Annual AML Center Conference 2026 The Hidden Battlefield: National Defense Begins with Finance

Eglė Lukošienė is the Director of the Money Laundering Prevention Competence Centre in Lithuania and a legal professional with extensive experience across the public and private sectors. She spent ten years working in financial market supervision at the central bank, where she led legal teams and worked closely with regulated financial institutions, gaining in-depth expertise in financial regulation and public–private cooperation. She is an Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).

Pav Gill blew the whistle on Wirecard, one of the largest corporate frauds in European history. As Head of Legal for Asia-Pacific, he saw firsthand how AML controls were circumvented and regulatory oversight failed across jurisdictions, allowing fraud to go undetected for nearly two decades. His disclosures wiped out €24 billion in market value, put executives behind bars, and triggered regulatory reform across Europe.

Rachel Ellehuus became Director-General of RUSI on 6 January 2025. Rachel joined RUSI after serving nearly three years at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) as the United States Secretary of Defense Representative in Europe and Defense Advisor to the United States’ Mission to NATO. Prior to that, she was Deputy Director of the Europe and Eurasia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC and a Senior Advisor at WestExec Advisors.

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. From 2019 to 2021, he chaired the Economic and Social Policy Group at the Office of the President of Lithuania, coordinating economic, financial, innovation, health and social policy matters. He currently serves as Executive Board Member of the Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA).

Andžejus was appointed Head of the Digital Support Unit (DSU) at Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) in 2023. In this role, he leads the provision of advanced support to EU Member States in complex cybercrime investigations. His responsibilities include delivering cyber intelligence support, applying data science techniques to help analysing large and complex datasets, enabling digital forensic capabilities to access the data, and tracing cryptocurrencies to follow illicit financial flows.

As one of the world’s leading journalists covering organised crime and tech, Geoff White has spent decades investigating the shadowy forces of fraudsters, hackers and money launderers. His work’s been featured by BBC News, Audible, Sky News, The Sunday Times and many more. His latest book, Rinsed, reveals technology’s impact on the world of money laundering. It springs from his work on the hit podcast and book The Lazarus Heist, which explored North Korea’s computer hacking campaign. He has given more than 300 keynote talks for some of the biggest global brands, including Microsoft, HSBC, Sky, Mastercard and Atos.

With over 13 years of international experience in the financial and legal services sectors, Mr. Kizenevič has served as Senior Vice President at Citibank (a member of Citigroup) in London since 2021, where he was responsible for the risk management of new investment products and services across the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region.

Davide D’Auria is the Head of the Economic Crime Unit at Europol, leading efforts in supporting high-level investigations and analytical support into major frauds (investment frauds, Authorized Push Payment Frauds, BEC frauds, and frauds against the financial interests of the EU) and intellectual property crimes (Pharma crime, copyrights, and patent infringements). Previously, he worked as a JHA expert on organized and economic crime at the European Commission and the Italian Permanent Representation to the European Council. Prior to these roles, he spent over 10 years within the Italian National Police, holding policy-related and managerial positions and overseeing complex cross-border fraud cases.

Toms Platacis has been serving as the Head of the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) since September 28, 2023. Prior to this, he held the position of Deputy Head of FIU from January 2021 and, from June 1, 2022, served as the Acting Head of FIU. Toms began his career at FIU leading the Strategic Analysis and Cooperation Coordination Division, where he played a key role in introducing a public-private partnership mechanism in Latvia’s AML/CFT/CPF system.

Oksana Ihnatenko is a Managing Director of the Center for Financial Integrity in Ukraine. Oksana is also a Researcher on Ukraine’s financial integrity in RUSI’s Centre for Finance and Security. She is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist. Her work focuses on Ukraine's adherence to FATF standards, the fight against financial crime, anti-money laundering efforts, and broader issues related to post-war reconstruction. In 2025, Oksana was recognised as an ACAMS 2025 Rising AFC Professional of the Year.

Gonzalo Saiz is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Finance and Security at RUSI, focusing on sanctions and counter threat finance. His research focuses on sanctions implementation, circumvention and evasion tactics, and sanctions enforcement. Gonzalo leads the research of SIFMANet (Sanctions and Illicit Finance Monitoring and Analysis Network) and RUSI’s sanctions taskforces related to EU and UK sanctions, maritime sanctions, and cyber sanctions. Gonzalo's latest research includes the role of crypto in facilitating Russian procurement of high priority items to support its war in Ukraine.

The Head of the Supervision Department at the Estonian Financial Intelligence Unit, where he oversees anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing compliance, including the supervision of virtual asset service providers (VASPs), and conducts inspections related to compliance with targeted financial sanctions. During his first years at the Financial Intelligence Unit, he was primarily involved in licensing processes for virtual asset service providers (VASPs). Over time, his role evolved, and he shifted his focus toward AML/CFT supervision, particularly in the VASP sector and the broader non-financial sector. His work also includes inspecting compliance with targeted financial sanctions.

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.

Dovilė Marcinkonienė is an AML/CTF, sanctions, and compliance professional with extensive experience across both traditional financial services and the crypto sector. Her background covers financial crime compliance, sanctions controls, risk management, regulatory implementation, and governance in international and fast-evolving business environments. She currently focuses on the practical application of AML/CTF and sanctions frameworks in crypto-related services, with particular attention to risk-based controls, cross-border exposure, and regulatory expectations.

Nini Kaladze is a Project Coordinator and Senior Researcher at the Center for Strategy and Development (CSD), Georgia. Her work focuses on international sanctions policy, financial integrity, and strategic communications in the Eastern Partnership region. She has experience coordinating internationally funded governance and security projects, supporting research on sanctions implementation, compliance mechanisms, and democratic resilience. Nino is also involved in policy analysis and monitoring initiatives that strengthen institutional responses to hybrid threats and financial abuse. Her research interests include international security, sanctions regimes, and the role of financial systems in national and international security.

Kane serves as the British Government’s Illicit Finance Lead, overseeing work in the Baltics, Moldova, Ukraine, and Cyprus. A Financial Action Task Force (FATF) assessor and certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS), Kane operates at the intersection of policy and practice. His work centres on the nexus of national security and illicit finance, with a focus on economic warfare as a tool of statecraft.

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.