Annual AML Center Conference 2025 Unlocking the Power of Motivation in AML

Eglė Lukošienė

The Annual AML Center Conference 2025 Unlocking the Power of Motivation in AML, hosted in partnership with The Bank of Lithuania, will be opened by Eglė Lukošienė, Director of Center of Excellence in Anti-Money Laundering

Rimantas Šadžius

Mr. Rimantas Šadžius is the Minister of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania. Mr. R. Šadžius has extensive management experience in finance. From 2016 to 2022, Mr. R. Šadžius was a member of the European Court of Auditors. His work focused on the regulation of markets and competitive economy, especially the European Union’s financial governance, with its Banking Union, the Capital Markets Union and the European System of Financial Supervision. Mr. R. Šadžius served as Minister of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania twice from 2007 until 2008, and again from 2012 until 2016. He coordinated Lithuania's accession to the euro area and chaired the ECOFIN during Lithuania's Presidency of the Council of the EU in 2013. Mr. R. Šadžius graduated from Vilnius University, where he obtained a Master’s degree in Law. In 2015, Mr. R. Šadžius was awarded the Officer's Cross of the Order of Vytautas the Great by the President of the Republic of Lithuania for special merits to Lithuania.

Gediminas Šimkus

Gediminas Šimkus took office as Chair of the Board of Lietuvos bankas in April 2021. As Chair of the Board, Gediminas Šimkus oversees the areas of monetary policy, economics and organisational management. Before becoming Chair, he was a Member of the Board of Lietuvos bankas and Director of the Economics and Financial Stability Service. Gediminas Šimkus joined Lietuvos bankas in 2002. For over 20 years he has been working and accumulating experience in various areas of central banking, including the analysis of economic processes and forecasting, ensuring financial stability, shaping and implementation of monetary and macroprudential policies, banking supervision, statistical compilation and dissemination as well as in other areas. His work as a financial stability expert at the European Central Bank in 2010–2012 also added to his experience. Gediminas Šimkus obtained a Master’s degree in Economics from Vilnius University.

Tom Keatinge

Tom Keatinge is the founding Director of the Centre for Finance and Security (CFS) at RUSI, where his research focuses on matters at the intersection of finance and security. He was formerly a specialist adviser on illicit finance to the UK Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee ongoing enquiry; and is a member of the Yermak-McFaul International Working Group on Sanctions. He has a Master’s in Intelligence and International Security from King’s College London, where he studied the effectiveness of the global counterterror finance regime. Prior to joining RUSI in 2014, he was an investment banker for 20 years at J.P. Morgan. His research on finance and security considers a number of themes including: • The financial dimension of state threats: the methods by which adversaries seek to undermine Western democracies and exploit their financial systems via the use of ‘active financial measures’. • Sanctions: the effectiveness and evolution of sanctions regimes, including against Russia and North Korea. • Terrorist financing: the effectiveness of current approaches to terrorist financing; the use of financial intelligence as a security tool; and the evolution of terrorist financing methods and responses. • Proliferation financing: the role of finance as a tool of disruption in combatting state and nonstate actor proliferation ambitions. Tom Keatinge has contributed to a variety of publications and media outlets; has given evidence to UK parliamentary and US congressional hearings and spoken at a range of high-level multilateral forums including the UN Security Council and the Financial Action Task Force and a number of its regional bodies. View Tom Keatinge's website for external publications.

Paul O’Donoghue

Simonas Krėpšta

Simonas Krėpšta started his professional career in one of Lithuania’s commercial banks in 2006. In 2008–2019, he worked at Lietuvos bankas: having started his career there as an economist at the Financial Stability Division, he later held senior positions as Head of the Macroprudential Policy Division of the Financial Stability Department and Director of the Financial Stability Department. In 2019 to 2021 he chaired the Economic and Social Policy Group of the Presidential Office that coordinates economic, financial, innovation, health and social policy matters. Simonas Krėpšta holds an International Executive MBA from the Baltic Management Institute (BMI) as well as Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Economics (Finance and Banking) from Vytautas Magnus University. For several years he worked as a lecturer in Financial Intermediation (for graduates) and international finance (for undergraduates) at ISM University of Management and Economics. As a Member of the Board of Lietuvos bankas, he oversees the areas of financial market supervision, financial asset management and market operations as well as the activities of the Centre for Digital Excellence.

Kinga Redlowska

Dr Kinga Redłowska is the Head of the Centre for Finance and Security (CFS) at RUSI Europe, where she leads initiatives at the nexus of illicit finance and security, with a strong focus on the EU and its neighborhood. She spearheads Euro SIFMANet, a project launched in 2022 that focuses on sanctions against Russia and the broader challenge of countering illicit finance. Kinga is also the co-founder and Chair of the Advisory Board of the Ukrainian think tank, the Center for Financial Integrity (CFI). Before RUSI, she served as Programme Director at the Institute for Eastern Studies in Warsaw, organiser of the renowned Economic Forum. She holds a PhD in International Relations and an MA in American Studies from the University of Warsaw.

Effrosyni Fygka

Effrosyni Fygka is a Customs Policy Officer with extensive experience in both national and EU-level customs enforcement and policy. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Athens University of Economics and Business (Greece) and an Executive MBA from the University of Piraeus (Greece). With over 15 years at the Greek Customs Administration, she went on to serve at the European Commission’s DG TAXUD for 4 years and then, at Europol’s European Serious and Organised Crime Centre (ESOCC) for another 4 years. Since April 2023, she has been serving at Europol’s European Financial and Economic Crime Centre (EFECC), focussing on cross-border financial crime. She is an active member of the EFIPPP Secretariat, contributing to international cooperation between financial institutions and investigative authorities.

Tommas Kaplan

Tommas Kaplan is a member of the management board of the real estate agent VON POLL REAL ESTATE - one of the largest real estate brokerage houses in Europe. As Chief Compliance Officer and Anti-Money Laundering Officer, the former Detective Superintendent for Counter-Terrorism specialises in the areas of money laundering prevention, management of internal investigations, corruption and fraud prevention and data protection. ​ ​ He is also head of Working Group 3 ‘Money Laundering in the Real Estate Sector’ at the PPP Anti-Financial Crime Alliance (AFCA), lecturer in the MACIM (Compliance & Integrity Management) Master's programme at the European University Viadrina Frankfurt/Oder, author of various publications and speaker at compliance and money laundering events. ​ ​ In addition, he trains law enforcement and supervisory authorities in the financial and non-financial sector for special money laundering typologies such as money laundering in the property sector, hawala, chinese and criminal underground banking, clan crime and much more. ​ ​ He has gained international recognition through his involvement in the development of the FATF Guidance ‘Risk-Based-Approach Real Estate Sector’, at the UNODC's ‘Financial Disruption Workshop’ (PMLN) and through his work as an expert for the Council of Europe and the “Professional Enablers” workstream at EFIPPP (Europol Financial Intelligence PPP).​

Greta Barkauskienė

Greta Barkauskienė is a highly qualified specialist in financial crimes and a member of the Certified Financial Crime Specialists Association (CFCS). She gained extensive experience and knowledge in the field of money laundering prevention while working at the Financial Crime Investigation Service of Lithuania (FNTT). Deepening her expertise, she participated in various training and certification programs, conducted complex analyses of reports on suspicious operations and transactions.

Greta has acquired legal and economic education, enhancing her competence in the field of cryptocurrency investigations and compliance.

Therefore, she is capable of providing a comprehensive approach to money laundering prevention and addressing the need for collaboration between the private and public sectors.

Šarūnas Černiauskas

Šarūnas Černiauskas is the co-founder and director of Siena, the only Lithuanian media outlet entirely devoted to investigative reporting.

Šarūnas and Siena also belong to two of the best investigative reporting networks in the world - OCCRP and ICIJ. With international partners, Šarūnas has taken part in award-winning investigations like Panama Papers, Troika Laundromat, FinCEN Files etc. In 2022, after russia began its full-scale invasion against Ukraine, Šarūnas and Siena shifter their focus towards international sanctions.

As a result, the small Lithuanian investigative center published multiple stories on sanction evasion and contributed to dismantling several schemes designed to circumvent EU's measures against russia and belarus.

Audrius Valeika

Audrius has more than 25 years of experience in LEA (Law Enforcement Agencies). He has deep knowledge in cooperation with Europol, Eurojust and other international institutions. Audrius is an active participant in legislation, both in Lithuania and in the EU level, in the areas of law enforcement, money laundering, and terrorist financing as well as the implementation of international financial sanctions.

Michal Gromek

Michal Gromek is a leading expert in virtual assets to the OSCE project “Innovative Policy Solutions to Mitigate Money Laundering Risks of Virtual Assets.” In addition to this role, he lends his expertise to the UNODC, DCAF, and Council of Europe and chairs the Digital Asset Task Force at the Global Coalition to Fight Financial Crime. He leads a „Crypto compliance AML and CFT Emergency Room“ with challenges are send that are yet to be resolved. With more than ten years of experience in the cryptocurrency compliance space- which is as long as this field has existed - Michal has been instrumental in identifying challenges. In 2024, he took on the role of Director of Compliance for Cybercrime & Human Trafficking at the G7 Research Group.

Skirmantas Malinauskas

For 15 years, S. Malinauskas worked as a journalist across newspapers, online media, radio, and television, covering political and business topics. I devoted three years specifically to investigative journalism. Subsequently, I served for four years as an advisor to the Prime Minister, focusing on strategic communications, parliamentary relations, and anti-corruption initiatives. For the past five years, I have been managing my own YouTube channel, which draws an audience of over 300,000 people each month.

Dr. Nicola Harding

Dr. Nicola Harding is the CEO of We Fight Fraud, and a Dr of criminology specializing in fraud and financial crime. Before joining WFF, Nicola was a Criminology Lecturer at Lancaster University, where her research focused on the value of lived experience for crime prevention. Nicola's personal experiences drive her passion for criminology, and this combination of personal and academic backgrounds has established her as a leading authority in the field of anti-fraud and financial crime prevention. As CEO of WFF, Nicola leads teams in testing, training, and research to help businesses identify, understand, and manage the threat of serious organised crime. She spearheads WFF's innovative approach to demonstrating how criminals use cybercrime, social engineering, and physical methods to steal assets and data. Acting as a bridge between client needs and academic research, Nicola ensures that WFF remains at the forefront of delivering cutting-edge knowledge and tactics in the fight against fraud.

Arūnas Maskoliūnas

A. Maskoliūnas holds a Bachelor of Laws degree and began his service in 1996 in Panevėžys. From 2000 to 2015, he worked in the criminal police departments of the Panevėžys County Chief Police Commissariat. From 2015 to 2020, he headed the 2nd Board for the Investigation of Serious and Organized Crime at the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau. In 2020, he was appointed as a special police attaché to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, representing Lithuania at Europol for three years. In 2023, following a successful selection process, he was appointed Head of the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau. He has dedicated 25 years of his professional career to the criminal police, focusing on the fight against organized crime. According to A. Maskoliūnas: “In this rapidly changing world, effectively combating organized crime is only possible by combining the capabilities of professional personnel with advanced technologies.”

Olga de Truchis

Senior Compliance Officer with strong expertise in financial crime, specialised in crypto-assets and Blockchain. Over 18 years of experience across both public and private sectors, including 3 years as an AML/CFT analyst at Ukraine's FIU and 15 years at Société Générale in various Compliance roles. Since December 2023, acting as Group Compliance Coordinator on Crypto and Blockchain at Société Générale, and co-driver of the Europol EFIPPP Crypto- Assets Workstream. Expert on crypto-assets for international organisations OSCE and UNODC since late 2022.