MAFI Leadership and Faculty

Saleh Awadallah has been an attorney since 1994, and an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office since 1998.  Saleh currently supervises the Major Trial Homicide Unit, where he is responsible for the intake, charging, supervision, and assignment of all homicide, including capital murder cases in Cuyahoga County. 

Saleh has first chaired numerous jury trials, including child sexual and physical abuse cases, rape cases, and aggravated murder cases.  Saleh has extensive experience in reviewing and coordinating complex criminal investigations.  Saleh has argued before the Eighth District Court of Appeals and the Ohio Supreme Court.  

Saleh has lectured and instructed for the Cleveland Division of Police, the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office and other organizations.  He spoken across the country on various topics for the National Association of Attorney Generals (NAAG), National District Attorney’s Association (NDAA), the National Black Prosecutors Association and the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association (OPAA).  Saleh has also addressed the Ohio Summit for Wrongful Convictions sponsored by Case Western Reserve University School of Law and the Ohio Innocence Project. 

Saleh received his undergraduate degree, summa cum laude, from Baldwin-Wallace College and his J.D. from Case Western Reserve Law School, where he served as Editor in Chief of the Canada-US Law Journal. In 2011, Saleh won the Prosecutor of the Year Award from the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office. And in 2015 he was awarded the Excellence in Management Award for Outstanding Performance in Leadership and Management, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office.  He is admitted to the bars of the State of Ohio, the Northern District of Ohio Federal Court and the United States Supreme Court. 

Mark Gamin is a graduate of the Case Western Reserve School of Law, where he was editor-in-chief of the Law Review. In his thirty-year career, Mark Gamin has practiced law at a large corporate law firm, served as in-house counsel at a major insurance company, and worked for the FDIC. 

In private practice, Mr. Gamin litigated many cases involving banks and banking law (among other areas of commercial and corporate law) in jurisdictions around the country, including the United States Supreme Court.  

He later joined Progressive Insurance Company’s Professional Liability Unit.  There, he supervised the handling of claims under the Financial Institution Bond for community banks around the country, for losses caused by such things as employee dishonesty, check-kiting, cybercrime of various sorts, and a great variety of other frauds.  He regularly advised banks on how to deal with and limit these losses, and has often addressed banking and insurance industry groups in seminars, conferences, and CLE-type presentations.

At the FDIC, Mr. Gamin conducted special investigations of bank officers and directors, as well as other institutionally-affiliated parties (attorneys, accountants, appraisers, and other professionals) for alleged wrongdoing under the Federal Deposit Insurance Act and related rules and regulations.  He assessed bank governance issues under the Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering laws and otherwise and, thereafter, made and defended recommendations as to a course of action in connection with the subject banks and insiders (e.g., removal and prohibition, imposition of civil money penalties, etc.), the overarching goal being prompt, fair, and consistent regulatory treatment.

As the Regulatory Section Leader of the Financial Institutions Group at the Chicago law firm of Barack Ferrazzano, Mr. Geiringer concentrates his practice on regulatory, governance, and investigative matters involving financial institutions.

He is a frequent speaker and author in the financial institutions area on issues surrounding banking regulations, examinations, and enforcement actions. He teaches banking law and regulation at Chicago-Kent College of Law’s Graduate Program in Financial Services Law and serves on the board of advisors of its Institute for Compliance. He is the co-editor of the two-volume edition, Advising Illinois Financial Institutions, in which he wrote a chapter on bank enforcement issues, and is the co-author of the chapter “Bank Examination and Enforcement” in The Keys to Banking Law: A Handbook for Lawyers (2017). Mr. Geiringer is a vice-chair of the American Bar Association’s Banking Law Committee and a past chairman of its Enforcement, Insider Liability and Troubled Banks Subcommittee and its Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering Subcommittee. He also is a former chairman of the Chicago Bar Association’s Financial Institutions Committee.

Mr. Geiringer also devotes significant time to Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering issues. He is on the advisory board of the Anti-Money Laundering Association and is the president of its Midwest Chapter. He has frequently lectured on the subject, including at Georgetown University’s Center for Security Studies, Boston University School of Law, and Chicago-Kent College of Law, where he serves as a co-director of its Center for National Security and Human Rights Law. He is the editor and author of a chapter in the upcoming book, Countering the Financing of Terrorism: Law and Policy, and is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS).

Prior to joining the Firm in 1999, Mr. Geiringer was both a bank regulator and a compliance consultant. He served as legal counsel for the Illinois bank regulatory agency. Mr. Geiringer also obtained practical experience with respect to bank operations and compliance issues as a regulatory consultant with a regional accounting firm, performing compliance reviews and training for a variety of financial institutions.

Theodore Greenberg, attorney and author, is a veteran of the U.S. Department of Justice and the World Bank with extensive, valued expertise in fighting fraud, corruption, and financial crimes. As Founder and President of TG Global, LLC, Mr. Greenberg provides consulting and litigation services on anti-money laundering, terrorist financing, asset forfeiture, mutual legal assistance, asset recovery, fraud, FCPA, sanctions, anti-corruption, forfeiture and financial institution compliance programs. 

Mr. Greenberg served as a federal career prosecutor for 30 years with the U.S. Department of Justice. He was the lead prosecutor on fraud, corruption and Defense Department procurement cases while serving as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia. At the U.S. Justice Department, among other positions, he was Chief of the Money Laundering Section, Deputy Chief of the Fraud Section. He helped create the DOJ policy on global settlements and the Justice/DoD Voluntary Disclosure Program.

Upon leaving DOJ, Mr. Greenberg served 10 years as Senior Counsel and Senior Financial Specialist to the World Bank. While there, he was a member of the U.S. and World Bank Delegations to the global Financial Action Task Force and helped write the International Standards on Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism & Proliferation, and the methodology for assessing compliance. Among other areas, he focused on issues related to the identification and reporting of suspicious financial transactions, efforts to enhance customer due diligence, the need for identification of politically exposed persons, and the requirement to disclose beneficial ownership.  

At the World Bank, Mr. Greenberg helped to design AML/CFT regimes, deliver technical assistance to member countries and assess their compliance. He also helped lead the effort to develop the World Bank/UNODC Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (“StAR”) and to establish the International Consortium to Combat Wildlife Crime.

After leaving the World Bank, Mr. Greenberg founded TG Global, LLC, putting his strategic judgment and creative problem solving to work for business, agencies and governments. He has developed policies and procedures, written manuals and delivered training programs for executives and staff members. He also served as the Court Appointed Independent Monitor in State of Arizona vs. Western Union Financial Services. Among other work the Monitor Team developed a state of the art enterprise-wide AML/CFT regime with policies, procedures and reporting requirements.

Mr. Greenberg is a member of APCO Worldwide’s International Advisory Council. He has co-authored several books, including: “Stolen Asset Recovery: A Good Practices Guide for Non-Conviction Based Asset Forfeiture” (April 2009); “Politically Exposed Persons: Preventive Measures for the Banking Sector” (April 2010); and “Improving Criminal Justice: Efforts to Combat Illegal Logging” (March 2012). He also played a key role in the revision of the Financial Action Task Force’s “40 Recommendations on Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing.” He helped to establish the “International Coalition to Protect Egyptian Antiquities” including a site survey in Egypt with a select group of Egyptologists and is a contributor to the report, “Human Trafficking: Customer and Financial Traits That May Present Risk”, Bankers’ Alliance, Thomson Reuters Foundation and the NY District Attorney’s Office (February 2014)”.

Mr. Greenberg has a B.A. from Drew University, and a J.D. from South Texas College of Law. He is admitted to practice in Texas, Virginia and the District of Columbia. 

Saverio Mirarchi is a lawyer and Compliance professional with over 40 years’ experience encompassing international work in over 30 countries. Currently an Independent Compliance Consultant, he has served as a litigation associate with major NYC law firms, in-house bank counsel, Chief Compliance Officer for major financial institutions, and regulatory risk and compliance consultant. His experience includes positions with the consulting firms Protiviti and Treliant Risk Advisors; in-house Compliance leadership roles with Northern Trust, CIBC, The Bank of New York, and American Express; and project consultant with the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force where he developed a capacity building program for Member States to implement Security Council Resolutions on the designation of terrorists and seizing of terrorist assets.

His consulting and Compliance Officer experience includes extensive work with financial institutions to address regulatory enforcement actions related to Compliance risk management programs, including structure; governance; roles and responsibilities; risk identification, assessment, mitigation and internal reporting and escalation; training; and third-party risk management. As a consultant, he led reviews of retail sales incentive programs to determine their appropriateness and assess them for regulatory and reputational risk; assessed the Compliance program at a major global institution in connection with an FX market manipulation investigation; and participated in a monitorship to oversee an institution’s compliance with a Consent Order relating to manipulation of LIBOR and other Inter-Bank Offered Rate submissions. As Chief Compliance Officer for Northern Trust, The Bank of New York, and American Express Bank, he led the development and implementation of responses to Consent Orders and other enforcement actions; created, implemented and enhanced global compliance programs, with emphasis on Financial Crimes Compliance, including AML, Sanctions and Conduct; and participated in internal investigations. He has interacted extensively with federal and state regulators in connection with his work.

Mr. Mirarchi earned his law degree from Georgetown Law Center and his bachelor’s degree from Harvard College. He studied French law in Lyon, France on a Rotary International Graduate Fellowship and completed his final year of legal studies at Harvard Law School.

John Moody, III is the AML Manager and Vice President of the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Operations Governance group at Huntington National Bank.  He is a longstanding resident of the greater Cleveland Ohio area and is a proficient anti-money laundering professional.  He bears both Certified AML Specialist (CAMS) and the Certified Regulatory Compliance Manager (CRCM) designations.  Mr. Moody is a founding director of the Northern Ohio Chapter of Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) and continues to serve Chapter members through his Co-Chair role.  He is always willing to dig into how and why and to engage with other peoples and cultures to expand his thinking and explore new ways of doing. 

Mr. Moody’s extensive career includes roles as Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) officer, senior compliance auditor, compliance officer, bank branch manager, accountant, compliance officer, and mortgage loan officer.  His financial services and compliance experience were gained through these various roles at nine different U.S. financial institutions ranging from large regional banks, small local banks, and thrift institutions.  His notable accomplishments have been in the area of business initiative AML risk assessment that included assessments of the AML programs of financial institutions and recognizing the acquisition and integration risks related to customers and account portfolios to the acquiring financial institution.

Mr. Moody’s financial integrity has made him a highly respected and experienced AML professional in the AML field.  He is dedicated to the development of AML professionals who will safeguard the financial industry and the communities they serve from financial crimes and the financing of terrorism.

Teresa (Terry) Pesce is a principal in KPMG's Forensic Advisory Services practice and has served as the Global Head of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Services and Head of Financial Crimes Solution since 2007.  Ms. Pesce has spearheaded engagements for financial institutions in addressing numerous financial crimes and sanctions issues, including assisting clients facing regulatory enforcement actions, both private and public. She has often been called upon to report directly to regulatory agencies and Boards of Directors.

Before joining KPMG in early 2007, Ms. Pesce was Executive Vice President and AML Director for the North American operations HSBC North America, joining the bank to build out the AML compliance function for all business lines in response to a regulatory order imposed in 2003 and lifted by the OCC during her tenure in 2006.

From 1992-2003, Ms. Pesce was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York, serving as Chief of the Major Crimes Unit, and Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division. From 1999 through 2003, Ms. Pesce was responsible for supervision and oversight of all money-laundering and tax prosecutions and worked closely with law enforcement and the financial regulatory agencies responsible for oversight of AML enforcement.

Ms. Pesce holds a BA from Columbia University, where she graduated magna cum laud, Phi Beta Kappa, and she holds a JD from Columbia University School of Law where she received prizes in Constitutional Law and Trial Advocacy.  She is a recognized industry speaker and has published numerous pieces on financial crimes and enforcement. 

Daniel M. Polar joined LexisNexis Risk Solutions in 2005.  He is responsible for defining strategies in the United States and Canada that deliver innovative compliance technology combined with comprehensive financial intelligence that enable financial institutions and corporate clients to efficiently and effectively comply with relevant governmental regulations.  

He maximizes the company’s core capabilities including vast data assets in both the physical and digital realms. By leveraging industry-leading big data technology, the solutions are designed and implemented to uncover hidden and indirect risks in customer portfolios.  This information is used to streamline and automate customer acquisition and monitoring functions based on a holistic view of each customer record. 

Prior to joining LexisNexis® Risk Solutions, Daniel worked in the banking industry and focused on commercial and consumer underwriting, compliance, and fraud prevention with an emphasis on BSA/AML Compliance. 

The Honorable John J. Russo is the immediate Past Administrative and Presiding Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Ohio in Cuyahoga County.  Judge Russo had been unanimously elected by his colleagues to lead the Court from 2014-2019.  He was responsible for appointing committees, coordinating the development of Court policies, and overseeing the administration and dockets of the General Division, the highest-level trial court in the state. 

Additionally, Judge Russo oversees the Veteran Treatment Court in Cuyahoga County since 2019 and has chaired or participated in numerous justice system boards and committees since beginning his judicial career in 2005 on the Common Pleas Court. They include: 1st Vice-Chair of the Ohio Judicial Conference; Co-Chair of the Ohio Judicial Conference Court Administration Committee and Past-Chair of the Judicial Education Committee for the Ohio Judicial Conference; Trustee, Cleveland Marshall Law Alumni Association where in 2018 was inducted into CM/Law Hall of Fame and in 2019 was CMLAA Alumni of the year; Trustee, Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association; Review Board and Committee Person for the Trends in State Court Publication (appointed by the National Center for State Courts); Member of the Public Health, Death Penalty and Bail Bond Reform Task Force (all appointed by the Ohio Chief Justice); and Past Chair, Lawyers Fund for Client Protection (appointed by the Ohio Supreme Court); Past President, Legal Eagles St. Edward High School Community. 

In 2016, Judge Russo served as president of the National Association for Presiding Judges and Court Executive Officers (NAPCO), a national organization of court chief judges and court executives.  He was elected in 2019 to serve as NAPCO’s Chair of the Board of Directors.  In addition, he has taught at numerous court conclaves, judges’ conferences, community programs, and bar association CLE programs.   

Judge is a member of the Ohio State Bar Association, Cuyahoga Metropolitan Bar Association, Westshore Bar Association, and Cleveland Marshall Law Alumni Association.  Prior to the bench, Judge Russo was a civil and criminal litigator for 12 years in his private practice.  After earning a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree from John Carroll University, he received his Juris Doctor degree at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, where he currently serves as an Adjunct Professor. 

Angel Nguyen Swift is Head of Conduct Management for Wells Fargo where she leads a team responsible for ensuring employees act ethically on behalf of Wells Fargo, its customers, and employee base.

Part of the Enterprise Customer Excellence group within the Chief Operations Office, the group provides enterprise-wide conduct functions, including the Ethics program, the Insider Threat program, enterprise investigations, and operational reporting, supporting the company in managing conduct-related issues. Swift is an experienced leader in compliance and financial crimes with more than 18 years helping guide financial institutions in developing, enhancing and remediating financial crime compliance programs.

Before joining Wells Fargo, she held multiple leadership, consulting, and advisory positions, including serving in senior leadership roles focused on financial crimes and compliance with American Express and Enigma Technologies.

She also served as Assistant District Attorney of New York in the Identity Theft Unit where she helped establish a team of prosecutors with expertise in, and responsibility for, prosecution of major cases of identity theft and cyber-crime. Swift is based in New York City and is the Founder and Executive Director of Stand Together Against Trafficking, Inc. (STAT), a non-profit organization that leverages technology and data concepts to share collaborative intelligence on financial indicators of human trafficking.

She also serves on the Board of Directors for Polaris, the leading anti-human trafficking, non-profit organization, which is responsible for operating the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline, and deploying data-driven strategy across the industry. She holds a Juris Doctor from Pace University School of Law and a Bachelors of Arts in English from the University of Miami.

Dennis G. Terez is presently a law clerk to U.S. Magistrate Judge William H. Baughman, Jr. of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. Prior to this appointment, he represented individuals through his service on the Criminal Justice Act panels for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. He previously served as an assistant federal public defender and then as chief defender for the Northern District of Ohio and as acting chief defender for the Southern District of Ohio. He has also served as an adjunct faculty member at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Law and the University of Michigan Law School. Prior to his federal appointments, he was a partner with the international law firm of Squire, Sanders and Dempsey L.L.P. (now Squire Patton Boggs), where he worked as a member of the firm’s Litigation Practice, Technology and Intellectual Property, Business Litigation, and Bankruptcy Practice groups. Prior to his work in Ohio, he was an associate at the Washington, D.C. office of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton and of Hughes Hubbard & Reed, L.L. P. He clerked for the late Chief Judge Frank J. Battisti, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, from 1985 to 1986. 

Mr. Terez earned a bachelor’s degree in Foreign Service, summa cum laude, from Georgetown University in 1980, where he was valedictorian, and studied abroad as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Bonn Juristische Fakultat-Law School from 1981 to 1982. He earned his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School, magnum cum laude, in 1985, where he was an Articles Editor of the Michigan Yearbook of International Legal Studies. He recently completed two additional graduate degrees—a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Science in Management with a Specialization in Finance—from Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management.