The Other Life of a Forensic Accountant
Richard A. Vera, II, CPA, CITP, MBA, MSc, CFE, CSA, CFCE, CECFE, CCCE, AQA, has had as many interesting assignments as a forensic accountant as he holds certifications. As a former senior forensic auditor at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) at the
U.S. Department of Justice for the past 14 years — 23 years in all with the U.S. government — the non-traditional CPA worked on all kinds of criminal financial investigations. Forensic accounting at the government level is not exactly what it looks like on television, but to hear Richard explain it, his day sounds almost as exciting. ATF was at one point the second largest tax-revenue generator for the government as part of the U.S. Treasury Department. But after 9/11, the criminal investigation department was formally transferred into the Justice Department, so Richard’s group of special agents and forensic auditors moved with it, focusing exclusively on criminal investigations.
A typical day in Richard’s shoes may mean waking up at 3 a.m., waiting outside on a field mission until the armed agents and police are done serving a search warrant and clearing the premises, and then joining the search team. Searches could be for anything from illicit cash, such as drug money, to business records or items of value purchased with the cash. “Once we were called into a case by the special agent, we would pick up the financial end of it and run with that,” explains Richard, who was one of about 65 forensic auditors working for ATF at that time.
So how did he utilize his accounting skills in the middle of a crime scene? “Someone gets into a business and may later try to sell it. If they can’t get rid of it, they end up burning it,” he said, explaining that sometimes the cash involved in a business goes through many migrations. “I did a lot of arson-for-profit work, which is always interesting,” admits Richard, who covered a region from Maine to Florida, though mostly New York and New Jersey.
Richard was also frequently contacted for Grand Jury or criminal trial expert testimony. “I have been in situations where I saw evidence of someone collecting unemployment while at the same time ledgers showed they were running a business. We retrieved tens of thousands of dollars in cash. I had to confer by phone with the prosecutor and articulate why I believed the cash was derived from illicit means. At that point we were authorized to seize the funds,” he said. In another case, he assisted in obtaining a confession from a landlord who was in deep financial debt and attempted to murder a tenant.
Looking to make a switch in 2018 and seek out private company work, Richard left the ATF to become the director of financial and digital forensics for Critical Elements, Inc. He also continued to work for the government — as an auditor in the Internal Review section of the U.S. Army Reserves. He is now one of only two information systems professionals certified by the American Institute of CPAs in New Jersey.
Even before choosing forensic accounting as a career, he realized he always had a knack for solving problems. “I wanted to go make a difference,” said Richard, who had applied at ATF before 9/11 and eventually received a call to come on board in 2002. Immediately after 9/11, Richard did pro bono accounting services for victims and their families. Even as a child, he always wanted to fight for what’s right. “Sometimes I would actually mediate arguments when I was a kid.” As a young adult he joined the Army, eventually patrolling the “Iron Curtain” between East and West Germany.