Agenda
9:00-9:10 am
President Welcome
9:10-10:00
Electronic Database Searching in the Age of AI: From Court Records to Deepfakes
Kevin Connell, CEO, IntelSearch
Description: This presentation explores the current state of electronic database searching, with a focus on how data is sourced, verified, and used in real-world investigations. Drawing from decades of experience building and leading a nationwide background investigations firm, Kevin Connell breaks down the strengths and limitations of database searching and court record retrieval, including where gaps exist and what investigators often miss.
The session then shifts to the impact of artificial intelligence on the fraud landscape. Attendees gain insight into how AI is being used to create more sophisticated fraud, including deepfakes and synthetic identities, along with practical strategies to recognize risks, adapt investigative approaches, and stay one step ahead.
Presenter bio: Kevin Connell is the CEO of IntelSearch, a background investigations firm he founded in 1994 (formerly AccuScreen), and a Creative Strategist at KevinConnell.com, where he advises businesses on practical applications of artificial intelligence.
Over the past three decades, Kevin built IntelSearch into a nationwide background screening company serving clients such as Dell, Kodak, and Publix Super Markets. He successfully sold the majority of the business to a strategic buyer and continues to consult on complex background investigations, court record research, and fraud related matters.
His expertise includes electronic database searching, court record retrieval, open-source intelligence, and negligent hiring risk. He has served as an expert witness and provided testimony before the Florida Supreme Court. Kevin also served on the founding board of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners and taught employment background investigations at the University of South Florida for over a decade.
Today, Kevin works at the intersection of investigations and artificial intelligence, helping organizations address emerging threats such as AI-driven fraud, deepfakes, and synthetic identities, while also applying AI to improve efficiency and decision-making.
Outside of business, Kevin is a full Ironman finisher (140.6), a 17-time Half Ironman (70.3), a Boston Marathon finisher, and a former Academic All-American football player at Ohio Wesleyan University.
10:00 – 10:10
Break
10:10 – 11:00
An Introduction to Cognitive Load in Witness Interviews
Darryl Wegner, PKF O’Connor Davies
Description: This course will provide a brief overview of the Strategic Use of Evidence (SUE) technique which is an investigative interviewing method developed from scientific research with the goal of improving the detection of deception and eliciting truthful accounts. The SUE technique provides a framework and strategy for the introduction of evidence during an investigative interview. This technique is based on the premise that truth-tellers and liars behave differently when confronted with evidence, allowing forensic investigators to better identify inconsistencies and potentially uncover deception.
Presenter bio: Darryl Wegner is a Managing Director in PKFOD’s Forensic, Litigation and Valuation practice. Prior to joining PKF O’Connor Davies, Darryl served as a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for 21 years where he conducted and led complex, multi-jurisdictional investigations involving anti-money laundering (AML), financial and accounting fraud, securities fraud, insider trading, health care fraud, anti-bribery and anti-corruption (ABAC), criminal antitrust, national security, counter threat finance and sanctions. Darryl served as Director of the FBI’s High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group (HIG). The HIG was the lead United States Government entity tasked with researching, training, and implementing the most effective science-based interviewing techniques for use by the U.S. Intelligence Community (IC).
Darryl has extensive experience working with federal, state, local and international law enforcement and regulatory agencies. He began his FBI career in the Boston Field Office, investigating terrorism and white-collar crime while also serving as a crisis negotiator. Darryl held several positions at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. including as the national leader of the bureau’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, kleptocracy and antitrust programs, as one of the FBI’s deputy chief human capital officers and led efforts to stand up a multidisciplinary nation state focused mission center. In addition to Boston and D.C., Darryl was assigned to the FBI’s Houston Field Office where he directed all white-collar crime investigations in southeast Texas.
Darryl started his professional career as an engineer in the automotive industry. After attending law school, Darryl practiced as a corporate attorney for an international law firm in New York.
11:00 – 11:10 Break
11:10 – 12:00
Interview Case Study
Darryl Wegner
The session will include the theory and research behind the concept as well as a practical group exercise involving a mock interview.
12:00- 1:00
Lunch
1:00 – 1:50
Deloitte Session: AI on the Front Lines: How Investigators Are Using Artificial Intelligence to Detect Fraud, Expose Networks, and Build Cases Faster
Description: Fraud schemes are growing more sophisticated. Bad actors are using synthetic identities, organized fraud rings, and AI-enabled tactics to exploit government programs, healthcare systems, and financial institutions, at scale. Meanwhile, investigators are under pressure to do more with limited resources, faster timelines, and increasingly complex data environments.
This session examines how AI and advanced analytics are reshaping the investigator’s toolkit. Rather than replacing investigative judgment, these tools augment it, helping investigators surface hidden connections, prioritize leads, and move from detection to resolution more efficiently.
Drawing on real-world cases across unemployment insurance fraud and healthcare fraud, we will walk through how techniques such as network analysis, machine learning, and generative AI are being applied in active investigations. We will discuss how fraud rings were identified, how insider collusion was detected, and how investigators used AI-assisted tools to synthesize large volumes of evidence without sacrificing auditability or due process.
Attendees will leave with a practical understanding of how AI tools are being deployed in investigations today, what works, where the risks are, and how CFEs can position themselves to work effectively alongside these capabilities.
Key topics covered:
- The evolving fraud threat landscape: how bad actors are weaponizing AI against programs and investigators
- Use case deep dive: unemployment insurance fraud and the role of network analysis in exposing fraud rings and insider collusion
- Use case deep dive: healthcare fraud investigations and how AI helps identify synthetic records, billing anomalies, and criminal networks
- How machine learning improves signal detection and reduces investigator time spent on false positives
- Practical considerations for CFEs: human oversight, evidentiary standards, and working with AI-assisted findings
Presenter bios:
Paul Baumrind was raised by two innkeepers in a town in Vermont with one red blinking light. His passion for solving crime came from watching TV and reading about law enforcement.
He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Gettysburg College and a Master of Science degree from the University of Baltimore.
Paul work in law enforcement for 29 years in three organizations; The Baltimore County Police Department, United States Federal Air Marshal Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
As a Special Agent at the FBI, Paul worked on cases involving health care fraud, Organized Crime and Public Corruption/Civil Rights at the Boston Field Office where he received several awards to include the US Attorney General’s Award, Counsel of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association Investigation of the Year, FBI Medal of Excellence and District of Massachusetts US Attorney Awards.
One of Paul’s cases has been featured in the Netflix movie and book by Evan Hughes called “The Pain Hustlers.”
Currently, Paul works as a Manager at Deloitte in Enterprise Organization and Risk and serves as a subject matter expert in fraud.
Paul would like to thank Mike McCall with whom he worked with at the FBI for mentoring and coaching him throughout the years.
Carol Tannous is a Managing Director within Deloitte’s Government and Public Services practice. She possesses over 22 years of experience across the financial services industry, federal and state governments specializing in anomaly detection, machine learning, and data management to support program integrity, financial investigations, and regulatory compliance. Carol serves as Deloitte’s Program Integrity national leader for Labor & Workforce Development as well as the PI leader for the Northeast subsector.
1:50 – 2:15
Annual General Meeting
4 CPEs