LISD hosted a lunch talk focusing on tracing monies to malign actors in Afghanistan on Thursday, February 16 at 12:00 p.m. in 012 Bendheim Hall. Guest speaker Thomas Creal discussed his manuscript, "The Weapon of Choice: For a Global Attack on the Lifeblood that Supports Corruption and Terrorism."

Thomas Creal, has a true passion for following the money and flushing out the real story from the different pit stops as monies move around the globe. He has spent over three decades as a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Fraud Examiner with a focus in forensic accounting and case building for civil fraud litigation all around the world. Creal has served as the lead forensic accountant with a US Military Task Force under the command of Brigadier General Ross E. Ridge and Rear Admiral Kathleen Dussault, in Afghanistan focused on tracing monies to malign actors, the Taliban and other Insurgencies, as well as providing recommendations and support for the recovery of such monies.

Under three different United Nation Resolutions, Creal was a Panel Expert for the Sanctions Committee for the UN Security Council, encompassing the sanctions imposed on Charles Taylor during his regime days in the Republic of Liberia. He is a recognized expert in international asset tracing and recovery, advising developing nations on economic sustainability and anti-corruption with a true passion in recovering the stolen monies intended for a country and returning them to the people of that country. Over the years he developed both government and private sector experience, serving as the Chief of Staff for the Office of the Illinois State Comptroller and as the Partner-in-Charge for forensic accounting at a large CPA firm.

During the 1990s, he led the development of the Advanced Investigators Training School for all FDIC & RTC investigators pursuing Bank/S&L fraud and other civil legal actions. From 1991 through 1994, he taught over 1,000 professionals from the FDIC and the RTC.