My Life Story

by Dennis Zawacki

My Life Story by Dennis Zawacki Current Employer: U.S. Attorney's Office, Criminal Division What they do: Prosecute federal crimes, all types, in my area, they investigate and prosecute sophisticated white collar crime, frauds. My Title: Auditor What that means: I serve as the Forensic Accountant for the Criminal Division within the U.S. Attorney's Office.

I assist the Assistant United States Attorneys (AUSAs) in investigating complex financial type frauds. We obtain records, via seizure, search warrant, subpoena, etc. and put the case together. In many instances where the crime is of a great magnitude or extremely complex, sometimes these cases take two or three years to investigate and bring to prosecution. The U.S. Attorney's Office also gets involved in asset forfeiture, to ensure that the guilty do not reap the benefits of their crimes, and I put together financial profiles of individuals and uncover assets so that forfeiture actions may be taken by the AUSAs. I was hired by the U.S. Attorney in 7/91 when there were a lot of the Savings and Loan investigations going on which needed the assistance of an auditor to pour through the numerous financial records involved with those types of cases. I have had several cases where the actual losses were in excess of $100 Million.

I started with U.S. Dept. of HEW (Health, Education and Welfare) back in 1973. HEW has been renamed U.S. Dept of HHS (Health and Human Services) when Education Dept was split out in 1980. My entire 29 1/2 year career is entirely with the Federal Government. Within HEW or HHS, I started with the Inspector General for Audit and then moved onto the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) which administered Medicare and Medicaid. During my time at HEW or HHS, I got to work with FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office on fraud cases.

Education: B.S in Accounting from La Salle College in 1973 (that's right, LaSalle was only a college when I graduated.)

What aspect of my career I enjoy the most: everything. I enjoy working in public service because I feel what I do is worthwhile and for the benefit of all of us. I enjoy working for the U.S. Attorney's Office since we have a major responsibility for ensuring our laws are followed. In this context, almost all of the major fraud cases are usually prosecuted within the federal system since the federal government has the resources to do so. I view the investigations I work on as a big puzzle and feel a sense of accomplishment when we put together an air tight case where the individual has no other choice but to plead guilty. Being in the courtroom to see this happen , lets me know I did my job right.

What I do in the off time: Golf (when I can) and Summers on the beach.

Other activities: Secretary of the Board of Directors, Philadelphia Area Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners; Treasurer of the Philadelphia Chapter of Association of Government Accountants (President in 1999-2000.)