John A. Cassara

John Cassara began his 26-year government career as a covert intelligence officer during the Cold War. He later served as a Treasury Special Agent in both the U.S. Secret Service and US Customs Service where he investigated money laundering, trade fraud and international smuggling. He was an undercover arms dealer for two years. Assigned overseas, he developed expertise in Middle East money laundering, value transfer and underground financial systems. He also worked six years within Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Mr. Cassara's final assignment was with Treasury's Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence (TFI). Since his retirement, he has lectured in the United States and around the world on a variety transnational crime issues. Mr. Cassara has authored or co-authored several articles and books, including Hide and Seek, Intelligence, Law Enforcement and the Stalled War on Terrorist Finance (2006 Potomac Books) and On the Trail of Terror Finance – What Intelligence and Law Enforcement Officers Need to Know (2010 Red Cell IG). Demons of Gadara, the first novel to deal with terror finance, was released in 2013. Trade-Based Money Laundering: The Next Frontier in International Money Laundering Enforcement (2016 Wiley) and Money Laundering and Illicit Financial Flows: Following the Money and Value Trails (2020) followed. In 2023, Cassara's timely China Specified Unlawful Activities: CCP Inc., Transnational Crime and Money Laundering was published.