Judges

This three-day course covers the fundamentals of financial investigations and incorporates some of the more advanced processes that elevate an investigation. During this course, students will learn about investigative processes, practical tools, and sources of information necessary to plan and conduct financial investigations. The course begins with a description of the basic composition of elements within illicit financial networks and how they work to compromise legitimate business and financial sectors. Course material will describe government, regulatory, and investigative actions within the United States, and by international partners to detect and investigate illicit actors and networks. The course also includes considerations for investigation planning and promotion of creative thinking.

This course provides hands-on investigative training at a basic level. Students develop the practical skills, insight, and knowledge necessary to manage a successful financial investigation from start to finish, including the acquisition and examination of financial records, interview skills, and case management and organization. Additional topics include forgery and embezzlement, financial exploitation of the elderly, working with spreadsheets, financial profiling, and state-specific statutes and legal issues.

*Emerging issues. Current trends in various types of financial crimes. Recent cases and their implications.
*Financial records. Learn to obtain and manage bank records, including basic spreadsheeting skills.
*Working with data. Extract leads and draw conclusions from bank records and other financial data.
*Hands-on experience. Work a mock financial case as part of an investigative team.

This course introduces analysts to the broader concepts of connecting the dots through link analysis. A critical portion of conducting a successful analytical investigation is the ability to link together and understand the complexities of the connectedness between people and organizations. Introduction to Link Analysis (ILA) expands on the basic principles of link and association analyses explored in the Foundations of Intelligence Analysis Training (FIAT) while building a framework for more advanced methods such as social network analysis.

Expanding basic knowledge of link and association analysis
Explaining the process of social network analysis
Understanding the visual mapping and mathematical components associated with link and social network analyses

This one-day course provides foundational spreadsheeting knowledge and skills to enhance workplace productivity. The course covers basic navigation of Microsoft Excel by combining live demonstrations and hands-on exercises.

Work with multiple worksheets within a workbook
Hide, unhide, and protect worksheets
Adjust rows and columns
Use copy and paste options
Find, select, and sort data

This course provides the fundamental knowledge and skills required to acquire forensic backup images of commonly encountered forms of digital evidence (Microsoft Windows based computers and external storage devices) in a forensically sound manner. Presentations and hands-on practical exercises cover topics on storage media and how data is stored, the forensic acquisition process, tool validation, hardware and software write blockers, forensic backup image formats, and multiple forensic acquisition methods. Students will use third party tools, both free and commercial, that are currently used by practitioners in the field.

This course builds on the concepts introduced in FC101 (FIPS) and FC105 (FREA), introducing investigators and prosecutors to emerging issues in financial crime. Topics include money laundering, analyzing large financial data sets, conducting effective interviews, and managing large amounts of financial evidence. This course consists of a mix of lecture, discussion, and hands-on exercises. Students conduct a mock investigation that includes interviews, data analysis, and the examination of various documents.

*Money laundering. Methods of laundering money. Tracing illegal funds. Emerging issues. FinCEN.
*Spreadsheeting skills. Spreadsheet architecture. Formulas and calculations. Pivot tables.
*Working with financial data. Benfords law analysis. Disentangling commingled funds.
*Hands-on experience. Work a mock financial case as part of an investigative team.

This course provides students with the fundamental knowledge and skills they need to investigate crimes involving virtual currency. Instructors explain foundational concepts like the characteristics of money, virtual currency, and cryptocurrency. Blockchain technology, proof work, and proof of stake are covered; and students learn how industry-leading cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Monero) work and how they differ from each other. Finally, students learn investigative techniques for tracking and documenting transactions; and best practices for seizing and securing cryptocurrency.

*Virtual currency basics. History of money and of virtual currency. Categorizing virtual currency.
*Blockchain. History of the blockchain. Understanding different protocols.
*Cryptocurrencies in detail. Bitcoin, Ethereum, Monero and other privacy coins.
*Investigative techniques. Seizing virtual currency; tracking transactions through the blockchain; documenting investigative results.

This course introduces the information and techniques law enforcement personnel need to safely and methodically collect and preserve digital evidence at a crime scene. Topics include recognizing potential sources of digital evidence; planning and executing a digital evidence-based seizure; and the preservation, packaging, documentation, and transfer of digital evidence.

*Prepare. Prepare to respond to an incident or crime scene where digital evidence may be present.
*Identify. Learn tow to identify relevant sources of digital evidence in an ever-evolving landscape.
*Collect. Learn the proper methods of digital evidence collection.
*Preserve. Build upon the three previous principles to ensure valid and legal preservation of digital evidence can occur.

This course provides hands-on investigative training at a basic level. Students develop the practical skills, insight, and knowledge necessary to manage a successful financial investigation from start to finish, including the acquisition and examination of financial records, interview skills, and case management and organization. Additional topics include forgery and embezzlement, financial exploitation of the elderly, working with spreadsheets, financial profiling, and state-specific statutes and legal issues.

*Emerging issues. Current trends in various types of financial crimes. Recent cases and their implications.
*Financial records. Learn to obtain and manage bank records, including basic spreadsheeting skills.
*Working with data. Extract leads and draw conclusions from bank records and other financial data.
*Hands-on experience. Work a mock financial case as part of an investigative team.

This course covers basic intelligence writing and briefing principles as well as methods for effective and clear intelligence sharing. Topics covered include creative and critical thinking, critical reading skills, source evaluation, privacy and civil rights, intelligence writing style and structure, and generating and presenting intelligence briefings. With guidance from experienced experts, students gain hands-on experience by working through data sets based on real cases to produce intelligence products. Instructors and peers provide feedback on briefings and reports produced and presented in class.

*Foundational skills. Creative thinking. Critical thinking. Critical reading.
*Information sources. Identify sources of intelligence information. Evaluate sources for validity and reliability.
*Analytical reports. Develop a structured and actionable analytical report based on a data set given in class.
*Privacy considerations. Ensure protection of privacy and civil rights while producing intelligence products.
*Briefings. Construct and deliver an intelligence briefing based on a data set given in class.