers, a CFE and member of the board of directors for the New York City chapter of the ACFE, brings his broad experience in financial services and mortgage fraud to his role as the FCIC’s senior investigator. Recently, Borgers developed recovery strategies for victims of Bernard Madoff and was previously a manager and consultant for KPMG and senior investigator-in-charge for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
“I’m really excited about this opportunity,” Borgers said. “This is the biggest fraud examination in the world and I am honored to be a part of it.”
Biegelman said his association with the ACFE will serve him well on the FCIC.
“For more than 20 years the ACFE has been a recognized leader in fraud detection and prevention, and I will be looking to the ACFE and CFEs for subject matter expertise and thought leadership as the commission performs its critical and landmark work,” Biegelman said. “I want to express my deep appreciation for the strong support from [ACFE founder and Chairman] Joe Wells, [ACFE President] Jim Ratley and the ACFE in recommending me for appointment to the commission.”
For the FCIC, efforts are already underway to provide answers regarding the economic meltdown. According to Borgers, the FCIC – like the Pecora Commission of the 1930s – will also wield subpoena power and have the ability to “hold hearings, take testimony, administer oaths, and receive and require all forms of evidence such as books, records, correspondence, memoranda, papers, and documents. Virtually everything in the private and government sectors will be open to the commission so it can perform its functions.” (For more information, read the Fraud in the News column by Borgers in the November/December 2009 issue of Fraud Magazine.)
Findings and conclusions will be provided in a formal report to Congress and the President by Dec. 15.
Scott Patterson is media relations specialist for the ACFE.
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