Pammi Babbra
Pammi is a commercial litigation solicitor who has practised in the City of London for 20 years. She heads her firm’s multidisciplinary litigation department, which has a strong focus on commercial fraud and regulation. She has been involved with the work of the Fraud Fora for over 8 years and has actively contributed, together with the public and private sectors, to the fight against fraud and economic crime. Against this background, Pammi was keen to recreate in the eastern region a forum for members of all sectors to share experiences, opinions, best practices, information, discussion and cooperation, and so spearheaded the re-establishment of the Eastern Fraud Forum.
Pammi has perused and defended a wide range of complex contract disputes, high-value breaches, liabilities in the supply chain and related Part 20 claims, origins of art, intellectual property, apportioning liability in cross-border matters, including transportation and distribution, import/export regulation and matters involving the Export Control Joint Unit, European and international conventions, Border Force and confiscation. She also works on domestic and cross-border arbitrations and has been involved in investigations of fallen hedge funds and advising on other regulatory matters, including the Phone-paid services authority and banking matters.
A number of these cases have involved allegations of breaches of fiduciary duties, misrepresentation, conspiracy, misconduct, deceit and misappropriation requiring injunctive relief, domestic and worldwide freezing injunctions, enforcement in tax efficient jurisdictions and committal proceedings.
Robert Brooker
Robert has over 20 years’ experience of tackling and preventing financial crime across the public, and private sectors, including considerable experience of Fraud Risk Management, as well as leading Investigation teams. Robert has worked within Local Authorities, Transport for London (TfL) and Advisory Firms.
He is currently Head of Forensics and Fraud at PKF Littlejohn LLP. Additionally, Robert is Chairman of the London Fraud Forum, a member only group, working to bring the Public and Private Sectors together, to prevent and detect Fraud, Bribery and Corruption.
Professor Mark Button
Professor Mark Button is founder and Director of the Centre for Counter Fraud Studies at the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies, University of Portsmouth. Mark has written extensively on counter fraud, cyber-fraud and private policing issues, publishing many articles, chapters and completing eight books. His latest book (co-authored with Dr Cassandra Cross ) is titled Cyber Frauds, Scams and their Victims has just been published by Routledge.
Some of the most significant research projects include leading the research on behalf of the National Fraud Authority and ACPO on fraud victims; the Department for International Development on fraud measurement, Acromas (AA and Saga) on ‘Cash-for-Crash fraudsters’, the Midlands Fraud Forum, Eversheds and PKF on ‘Sanctioning Fraudsters’, and the Government’s Annual Cyber Breaches Survey. Mark is also working with Dr Victoria Wang on a major EPSRC funded project on open data and on the Government’s annual Cyber-breaches survey with IPSOS-Mori.
Mark has also acted as a consultant for the United Nations Offices on Drugs and Crime on developing international standards for Civilian Private Security Services and the United Nations Development Programme/European Union on enhancing civilian oversight of the Turkish private security industry. Mark completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Exeter, his Masters at the University of Warwick and his Doctorate at the London School of Economics.
Paul is a former police officer, having served with the City of London Police for 19 years. Paul completed his service as Chief Inspector in the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB), having made the decision to depart the Police Service and apply his knowledge of fraud in the Banking Sector.
Paul is now Senior Manager of the Fraud Investigations and Intelligence Team in TSB, where he holds responsibility for complex fraud investigations, complex insider cases, mortgage fraud and whistleblowing.
Paul is Chair of the London and South-East Organised Fraud Intelligence Group (OFIG), a member of the CIFAS Learning Advisory Board and a member of the South-West Fraud Forum Steering Group.
Rebecca Chapman
Superintendent at South Yorkshire Police with over 29 yrs experience in patrol, criminal investigation/justice, intelligence, covert policing, tactical command of firearms, critical incidents and CBRN with extensive experience of leading projects and change management. I am currently seconded to a collaboration at the Region called the North East Business Resilience Centre reporting into the National Cyber network. I created this centre from start up to where it is now with a stable cash flow and 1460 members in less than 3 years.
As CEO/Director of the North East Business Resilience Centre (NEBRC) I am seeking to establish connections between law enforcement, academia and business in order to provide cyber crime and online fraud prevention advice to small and medium enterprises. Passionate about public service, collaboration, innovation and business development I want the NEBRC to be the leading place to get crime prevention advice for SME’s in the NE, Yorkshire and The Humber.
As a Trustee at Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice I am part of the Board providing strategic oversight of a wonderful charity who provides daycare, therapy, outreach care and residential care to children and young adults with life limiting conditions.
Mark Cheeseman
Mark Cheeseman OBE is the Interim Chief Executive of the Public Sector Fraud Authority.
Mark heads up the Public Sector Fraud Authority, which works with UK government departments and public bodies to better understand and reduce the impact of fraud. Mark is a fraud and financial crime expert, specialising in risk assessment and measurement.
He led the development of the Government’s Counter Fraud Function and the Government Counter Fraud Profession as well as the creation of organisational standards and the use of data sharing and analytics, transforming the way that central government deals with fraud - leading to an increase of detected and prevented fraud of over 250% and £100ms in audited benefits from counter fraud activity. He also helped set up and currently acts as an advisor to the Australian government’s Commonwealth Fraud Prevention Centre and supported the New Zealand government in creating their Counter Fraud Centre. He led the creation of the International Public Sector Fraud Forum, a group of leading experts on fraud management who produce international guidance on leading practice.
Mark chairs and sits on a number of cross government boards and has led several reviews into fraud management. Prior to joining the Cabinet Office, Mark was Head of Counter Fraud and Investigations at the Legal Aid Agency, where he reformed agency’s approach to countering fraud, which led to the first prosecutions of members of the public for legal aid fraud, the first cross-agency prosecutions with other public bodies, a fundamental redesign of the fraud risk assessment model and refocusing the function to deliver a return on investment from the Counter Fraud Function that exceeded its cost. Mark was also part of the team that successfully took the Legal Aid Agency out of accounts qualification by the National Audit Office.
Kara Conlon
Kara Conlon is the Senior Manager of Financial Crime and MLRO for Principality Building Society, as well as a Director for Wales Fraud Forum. Kara has over 20 years’ experience working within financial crime including detection, prevention, policy writing and assessing risk.
Her current remit spans across Fraud, AML, Anti-Bribery and Corruption, Facilitation of Tax Evasion and Modern Slavery.
Wales Fraud Forum is a not-for-profit company run by volunteer individuals from across both the public and private sectors. The aim of the Forum is to help prevent fraud by raising awareness through an annual conference and workshops throughout the year.
Frances Coulson
Frances Coulson is a deputy chair of the Fraud Advisory Panel – the UK charity which acts as the independent voice of the counter fraud community, committed to tackling fraud and financial crime.
Frances was until recently senior and managing partner at Moon Beever LLP which has recently merged with Wedlake Bell LLP a top 100 city law firm where she now heads the insolvency and restructuring department leading a substantial team of lawyers in contentious and non-contentious work.
Frances also chairs the R3 Fraud Group having been a former President. She is a Council member of INSOL Europe and a member of its Fraud Group and until recently was deputy chair of the Regulatory and Conduct Committee of the IPA. She was appointed this year as a none executive Director of the Insolvency Service. She is a special constable with the National Crime Agency appointed under the Crime and Courts Act 2013 and received a Director General’s Commendation in 2014.
Her work largely involves contentious insolvency, fraud and injunctive relief. She has acted in many injunctions for claimants and as a supervising solicitor for over 30 years. She is an enthusiastic lobbyist for the insolvency profession and for victims of fraud. Frances is an Honorary Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Credit Management and has given evidence several times to Parliamentary Committees on finance and lending, and insolvency.
Peter Darby
Peter began his career in countering fraud in 1972, working as an investigator in what is now the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). He went on to manage regional investigation and prosecution units working with various government agencies and police forces on several successful major investigations. At a strategic level he has developed policy and guidance for the DWP, HMPO and UK Visas & Immigration covering counter fraud and security, identity fraud investigation and fraud loss measurement
During the 1990’s he developed a keen interest in the training and development of counter fraud investigators. He was instrumental in turning the aspirations in the Government Green Paper, “Beating Fraud is Everyone’s Business – Securing the Future” into reality. He personally designed and developed the learning programme which has become the recognised benchmark for Accredited Counter Fraud Specialist (ACFS) investigation training across the wider fraud community.
Since 2000 Peter has managed Peter Darby Associates. He is an ACFS, a member of the Government Counter Fraud Profession Cross Sector Advisory Group, a member of the Counter Fraud Professional Awards Board (CFPAB) Executive Board and a Trustee of the CFPAB Charity.
Pekka Dare
The Vice President of the ICA, Pekka leads on developing Industry partnerships and academic and assessment standards. He works globally across public and private sectors with financial institutions, fin tech and reg tech companies, regulators, law enforcement and inter-governmental bodies sharing best practice and trends in managing financial crime and compliance risk.
As such he has a unique perspective on the current and future landscape. He has a wealth of experience in industry, including roles as Money Laundering Reporting Officer for a multinational financial services firm and Head of Financial Crime of a division of a major UK bank. These roles involved managing AML, sanctions and fraud risk. A qualified lawyer he has also conducted prosecutions for tax evasion and provided legal advice in respect of organised crime groups, complex frauds and corporate tax evasion.
Tirene Doepel
Tirene Doepel joined NAFN in 2021 from the UK Technology Channel, where she held senior positions in Marketing, Membership and Change Management. In a career spanning the Public, Private and Higher Education sectors she has been instrumental in building collaborative, sustainable partnerships, imbedding and nurturing stakeholder relationships and promoting cross-sectoral best practice.
Tirene leads on delivering cultural, operational and digital change NAFN’s ambitious business transformation programme.
Nick Downing is the chair of the London Fraud Forum.
He is a Director in the forensic practice at Deloitte. He joined them after working as part of the executive team at CIFAS, UK Leaders in Fraud Prevention and a distinguished 30-year career in law enforcement, reaching the senior executive position of Assistant Chief Constable, Head of Serious, Organised and Economic Crime for Kent and Essex Police. As one of the UK's most senior detectives, he was the National Policing lead for Financial Investigation and Proceeds of Crime, leading a campaign across policing to maximise the use of financial intelligence
Brendan has been involved in insurance claims investigation for more than 20 years, with both Insurers and Adjusting practices. He is a member of the Anti-Fraud Special Interest Group council with the Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters, and frequently involved in their activities, from industry conferences, to one off events.
Brendan holds Accredited Counter Fraud Specialist status and in his personal time, also studies Forensic Psychology, Behavioural Evidence Analysis and Criminal Profiling.
Having previously been responsible for spearheading the inception and development of the Investigation & Counter Fraud Unit at Quadra Claims Services Ltd, he has recently taken on a new challenge as the Head of Investigation at McLarens. Brendan remains an active investigations practitioner in addition to operational duties, and has a wealth of experience in Commercial and Personal lines property claims, as well as agriculture, equine, plant & machinery, and a raft of other product types.
Neil Green
Neil leads the Counter Fraud and Investigation team at the Government Internal Audit Agency (GIAA), an Executive Agency of HM Treasury. His team provides counter fraud services across more than 100 central government organisations. He has led several high-profile fraud investigations and leak inquiries across Government.
He is also a Director of the North West Fraud Forum, a not-for-profit membership organisation with the aim of helping organisations across the public and private sectors prevent fraud through awareness and advice.
Mike Haley
Since being appointed Chief Executive at Cifas in May 2018, Mike has actively worked to grow the community of stakeholders sharing data, intelligence and insight in the pursuit of preventing fraud and financial crime. Mike is passionate about Cifas becoming the driving force behind fraud prevention in the UK and with over 30 years’ experience of tackling and preventing fraud across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors, he is determined to bring together a strong cross-sectoral collaborative approach to tackling fraud.
With a Master’s Degree in Criminology, Mike has led counter fraud efforts in the National Health Service, Ministry of Defence, Office of Fair Trading, HM Revenue and Customs and the Solicitors Regulation Authority. He also worked at the National Fraud Authority directing cross sector fraud prevention strategies. Mike believes that the battle against fraud is one that cannot be won alone and that only by collaborating as a community can turn the tide on fraud and not only protect each other but also make the UK a safer place to live and do business.
Gaon Hart
Gaon is currently a Non-Executive Director at the NHS Counter-Fraud Authority. He is also Managing Director of a boutique corporate compliance consultancy, Legal Advisory Worldwide (L.A.W.). He develops corporate compliance programmes, collaborations and partnerships to tackle, fraud, bribery & corruption, ethics, human rights due diligence, proceeds of crime and other economic crimes.
He was formerly Head of Global Anti-Bribery & Corruption Advisory & Policy for HSBC Bank and a Senior Crown Advocate at the Crown Prosecution Service, Special Crime & Counter Terrorism Division. He not only holds adversarial rights in all criminal courts, but was lead prosecutor in Public Corruption, Prosecution Team Leader for the Fraud Prosecution Service and worked with two Attorney Generals to obtain cross-party support for the current counter-fraud institutions and architecture during the Fraud Review.
Andrew Herring
Andrew is the current Chair of the Midlands Fraud Forum and a litigation Partner in the international and award-winning law firm, Pinsent Masons LLP. Andrew is also a member of the West Midlands Police & Crime Commissioner’s Fraud Board and the Commercial Fraud Lawyers Association, as well as a regular contributor to the Fraud Advisory Panel’s counter-fraud campaigns. He is passionate about tackling the scourge of fraud in the UK. The focus of Andrew’s practice is high value, complex, multi-party disputes, investigations and injunctions. He is listed as a ‘notable practitioner’ in Chambers & Partners and has acted for clients on a wide variety of claims at all levels of the High Court including the Court of Appeal and UK Supreme Court. He is part of Pinsent Masons’ Band 1 ranked civil fraud and asset recovery team (Legal500).
Andrew advises victims of commercial fraud in both the private and public sectors to implement effective legal strategies to recover losses caused by fraud, including cases involving theft of confidential information. In addition to commercial litigation, Andrew leads multi-disciplinary teams of lawyers and other advisers throughout the whole lifecycle of a fraud response from discovery to enforcement. This includes working with local lawyers in diverse locations including offshore jurisdictions. He has a particular interest in using cutting-edge electronic disclosure and IT forensics to assist the investigation, case analysis and project management of complex high-value disputes. Recent highlights of Andrew’s practice include successfully obtaining a landmark Norwich Pharmacal Order for Kensington & Chelsea Council against Airbnb to obtain targeted disclosure of its hosting data to investigate tenancy fraud in the first case of its kind.
Stephen Hill
Dr Stephen Hill is the managing director of Hill Bingham Ltd. He is a Certified Fraud Examiner and expert trainer with over 25 years’ experience providing services to the private and public sector in fraud (cyber) risk management, data security/protection and internet investigations & open-source intelligence.
He is also a director of Fraud Training Ltd an ACFE (Association of Certified Fraud Examiners) ‘Authorised Training Organisation’ and the exclusive provider of the Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) Exam Review Course for the United Kingdom training counter fraud professionals to the highest level in the field of fraud deterrence, detection and prevention.
Stephen spent over 11 years working for a top international firm of chartered accountants heading the Fraud and Forensic Group, leading an expert body advising clients on prevention, detection and recovery of fraudulent assets, working closely with the police, HMRC and private sector.
Claire Jenkins
Claire is Chair of of ALEFA – the Association of Law Enforcement Forensic Accountants. She is a qualified ACCA accountant and holds a MSc in Forensic Accounting, with her dissertation focussing on the subject of external fraud actors.
She is a triple award winner at the Tackling Economic Crime Awards, winning the Outstanding Female Professional award in 2019 and 2020 and the Outstanding Tackling Economic Crime Professional award in 2021. She has been featured in ACCA’s Accounting and Business magazine twice and regularly speaks at counter fraud events providing insight on how critically assessing accounts can help fraud fighters and investigators alike.
She works as a Forensic Accountant at Companies House within the Integrity and Enforcement Unit.
Allan Maund
Allan has worked in anti-financial crime for 28 years and has worked across multiple sectors and countries. Allan is the financial crime lead at a large Social Housing provider and has responsibility for financial crime, ethics, and modern slavery.
Allan has been a board member and board secretary for the UK Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners since 2015.
Bill McCluggage
Bill is the chair and a director of the Northern Ireland Fraud Forum. He is a specialist in IT-enabled business change, digital transformation, cyber security and counter-fraud.
Following a career as an engineering officer in the RAF, he joined Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast as IT director, he has held senior civil service positions in Norther Ireland, the Cabinet Office and the Department of Public Expenditure & Reform in Dublin.
He runs his own consulting business working in both the public and private sectors. He is Non-executive Director (Digital) on the Board of FCDO Services, a member of the Governing Body of the Northern Regional College where he chairs the Audit & Risk Committee, a director of an Australian cyber security company, a director of Triangle Housing Association where he chairs the Audit & Risk Committee and he is a CIO/CISO advisor for a large American software company.
From 2016-2019 he was Head of Information Security, Assurance and Counter-fraud at the UK’s Open Banking Implementation Entity.
Commissioner Angela McLaren
Commissioner McLaren started her career with Fife Constabulary in 1996 where she served in several operational and community roles.
In 2015, she was promoted to Chief Superintendent and appointed Divisional Commander of Fife Division where she led various operations and events. She was later selected to lead a team producing the first long term strategy for policing in Scotland.
In June 2018, she was promoted to Assistant Chief Constable responsible for Operational Change and Resilience and in June 2019, ACC McLaren became the Executive Lead for Organised Crime, Counter Terrorism and Intelligence.
In December 2020, she joined City of London Police on promotion to Assistant Commissioner responsible for the Economic Crime and Cybercrime.
In January 2022 she took up her appointment as Commissioner, City of London Police. The first female commissioner in the City’s history.
Jon Radford
Jon became Head of Intelligence, Investigations & Data Services for the Insurance Fraud Bureau in January 2023 and is responsible for the day to day running of the IFB’s teams across all departments executing delivery of services to all of its members and the wider insurance industry.
Prior to his role at the IFB, Jon joined QBE in 2007 and in 2012 joined the then newly created SIU team where he was responsible for handling complex fraudulent claims and implementing new fraud strategies to the UK Property, Casualty and Motor divisions. Jon handled QBE’s very first custodial sentence claim via IFED and ran QBE’s first tort of deceit and exemplary damages court action against an organised crime group. In 2016, Jon seconded to QBE’s Australian Operation in Sydney to set up their claim’s fraud team and future fraud strategy which led to the beginnings of a more joined up global fraud strategy. Jon became Head of Claims Fraud for QBE European Operations in 2017 and was responsible for fraud strategy management for all lines of business across all of QBE’s European and Asian territories.
Jon who has over 20 years’ experience in the insurance fraud environment began his career at Equity Redstar in 1999. Jon has amassed a wealth of industry knowledge across all classes of business from many different global territories as well as and representing different organisations on various industry committees delivering work that has helped support and benefit the whole insurance industry.
Adrian Searle
Adrian Searle joined the National Crime Agency as Director, National Economic Crime Centre in March 2022. Adrian is a senior security and intelligence professional, with both government and private sector experience. He has worked in a range of operational and policy roles, and led the cross-government response to significant cyber incidents, as a Deputy Director in the National Cyber Security Centre. He joined the Agency from NatWest where he was Group Head of Data and Security Risk. His current responsibilities include leading the multi-agency National Economic Crime Centre which has a strategic system leadership role for economic crime and illicit finance.
Toni Sless
Toni Sless is a Fraud Risk Management Consultant of Into Consultancy Ltd providing strategic and advisory services to organisations relating to fraud risk strategy and governance, policies and procedures, internal fraud and end to end audit of fraud processes. She is also a Certified SWIFT Customer Security Programme Auditor auditing organisations to ensure compliance with requisite mandatory and advisory Customer Security Controls Framework.
Toni is the founder and Chairwoman of the Fraud Women’s Network, which was established in 2007. Toni also sits on the Editorial Board of the Public Sector Counter Fraud Journal providing guidance and oversight to the Cabinet Office’s Centre of Expertise for Counter Fraud.
In her spare time, Toni mentors many women in various disciplines including cyber security and fraud prevention and continues to drive the Fraud Women’s Network to support, guide and nurture women working in the arena. Toni also works with her local community promoting local interests, improving housing conditions, amenities, security and the environment.
Phoebe Waters
Phoebe's mission in life is to contribute to the elimination of inequality globally, to help individuals recognize their rights and achieve their potential, and to clarify, across industry and across the globe, the opportunities that those individuals should not only have access to, but should be supported to thrive within.
Phoebe was a winner of Management Today's 35 Women under 35 for 2021, a coveted award bestowed upon the UK’s top young female business talent, at the age of 29. Phoebe was chosen for this accolade not only as a result of her excellence in investigations, but for her experience and interest in mentoring and coaching females in the industry. Most recently, Phoebe was shortlisted as a 'Rising Star Champion' for the WeAreTheCity Rising Star Awards 2023.
Phoebe is the Chair of the board for the Female Fraud Forum (FFF), having been elected in February 2022 after a role as Membership Secretary for two years. The FFF is a multi-disciplinary non-for-profit organisation comprising a network of currently almost 1,500 members and supporters (of all genders) in the criminal and civil fraud, asset recovery and investigations sector. The FFF’s aim is to spearhead the fight for change so that gender equality becomes ingrained in the workplace and secure for future generations. The organisation provides a space for experts in the industry to network, refer work, socialise, and share educational insights. Since Phoebe became Chair, she has spearheaded the growth of The FFF – resulting in an impressive quintupling in size of the forum in her first ten months. Phoebe, along with the team of 22 committee members she manages, has transformed a nascent networking group to a diverse, bold, collaborative, and exciting community which welcomes all genders and levels of experience and seniority. Phoebe has led The FFF’s re-brand, new website launch and update of the organisation’s mission statement since being at the head of its board.
Phoebe is a delegate to the United Nation's Commission on the Status of Women, and a visiting lecturer on gender equality at the University of Bedfordshire.
In January 2023, Phoebe was invited to join Chief as a founding member in the UK. Chief is a global private network built to drive more women into positions of power and keep them there. It is also the only organisation specifically designed for the most powerful women to strengthen their leadership, magnify their influence, and pave the way to bring others with them. Despite Chief usually accepting women with 15+ years of experience, as a result of Phoebe’s achievements in her career and, along with her business aptitude, she was invited to join this executive community with under a decade as a professional.
Phoebe has a law degree, a Bachelors in Russian, and a Masters in International Security. Most recently, in 2022, she obtained a qualification from the University of Cambridge’s Institute of Sustainability Leadership: ‘Women Leading Change: Shaping our Future”. Phoebe speaks Russian and Spanish.
Michael Wong
Michael is a Director of the Yorkshire and Humber Fraud Forum, supporting the sharing of best practice amongst counter-fraud professionals to increase awareness and, ultimately, reduce levels of fraud and financial crime across the region.
He qualified as an accountant with the Audit Commission where he initially developed an interest in the counter-fraud profession through reviews of organisations’ responses to initiatives such as NFI data matching exercises and Local Counter Fraud Specialist activities. He is currently a Senior Manager in KPMG’s Forensic practice, a role which has led to his involvement in a range of fraud, anti-bribery & corruption and accounting investigations, across both the public and private sectors and multiple jurisdictions. Michael is also an Accredited Counter Fraud Specialist and he provides proactive support to organisations to help them develop effective Fraud Risk Management governance frameworks.