CONSIDERED A CAREER AS AN FBI FINANCIAL ANALYST?
Here’s What It’s Like: Up Close and Personal

07/15/05

For Leo Richardson, joining the FBI five years ago was the culmination of “a lifelong dream.” In his life before the Bureau, Richardson was an accountant for a state treasury office in Florida. Now he’s traveling the world on a task force that works with the highest levels of the intelligence community to track the flow of terrorist money. “I always wanted to work for the FBI because of the excitement and challenges it would bring—and I haven’t been disappointed,” says Leo, who leaves next month for a six-month tour of duty overseas. Here’s what else Leo had to say about his job as a financial analyst.

Q. Leo, what interesting cases have you worked on?
Leo: Quite a few actually. Some of the most exciting have come during my work on the Joint Task Force on Terrorism Finance, which includes foreign officials and representatives of top U.S. intelligence agencies and the FBI. I have tracked financial leads all over the world, and my analysis has helped head off possible terrorist acts. It doesn’t get any better than that! Another case I worked helped put a Miami drug kingpin behind bars. My analysis of attorney fees in the case showed that $23 million was being mishandled. The information was used by agents, which led to an indictment and conviction for money-laundering.

Q. Have you traveled a lot on cases?
Leo: I’ve done a bit of traveling. I worked in Miami on the money-laundering case I mentioned. I helped research and analyze financial data in Washington for the 9/11 and anthrax investigations. And I recently traveled to Saudi Arabia as part of the joint task force.

Q. What’s a typical working day like?
Leo: I would say that the typical day is “atypical.” I might be reviewing and analyzing company records and tax returns one day…then readying a case for trial by preparing reports and charts the next…then preparing my own testimony the day after that. Every day here means being prepared for the unexpected.

Q. What do you like most about the job?
Leo: The excitement of working cases— terrorist financing, money laundering, healthcare fraud, racketeering, bank fraud. I love the satisfaction of finding the “red flag” that leads us to the terrorist or big-time criminal.

Q. Do you have any advice for prospective FBI recruits?
Leo: Yes. Motivation and a willingness to learn will take you far here—and make your job more enjoyable!

Want to be part of the action? Then go straight to fbijobs.gov!

Link: More stories on financial analysts | Details on terrorist financing & money laundering investigations