Transform Finance East Coast
June 13, 2023 | Convene 101 Park Avenue, New York

Erika is ACAMS certified, Bachelor of laws, with a solid understanding of law and regulations, both in Canada and international jurisdictions, fully bilingual in English and Spanish, With specialities in: AML/ATF, Sanctions, Regulatory Compliance, international business/ contract law.

Aaron is a leader and subject-matter expert with over 16 years of experience in Financial Crime Compliance. Working across all lines of business for major US and European banks in global and regional roles, Aaron has led the development, execution, and oversight of the AML, Sanctions, Fraud, and Bribery & Corruption programs. Currently, Aaron is the Deputy Head of Anti-Financial Crime for the Americas at Deutsche Bank. He has significant experience leading banks to the lifting of a deferred prosecution agreement and the closure of regulatory consent orders. Aaron has a Master’s degree in International Economics, a Bachelor’s degree in Finance, and a Six Sigma Green Belt Certification.

Sabeena Ahmed Liconte serves as Head of Legal and Compliance to the investment banking division of Bank of China International – BOC International (USA) Holdings Inc. (“BOCI US Holdings”) and its two subsidiaries, BOCI Commodities & Futures (USA) LLC, a registered futures commission merchant and CME Group Inc. clearing member, and BOC International (USA) Inc., a registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA (collectively, “BOCI”).

Prior to joining BOCI, Sabeena served as a Futures & Derivatives Counsel and Compliance Advisor to E*TRADE Financial Corp., including E*TRADE Clearing Corp. and E*TRADE Securities Corp.; and General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer to Alpari (US), LLC, a CFTC-registered futures commission merchant and retail foreign exchange dealer and member of the NFA, and its affiliate broker-dealer, Alpari Securities LLC. Some other previous professional experience includes the Office of General Counsel at Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith Incorporated, the Division of Enforcement at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the Bank of New York Mellon’s Legal Division and the Securities Fraud Prosecution division of the Attorney General’s Office for the State of New Jersey.

Sabeena is a licensed attorney with a Juris Doctor from the St. John’s University School of Law. She also completed a visiting year at Fordham University School of Law. In addition to her law degree, she holds a Master of Arts in International Relations from Columbia University and, paying homage to her Canadian roots, a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology and Political Science from the University of Toronto.

She also serves as a board member and Secretary to Bank of China International’s US holding company, BOCI US Holdings; Chair of the New York County Law Association’s (“NYCLA”) Futures & Derivatives Committee and board member of the Center for Financial Professionals FinTech Advisory Group.

Sabeena is an active member of the bar association, including the New York City Bar Association’s Foreign and Comparative Law Committee and Futures and Derivatives Committee, and the American Bar Association’s Section of Business Law and International Law.

Gregory Coleman is the FBI Special Agent responsible for the criminal investigation of Jordan Belfort. Belfort’s rise to power and subsequent arrest and conviction were chronicled in the movie, “The Wolf of Wall Street.” The movie was directed by Martin Scorsese and starred Leonardo DiCaprio. Mr. Coleman was portrayed by Kyle Chandler.

Mr. Coleman retired from the FBI with over 25 years of experience investigating financial crimes, money laundering, and asset forfeiture. Many of his investigations involved stock market manipulations where the proceeds were laundered through offshore shell corporations and offshore bank accounts. Mr. Coleman was able to obtain banking records from numerous offshore jurisdictions by piercing the veil of secrecy. Coleman Worldwide Advisors provides litigation support, funds recovery assistance, and other financial consultancy services involving financial transactions and systems.

Aielleen Fajardo is the Head of Internal Investigations for TIAA.  Prior to joining TIAA, Aielleen was the Head of Regulatory Compliance for North America and Global Head of Personal Conflicts Management at Fitch Ratings, Inc.  Previously, Aielleen served as a managing director and in-house counsel for BNY Mellon, overseeing complex and high-profile regulatory enforcement matters and internal investigations.  Aielleen was also a litigation attorney at several prominent law firms, including Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft in New York.  She holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Yale University and a Juris Doctor degree from UCLA School of Law. 

Greg Williamson is Head of Strategy at Pluribus Labs. Previously, he was Chief Investment Officer of The American National Red Cross, which he joined in 2015. Prior to the Red Cross, Greg was Chief Investment Officer and Director, Trust Investments of BP America Inc. He began his investment career at O’Connor and Associates and Petersen and Company. Greg has an MBA from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and a BA from Northwestern University. He is a Board Member of and Investment Committee Chairman for the Terra Foundation for American Art, and is a member of The Economics Club of Chicago.

Lester Joseph is the Manager of the Global Financial Crimes Intelligence Group at Wells Fargo & Company. The primary mission of this Group is to provide intelligence on money laundering activity and financial crime trends to all parts of the bank. He joined Wells Fargo as the International Investigations Manager in the Financial Intelligence Unit in March 2010.

Prior to joining Wells Fargo, Mr. Joseph worked for the United States Department of Justice from 1984 to February 2010. From 2002-2010, he was the Principal Deputy Chief of the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section (AFMLS). He was a Deputy Chief in the Section since October 1991. During his tenure in AFMLS, the Section played a major role in several noteworthy money laundering investigations and prosecutions involving major financial institutions, including the investigations that resulted in the guilty pleas of Riggs Bank (2005) and E-Gold Ltd. (2008), and Deferred Prosecution Agreements with Credit Suisse (2009), Lloyds TSB Bank PLC (2009), Sigue Corporation (2008), Union Bank of California (2007), American Express Bank International (2007), BankAtlantic (2006), and Banco Popular de Puerto Rico (2003), based on criminal violations involving the Bank Secrecy Act or the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

Mr. Joseph began his career with the Department of Justice in 1984 as a Trial Attorney in the Organized Crime and Racketeering Section. From 1981-1984, he served as an Assistant State’s Attorney in Cook County (Chicago), Illinois. He received his J.D. from The John Marshall Law School in Chicago and his B.A. from the University of Michigan. He has been an Adjunct Professor at The George Washington University in Washington, DC, and at George Mason University in Virginia

Melissa Leeds is a Vice President, Senior Business Associate at Citibank. She is the lead for the forward-looking metrics initiative where she is setting the foundation for the use of machine learning (ML) to identify, and predict, drivers of risk. Before her time at Citibank, Melissa was a contractor for the Department of Defense (DoD). She has over 12 years of financial analysis, data analytics, risk management, and compliance experience. Throughout her career, Melissa has performed operational analysis and prepared insight reports for high-level DoD leadership and federal law enforcement units to include DEA, FBI Terrorist Financing Office Section, and HSI Human Smuggling Cell.
Melissa holds an MA in Criminology from the University of South Florida and a BA in Criminal Justice. She a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) with additional ACAMS certifications in Counter Threat Finance and Trade Based Money Laundering.

Werner Hospinal, CAMS, is currently the Chief BSA/AML Compliance Officer & Audit Manager at Plus International Bank in Miami, Florida, USA. Werner has more than 25 years of experience working for banks with heavy international client base providing guidance on BSA/AML Compliance, Cross-border AML regulatory requirements to LATAM and Caribbean countries. He has extensive Project Management experience leading multiple Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance projects such as Customer Due Diligence (CDD), Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD), Customer Identification Program (CIP), Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) Sanctions and Know Your Customer (KYC).

In addition, he was the Regional LATAM Internal Auditor and Compliance Manager for Citibank NA, leading annual reviews /audit projects to Citibank in Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Guatemala, and other financial institutions in Ecuador, Venezuela, Panama, Jamaica, Aruba, and USA; presenting audit final reports with corrective action plans to Country Compliance Officers in Latin America, Senior Management and Board of Directors in multiple countries in English and Spanish.

During his professional career Werner has been responsible for managing bank’s examinations conducted by US regulators such as: FDIC, Federal Reserve Bank and OCC, implementing internal controls and developing policies and procedures to mitigate money laundering risks.

Pankaj Vij is well-versed in a variety of IT disciplines such as Application Development, Enterprise Architecture, Platform Engineering and Middleware systems. He has rich experience in initiating and building enterprise programs and leading teams to technology and process adoption and to successful completion of complex projects.

Pankaj has extensive experience in helping transform large enterprises by conceptualizing and leading greenfield projects, digital strategy and architecting and designing complex IT systems with an eye on continuous improvement.