By Mary Frost
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees are often thought of as mild-mannered accountant types (with maybe just a tiny sadistic streak). But there’s another side to the IRS that most law-abiding folks don’t know about — IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) investigates, apprehends and helps prosecute some of the world’s most dangerous criminals.

To expose accounting majors to the rough-and-tumble world of criminal investigations, the IRS-CI unit ran a remarkably realistic crime investigation simulation — dubbed “The Adrian Project� — last Friday on the campus of Long Island University.

Students received 10 hours of training in techniques including surveillance and defensive tactics. By the end of the day the line between simulation and real life became blurry as teams of “investigators� followed suspects through the university and the streets (and parking garages) of Downtown Brooklyn, and burst — guns drawn — into a den of terrorists.

Under the direction of IRS Special Agent Joseph Foy, who authored The Adrian Project, a cast of current and retired Special Agents played various roles — a shady accountant with more than one name, a paid informant and a variety of criminals.

Trainees learned how to wear a wire, use handguns, radios and handcuffs — but above all, they learned to follow the money.

“Terrorist networks need money to be effective,� said Foy. “Fortunately, IRS Criminal Investigation is effective at following the money to find the source of the crime. A terrorist network is but one of many financial crimes we investigate. The Adrian Project is a very effective method to educate academia that law enforcement’s role in the forensic accounting field is vital to the integrity of the American economy.�

Forensic Boot Camp

Participants were divided into teams guided by actual Special Agents. As the investigation progressed, a blackboard in the LIU Library auditorium filled up with an expanding diagram of connected businesses, bank accounts, addresses and assets.

Special Agent Robert Glantz, in the field for 18 years, led this reporter’s team. “In a seven, eight-hour period you’re working a case that may take us two years to complete,� he said. “It’s a fantastic, rewarding career. You’re out in the field doing surveillance, getting search warrants, analyzing bank and tax records. You work with local, federal and state agencies,� he said.

Students learned that they had to attain a “threshold of proof� in trying to get a warrant from a magistrate judge. And they received crash training on the proper use of force from Special Agent Charles Hyacinthe, a defensive tactics instructor, along with Special Agents Mike McGarry and Steve Kolm.

“You will not act like special agents, you will become special agents,� Hyacinthe barked. “Use your communication skills, weapons handling skills, handcuffs — project authority. The priority is safety, first to yourself, then to the public, then to the subject of the investigation. Keep your eyes on his hands, eyes and stance.�

The three agents demonstrated the formation known as a basic three-man cell. “You all have a job,� Hyacinthe said. “Don’t let the chain break. Control the room, then the people in it.�

The Investigation Unfolds

Armed with information from the somewhat dubious “Bobby Lee Nash,� a paid informant, and data gleaned from various sources, the teams went out into the field, interviewing a shady accountant and making contact with criminal kingpins.

Keeping in touch by radio, this reporter’s group started out following one character (“Jay Albright,� played by Special Agent Alan Fogel), observed him handing off a magazine to a woman wearing a blue hoodie, then were led on a merry chase through the streets before observing her dump the magazine in a trash can.

This reporter fished the magazine out of the garbage, unknowingly compromising possible fingerprints by not wearing gloves.

Teams also had to convince a judge that we had “probable cause� to receive a search warrant. After several anxiety-producing attempts, a warrant was obtained, and the teams readied themselves for the actual apprehension.

Control the Room

“Sometimes equipment fails,� Foy warned. “You’ve got to improvise; you never know what’s going to happen.�

After racing through the halls of LIU, our team arranged itself into a three-man cell outside the student pool hall, guns drawn. We didn’t know how many suspects were inside — nor did we know that one suspect wasn’t in the hall, as we had been led to believe.

Using the techniques we had been trained in — yelling “Hands up, it’s the police!� — we burst through the door and surprised one suspect in the act of counting money. We successfully “controlled the room,� cuffed the suspect and read her rights. The other half of our team apprehended and cuffed the second suspect as she blundered into the area.

And so, a long, hard investigation reached a favorable conclusion.

Several accounting students were ready to sign up for the IRS training program after the day’s investigation. “It’s my first hard look at what Special Agents do,� said Jackie Desir, a senior in the five-year accounting program at LIU. “It really opened my eyes. I’ve been looking at careers in the big four, but now the IRS doesn’t seem that bad.�

Many IRS-CI employees participated in Friday’s simulation. Coaches included Special Agent Greg Tranchina, Special Agent Diane Sadallah and Special Agent John Ricupero.

Some of the role players included Supervisory Special Agent Neil Cohen; Tax Fraud Investigative Assistants Lisa Costanzo, Lisa Mignone, Andy Ostrowski; Investigative Analyst Doris McCrimmon; Senior Investigative Analyst Jaimee Allen; and Pace MBA student volunteer Josh Eikenberry.

Special Agent Foy’s organization partner was Myrna Fischman, chair of the Accounting Department, and Dean Mohammed Ghriga, instrumental in supporting the program. Myrna Fischman’s secretary, Francine Sparks, prepared the classroom space and organized the food and other supplies.

For a report of last year's program, see IRS Breaking Down Doors at a College Campus Near You

© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2009 All materials posted on BrooklynEagle.com are protected by United States copyright law. Just a reminder, though -- It’s not considered polite to paste the entire story on your blog. Most blogs post a summary or the first paragraph,( 40 words) then post a link to the rest of the story. That helps increase click-throughs for everyone, and minimizes copyright issues. So please keep posting, but not the entire article. arturc at att.net