IRS Fraud Fighters Talk Crypto

TRM Talks with IRS Small Business Commissioner Eric Hylton and IRS National Fraud Counsel Carolyn Schenck
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Tuesday, February 16, 2021 at 3:00pm ET / 12:00pm PT
IRS Fraud Fighters Talk Crypto
Tuesday, February 16, 2021 at 3:00pm ET / 12:00pm PT

It's Tax Season! The IRS, for years, has been the tip of the spear for financial fraud investigations.  But in 2020, the IRS doubled down creating the Fraud Enforcement Office (OFE) focused on rooting out tax evasion, abusive tax avoidance scams and other malicious activity including the use of cryptocurrency to facilitate fraudulent activity.  The OFE, part of IRS's Small Business/Self Employed Division, is leading the charge in holding fraudsters, tax cheats, scammers, and money launderers accountable.  TRM Talks to Eric Hylton, IRS Commissioner of the Small Business/Self Employed Division and Carolyn Schenck, IRS Fraud Counsel, on how they are leveraging financial expertise across the IRS and around the world to combat cryptocurrency related fraud.

Panelists
Eric Hylton
Eric Hylton
Commissioner of the Small Business/Self-Employed Division of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

Eric Hylton is the commissioner of the Small Business/Self-Employed Division of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). He was appointed to the position in September 2019. Mr. Hylton oversees taxpayer programs and services affecting the nation’s small business and self-employed individuals including the IRS's Fraud Enforcement Office (FEO). He is responsible for providing executive leadership and direction to a nationwide staff of approximately 20,000 employees responsible for service and enforcement programs for taxpayers who file personal, corporate, flow-through, employment, excise and estate and gift tax returns.

Prior to this position, Mr. Hylton served as the deputy chief, of IRS-Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI). He assisted the chief of IRS-CI in directing worldwide programs for investigating potential criminal violations of the Internal Revenue Code and related financial crimes in a manner that fosters confidence in the tax system and compliance with the law. Prior to his assignment as deputy chief, Mr. Hylton was the executive director, Office of International Operations for IRS-CI. Mr. Hylton began his career as an IRS-CI special agent and held increasingly responsible positions including assistant director in the IRS-CI Office of Narcotics and Counterterrorism; assistant special agent in charge of the WashingtonField Office; and special agent in charge of the Philadelphia Field Office.

Mr. Hylton completed the IRS Candidate Development Program in 2013. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in accounting from Morehouse College and is a native of Washington.

Carolyn Schenck
Carolyn Schenck
National Fraud Counsel and Assistant Division Counsel (International) in the Small Business/Self Employed Division of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

Carolyn A. Schenck is a 14-year veteran of the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) Office of Chief Counsel where she is currently National Fraud Counsel and Assistant Division Counsel (International) in the Small Business/Self Employed Division. In her role as National Fraud Counsel, Carolyn works closely with the Fraud Enforcement Office (FEO) to provide advice and guidance on the IRS's efforts to detect and deter fraud. In her role as Assistant Division Counsel (International), Carolyn is responsible for coordination and management of all international and offshore tax and Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) matters.  Carolyn also provides guidance to and serves as the principal legal advisor and contact point on international and offshore tax and FBAR matters and works closely with IRS Treaty partners on cross-border matters.  Carolyn has litigated numerous cases in U.S. Tax Court and works with IRS special enforcement agents on cases involving fraud, foreign accounts, and foreign reporting penalties and assists the Department of Justice in cases involving criminal tax prosecutions, injunctions, summons enforcement, and abusive tax return preparers and promoters. Carolyn has been an Adjunct Professor at Pepperdine University School of Law for Honors Appellate Advocacy.

Ari Redbord
Ari Redbord
Head of Legal and Government Affairs at TRM Labs

Ari Redbord is Head of Legal and Government Affairs at TRM Labs, a blockchain analytics company that helps organizations detect, assess and investigate crypto-related fraud and financial crime. Prior to his role at TRM, Ari was the Senior Advisor to the Deputy Secretary and the Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the United States Treasury. In that position, he worked with teams from the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), and other Treasury components to deploy sanctions and other regulatory tools against threat actors, including terrorist financiers, weapons of mass destruction proliferators, drug kingpins, and other rogue actors, including Iran, Syria, North Korea and Venezuela. In addition, Ari worked closely with regulators, the Hill and the interagency on issues related to the Bank Secrecy Act, cryptocurrency, and anti-money laundering strategies.

Prior to Treasury, Ari was an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia for eleven years where he investigated and prosecuted terrorism, espionage, threat finance, cryptocurrency, export control, child exploitation and human trafficking cases.

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