World Elder Abuse Awareness Day

The Securities and Exchange Commission will be joined by the U.S. Secret Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and non-profit and private sector organizations to offer a World Elder Abuse Awareness Day webinar, "Relationship Investment Scams: You Have the Power to Prevent Them."

The webinar will feature two panel discussions covering common relationship investment scam tactics, the impact of the scams, how victims can protect themselves, and educational and support resources. 

Please register to attend the event. For questions, contact outreach@sec.gov.

Agenda

Panel One: Tactics Scammers Use and the Impact on Victims

Moderator: Tom Manganello, Acting Assistant Director, Office of Investor Education and Advocacy, Securities and Exchange Commission

Panelists:
•    Jayna Kadel, Supervisory Special Agent, Economic Crimes Unit, Federal Bureau of Investigation
•    Kathy Stokes, Director of Fraud Prevention, AARP
•    Brendan Purcell, Managing Director, Enterprise Fraud Operations Leader, TIAA

Panel Two: Action Steps You Can Take to Protect Yourself and Your Loved Ones

Moderator: Lori Schock, Director, Office of Investor Education and Advocacy, Securities and Exchange Commission

Panelists:
•    Michael Dawson, Investigator, United States Secret Service
•    Jennifer Spoeri, Executive Director, National Adult Protective Services Association
•    Donald Battle, Assistant Director, Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit and Senior Advisor, Crypto Task Force, Securities and Exchange Commission  

Panelists

Tom Manganello, Acting Assistant Director, Office of Investor Education and Advocacy, Securities and Exchange Commission
 
Tom Manganello is an acting assistant director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy and helps to coordinate investor education throughout the SEC’s headquarters and 10 regional offices. Manganello regularly lectures on building wealth through saving and investing and how to avoid scams, and writes content for Investor.gov. He’s an attorney with over a decade of experience with the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, where he brought cases against defendants accused of violating the federal securities laws, including insider trading, Ponzi and pyramid schemes, and accounting and broker fraud.
 
Manganello has a JD from the University of Pittsburgh and a BS in journalism from Ohio University.

Jayna Kadel, Supervisory Special Agent, Federal Bureau of Investigation

Jayna Kadel serves as a supervisory special agent in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Cyber-Enabled Fraud, Money Laundering Unit. She has been an FBI special agent for 10 years.

Kathy Stokes, Director, AARP

Kathy Stokes serves as director for the AARP Fraud Watch Network, which seeks to educate older adults on the risks that fraud represents to their financial security. Her team launched a national campaign to change how we talk about fraud victims and to transform how our country addresses fraud.

Stokes’ career has centered on financial security, both in the realm of public policy and the development of retirement education programming. She serves on the Aspen Institute’s Task Force on Fraud and Scam Prevention, the advisory council to the board of the International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators and an advisory council to the Senior Issues Committee of the North American Securities Administrators Association. Stokes also serves as board chair of the new National Elder Fraud Coordination Center.

Brendan Purcell, Managing Director, TIAA

Brendan Purcell serves as a managing director and enterprise fraud operations leader at TIAA, a leading provider of secure retirements and outcome-focused investment solutions. Purcell has worked in financial services fraud management for 25 years and currently leads fraud detection and servicing operations for TIAA, covering retirement plans, self-directed brokerage, and IRA accounts along with trust and private asset management relationships.

Prior to joining TIAA in 2012, he held various leadership roles within fraud management at Wells Fargo/Wachovia, including leading both the digital fraud operations and the loss trending and analysis teams.

Lori Schock, Director, Office of Investor Education and Advocacy, Securities and Exchange Commission

Lori Schock has served as director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy since October 2009. She previously was associate director at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (FINRA) Investor Education Foundation and Office of Investor Education, and before that, was director of outreach at The Center for Audit Quality.

Schock received her law degree and master’s degree in taxation from the University of Akron and her bachelor’s degree from Furman University.

Michael Dawson, Investigator, United States Secret Service

Michael Dawson has 25 years of professional investigative and fraud experience with the United States Secret Service (USSS), including as a senior special agent. Dawson has led multiple complex investigations into transnational and domestic organized crime, cyber-enabled fraud, money laundering, cryptocurrency money laundering, and elder fraud resulting in numerous prosecutions and seizures. Currently, Dawson is an investigator assigned to the USSS’s Tyler, Texas Office and is the recipient of the 2019 and 2024 Homeland Security Secretary’s Exceptional Service Gold Medal.  

Jennifer Spoeri, Executive Director, National Adult Protective Services Association

Jennifer Spoeri serves as the executive director of National Adult Protective Services Association (NAPSA), a position she has held since August 2021. With over 18 years of experience in Adult Protective Services (APS), Spoeri brings a wealth of expertise in program development, leadership, and advocacy for vulnerable populations. Prior to her role at NAPSA, she served as the APS director in Philadelphia where she led the city’s APS program and secured one of the first Victims of Crime Act grants designated for APS.

Spoeri has long been a dedicated advocate for the APS community, having served on NAPSA's Board of Directors for five years before assuming her current role. As executive director, she has served on numerous advisory boards, led several major grants, and played a pivotal role in the creation and development of the National APS Training Center.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Kentucky and a master’s degree in gerontology with a concentration in healthcare administration from Notre Dame of Maryland University.

Donald Battle, Assistant Director, Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit and Senior Advisor, Crypto Task Force, Securities and Exchange Commission

Donald Battle serves as senior advisor for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Crypto Task Force and as an assistant director of the data science group in the agency’s Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit. Prior to this, he served as senior virtual currency enforcement officer for the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. His areas of expertise include U.S. anti-money laundering/counterterrorist financing laws and regulations, data science, and crypto assets/fintech.