Our Team

Michael Kramer, JD, CFE

Before entering the private sector, Mr. Kramer was a Special Attorney with the United States Department of Justice, Organized Crime and Racketeering Section, assigned to the investigation and trial of corruption and fraud cases throughout the United States. As a consultant on anti-corruption matters, his clients have included the World Bank, eight of the ten largest corporations in the United States, and federal and state agencies in the United States. He also served as Senior Advisor to the Independent Investigation Committee, headed by Paul Volcker, on the United Nations Oil for Food Program in Iraq.

Mr. Kramer has managed major corruption and fraud investigations and provided training to local agencies in more than seventy countries throughout the world. He is widely recognized by his peers and by professional associations as one of the leading experts in the field. A graduate of Princeton University and Georgetown Law School, Mr. Kramer is the author of two books, numerous training materials, software programs, and professional articles on fraud, money laundering and computer fraud. He has contributed to, and was editor of, the Fraud Examination Manual for the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

Thomas Lasich

Mr. Lasich spent 27 years as a criminal investigator and manager with the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Inspector General’s Office of the Resolution Trust Corporation. He conducted money laundering and financial investigations of organized crime members, major corporations and narcotics syndicates throughout the United States, Europe, and the Pacific Rim. He also coordinated and delivered national anti-money laundering programs for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (the U.S. Government’s law enforcement training arm).

Mr. Lasich is a member of the Advisory Board for the International Association for Asset Recovery, and a contributing author of the book, “Tracing Stolen Assets,” which was released in 2009. He teaches “International Money Laundering, Corruption and Terrorism” at the George Washington University Law School.

Maribeth Vander Weele

Maribeth Vander Weele is President of the Vander Weele Group^LLC, a Chicago-based firm that specializes in oversight of large-scale grant programs. While the firm offers traditional fiscal and compliance reviews, it is passionate about making grants monitoring programs meaningful and mission-based: focusing oversight on conditions that affect at-risk populations.

The Vander Weele Group^LLC  has conducted grants monitoring in 24 U.S. states and offers other tools to promote effective oversight: investigations, data analytics to detect fraud, forensic audits, and investigative intelligence. Since its founding in 2003, the firm has employed a powerful blend of expertise to promote operational integrity in an array of large organizations with big missions.

A Certified Protection Professional and Certified Inspector General, Maribeth has consulted onsite in China, Malaysia, Singapore, Mexico, and in the United States and remotely in Indonesia, South America, Europe, and the Middle East. In the public sector, Maribeth was appointed as the outsourced Inspector General of the Public Building Commission of Chicago, which manages hundreds of millions of dollars of public construction projects. She also served on the Cook County Board of Ethics, the Illinois Gaming Board, and an investigatory panel to address abuses in a university admissions process. The former Inspector General of Chicago Public Schools, Maribeth also served as the President of the Illinois Association of Inspectors General. A former award-winning journalist for the Chicago Sun-Times and author of the 1994 book, Reclaiming Our Schools, the Struggle for Chicago School Reform, Maribeth has been profiled in the Wall Street Journal and in many other publications and books. After authoring the book that became the roadmap for reform of the $3.8 billion Chicago Public School system, she served as a key member of that system’s 1995 turnaround team.

Thomas C. Green, LLB

A former federal prosecutor, Mr. Green is a nationally known white collar defense attorney who, in June 2009, was selected by Chambers and Partners for its “USA Award for Excellence in the field of White Collar Criminal Defense and Government Investigations.” In 2011, Best Lawyers named Mr. Green the Washington, D.C. White Collar Lawyer of the Year and in 2010, Ethisphere Magazine named Mr. Green to its Hall of Fame honoring “Attorneys Who Matter” in the United States. Much of Mr. Green’s practice is devoted to counseling corporate officials with regard to federal investigations and crisis management. He has conducted countless internal investigations of alleged corporate wrongdoing and often advises on the implementation of compliance and anti-fraud programs. For many years he has advised the World Bank regarding the development of its anti-fraud and corruption unit and has conducted significant investigations for the Bank pertaining to the integrity of the Bank’s lending programs. Mr. Green has also served as a consultant to the Bank’s Department of Institutional Integrity providing advice on various issues relating to its investigations of corruption. Mr. Green is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Yale Law School, and he is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

Howard T. Anderson, JD

Mr. Anderson has investigated fraud, public official corruption, and organized crime-related misconduct as a prosecutor, congressional counsel, and special counsel to corporations, universities, and other public and private organizations. Mr. Anderson has published articles and conducted training courses on subjects related to corporate compliance and the investigation of corruption, fraud, and other misconduct and he served on the academic planning committee for Interpol during the development of the recently-opened International Anti-Corruption Academy in Vienna, Austria.

Previously, Mr. Anderson was a trial and appellate attorney for Sears Roebuck and Co. in one of the largest and most complex Equal Employment Opportunity cases ever litigated and was lead counsel in civil RICO litigation. He has served as consultant to the U. S. Department of Energy in various investigations and assessments at nuclear weapons facilities and national laboratories and has played a key role in the development of corporate internal investigations as a strategic response to legal and regulatory issues. Mr. Anderson has investigated and prosecuted organized crime, public official corruption, and other major criminal activity for the State of New Jersey, and, as an attorney for a congressional committee, he investigated foreign intelligence activities in the United States, questionable overseas payments by U.S. businesses, and executive branch oversight of issues relating to Korean-American relations. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School.

Philip R. Manuel, CFE

A nationally recognized expert in economic crimes and multinational fraud investigations, Mr. Manuel has served on the President’s Commission on Organized Crime and the Global Crimes Task Force of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Mr. Manuel’s investigative experience was gained in government service, where he served as Chief Investigator of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations for the United States Senate and in the 902nd Intelligence Corps Group in Washington D. C. For more than twenty years, Mr. Manuel has conducted numerous inquiries for major corporations and law firms ranging from detection and prevention of economic crime, product diversion, trademark infringement, and international fraud. He also advises corporate management and legal counsel on due diligence investigations, risk assessment, and the coordination of complex investigations.

He is currently a Regent Emeritus of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.