Inside EB-5: Immigration, Finance, Compliance and Governance Collide

Innovation comes in many areas, and compliance professionals need to not only be ready for it but also embrace it. Join Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance, as he visits with top innovative minds, thinkers, and creators in the award-winning Innovation in Compliance podcast. In this episode, host Tom welcomes Michelle Tavares, a former federal government forensic accountant and former USCIS EB-5 compliance officer who helped rewrite the EB-5 statute into the Reform and Integrity Act (RIA). Michelle Tavares brings a rare blend of forensic accounting, securities litigation, and federal investigative experience to her perspective on EB-5 visa program compliance and adjudication. Having worked on white-collar crime matters and immigration policy, and as a compliance officer for the EB-5 program, she helped shape the Reform and Integrity Act, which strengthened oversight, penalties, and investor protections. Tavares believes the old EB-5 framework lacked meaningful enforcement, and she argues that USCIS now properly scrutinizes regional centers, attorneys, and related parties through background checks, AML/KYC review, and a broader integrity lens. From her viewpoint, successful EB-5 filings depend on consistent, credible evidence across immigration, securities, banking, and governance issues, with better guidance helping honest organizations avoid preventable compliance mistakes. Key highlights: EB5 Compliance, Penalties, and AML-KYC Overhaul Four lenses on every EB5 transaction Preponderance of Evidence in EB-5 Compliance Narratives Vetting vendors, promoters, and experts for EB5 compliance Resources: Standard & Proof Investigations Counsel Ready Michelle Tavares on LinkedIn Tom Fox Instagram Facebook YouTube Twitter LinkedIn My first work of general non-fiction is now out: Deluge Before Dawn, the story of the 2025 flood in Kerr County, Texas, which killed 119 people and devastated a county. It is a story of tragedy, heartbreak, survival, and resilience. It is available on the following sites: Amazon.com Stoney Creek Publishing Barnes and Noble Texas A&M University Press Bookshop.org Google.Books Walmart This week only, the Kindle e-book version is available for $0.99 on Amazon. Innovation in Compliance was recently honored as the Number 4 podcast in Risk Management by 1,000,000 Podcasts

Innovation comes in many areas, and compliance professionals need to not only be ready for it but embrace it. Join Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance, as he visits with top innovative minds, thinkers, and creators in the award-winning Innovation in Compliance podcast. In this episode, host Tom welcomes Mara Senn, Founder and CEO of Ethakos. What is innovation in compliance? Mara Senn certainly shows it in this podcast. Her path to founding Ethakos spans Big Law, early FCPA and anti-corruption work, investigations at the World Bank, and senior in-house compliance roles at major Fortune 500 companies. That experience gave her a clear view of the everyday frustrations compliance teams face, especially clunky tools, dirty data, and rigid workflows that slow down real investigations. She built Ethakos as an AI-native, highly configurable platform to solve those pain points, using “vibe coding” with Claude to move quickly while keeping human judgment at the center of every decision. In her view, the platform reflects a simple but powerful idea: AI should make compliance work faster and cleaner, not replace the expertise and risk-based thinking that good compliance professionals bring. Key highlights: Vibe coding Ethakos through dozens of decisions Start with actionable hits, not meaningless alerts AI-generated first drafts for chronologies and interviews Audit logs and document-linked investigative credibility Tech-forward compliance teams identifying 13 risks instead Resources: Ethakos Mara Senn on LinkedIn Tom Fox Instagram Facebook YouTube Twitter LinkedIn My first work of general non-fiction is now out: Deluge Before Dawn, the story of the 2025 flood in Kerr County, Texas, which killed 119 people and devastated a county. It is a story of tragedy, heartbreak, survival, and resilience. It is available on the following sites: Amazon.com Stoney Creek Publishing Barnes and Noble Texas A&M University Press Bookshop.org Google.Books Walmart This week only, the Kindle e-book version is available for $0.99 on Amazon.

Innovation comes in many areas, and compliance professionals need to not only be ready for it but also embrace it. Join Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance, as he visits with top innovative minds, thinkers, and creators in the award-winning Innovation in Compliance podcast. In this episode, host Tom speaks with Bennett Borden of Clarion AI Partners. Borden is a lawyer and data scientist whose career has long focused on the intersection of law, data, and technology, including AI governance, compliance, and the legal implications of generative AI. Drawing on experience at the CIA, in big law, and leading AI-focused legal practices, he views generative AI as a disruptive force reshaping both legal services and business models. Borden argues that effective AI governance requires “governance engineering”: translating legal obligations into technical controls and measurable proof of compliance rather than treating compliance as a separate burden. He also encourages lawyers and organizations to embrace AI proactively, using it to build more efficient, future-ready practices while managing risk through practical, system-level safeguards. Key highlights: AI-Driven Law Practice Beyond the Billable Hour Compliance as guardrails for faster innovation Gift, Travel, and Entertainment Sandbox Projects Trust Built by Enterprise Licenses and Safeguards Microsecond-by-Microsecond Compliance Proof for AI Governance Resources: Bennett Borden on LinkedIn Clarion AI Partners Website Clarion AI Partners on LinkedIn Innovation in Compliance was recently honored as the Number 4 podcast in Risk Management by 1,000,000 Podcasts

Innovation comes in many areas, and compliance professionals need to not only be ready for it but also embrace it. Join Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance, as he visits with top innovative minds, thinkers, and creators in the award-winning Innovation in Compliance podcast. In this episode, host Tom visits with Paul F. Welter, co-founder at Bayshore AI. Welter is a German-qualified lawyer whose path into legal innovation began with an early background in software engineering, giving him a rare combination of legal and technical expertise. That experience led him to study how legal reasoning could be automated at Stanford Law School’s Codex, and later to co-found Bayshore AI to build LLM-based tools for in-house legal and compliance teams. He believes AI can help scale legal and compliance support because demand far exceeds human capacity, but he expects adoption to happen gradually through copilots, policy chatbots, and targeted workflow automation rather than a sudden transformation. At the same time, he stresses that regulated companies need systems that are transparent, auditable, and able to show how decisions are made, with human oversight remaining essential for higher-risk matters and regulator-facing accountability. Key highlights: AI Legal Reasoning for Embedded Compliance Workflows Auditable Legal Decision Logic from Conventional Programs Customer-Specific Policy Logic with Deterministic Compliance Logic translated into code for reviewable decisions Full-time employee days of manual compliance checks AI copilots, compliance workflows, and decision trails Resources: Paul Welter on LinkedIn Bayshore Website Bayshore on LinkedIn Innovation in Compliance was recently honored as the Number 4 podcast in Risk Management by 1,000,000 Podcasts

Innovation comes in many areas, and compliance professionals need to not only be ready for it but also embrace it. Join Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance, as he visits with top innovative minds, thinkers, and creators in the award-winning Innovation in Compliance podcast. In this episode, host Tom visits with Brian Holyfield, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer at SendSafely. Holyfield discusses why the right compliance question on cybersecurity is not whether a breach will happen but when and what data will be exposed, often through vendors. He explains “blast radius” as the scope of access and data reachable during an incident and argues organizations should prioritize architecture, data minimization, and retention controls alongside prevention. He also highlights risks from accumulated file attachments, overbroad user access, interconnected systems using OAuth tokens, and “standing access” via long-lived machine credentials that can be abused without obvious login anomalies. Holyfield discusses examples involving ServiceNow and Salesforce that illustrate platform vulnerabilities, trusted upstream vendor connections, and end-user compromise, and advises leaders to inventory connections, define retention/archiving, and move sensitive data out of frontline platforms; SendSafely positions itself as an end-to-end encrypted trust layer, including for AI chatbot attachments. Key highlights: Assume the Breach Blast Radius Explained ServiceNow and Salesforce Lessons Board-Level Questions AI Changes the Game Compliance and Governance Fit Resources: SendSafely Brian Holyfield on LinkedIn Innovation in Compliance was recently honored as the Number 4 podcast in Risk Management by 1,000,000 Podcasts

Innovation comes in many areas, and compliance professionals need to not only be ready for it but also embrace it. Join Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance, as he visits with top innovative minds, thinkers, and creators in the award-winning Innovation in Compliance podcast. In this episode, host Tom Fox visits with Clarence Chio, co-founder and CEO of Coverbase, about modernizing third-party risk management as AI reshapes vendor due diligence. Chio describes how traditional onboarding relies on long questionnaires, SOC 2/ISO documentation, and trust centers that streamline document exchange but were built for human-driven workflows. He argues AI makes the process risky and increasingly meaningless because vendors can auto-complete questionnaires convincingly and customers can analyze them with AI, eroding the value of nuance and attestation. Chio contrasts static, point-in-time evidence with the need for dynamic, continuous security evidence, noting software changes faster than annual assessments and third-party software frequently appears in breach chains. He proposes moving from check-the-box questionnaires to first-principles risk validation, including continuous information sharing, deeper technical evidence, and machine-readable artifacts such as SBOMs. He highlights Coverbase’s open-source Trust MCP, which provides scoped, standardized access to verified vendor evidence for an agent-driven future. Key highlights: Why Coverbase Exists Trust Centers Explained AI Makes Due Diligence Risky Attestation and Human Loop Static vs. Dynamic Evidence Machine-Readable Trust Future Resources: Coverbase Clarence Chio on LinkedIn Innovation in Compliance was recently honored as the Number 4 podcast in Risk Management by 1,000,000 Podcasts

Innovation comes in many areas, and compliance professionals need not only to be ready for it but also to embrace it. Join Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance, as he visits with top innovative minds, thinkers, and creators in the award-winning Innovation in Compliance podcast. In this episode, host Tom Fox visits with Diego Panama, the new CEO of LogicGate. They discuss his career from Microsoft product management to scaling Live Ramp to an IPO, building go-to-market at Olo, and joining LogicGate through a planned CEO transition with co-founder Matt Kunkel. Panama describes his focus on scaling operations while preserving a customer-first, values-driven culture and sharpening the company’s positioning as the leading AI GRC platform for enterprise. The discussion highlights AI’s role in moving GRC from check-the-box defense to real-time, strategic enablement, including holistic risk visibility across silos, third-party risk blind spots, and always-on monitoring. Panama explains LogicGate’s workflow agents and the path toward orchestrated, autonomous GRC, with humans setting risk appetite; emphasizes data access, quality, and governance; and outlines product UX evolution from no-code to prompt-driven configuration. He notes boards’ increased attention to GRC due to AI risks and encourages students and practitioners to stay curious and aligned to business outcomes. Key highlights: Why LogicGate and GRC AI Makes GRC Strategic Holistic Risk and Third Parties Workflow Agents Explained Data Access and Governance Big Tech Lessons on Focus Staying Current in Tech Resources: LogicGate Diego Panama on LinkedIn Innovation in Compliance was recently honored as the Number 4 podcast in Risk Management by 1,000,000 Podcasts

Innovation comes in many areas, and compliance professionals need not only to be ready for it but also to embrace it. Join Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance, as he visits with top innovative minds, thinkers, and creators in the award-winning Innovation in Compliance podcast. In this episode, host Tom Fox visits with Justin Roopnarine, Partner at Limitless Capital. Roopnarine is an engineer whose career has spanned the Air Force, financial engineering, software engineering, and both public- and private-sector problem solving. He brings a practical perspective to evolving compliance and risk management, arguing that organizations need systems that can adapt to changing conditions rather than rely on static checklists or rigid SOPs. Roopnarine believes algorithmic auditing can make compliance more repeatable and effective by using rules, metrics, and programmatic checks to document decisions, monitor thresholds, and quickly identify where breakdowns occur. At the same time, he emphasizes that AI and technology should strengthen human judgment and that financial literacy helps people comply more fully when they understand the reasons behind the rules and the broader goals they support. Key highlights: Living Compliance Framework for Changing Conditions Algorithmic Compliance Checks with Portfolio Exposure Limits FAR North Star of government contracting compliance Consolidated Database Feedback Loop from Lower Ranks Understanding the “why” behind financial rules Resources: Managing Partner: Limitless Capital LP Podcast: Approaching Infinity Website: https://limitlesslp.com/ LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-roopnarine/ YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@approachinginfinityshow Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/32jOxQ8WhZElwk4c3RjkmD Instagram https://www.instagram.com/jrlive7/ TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@approaching_infinity_pod Facebook https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61576572194605 Innovation in Compliance was recently honored as the Number 4 podcast in Risk Management by 1,000,000 Podcasts

Innovation comes in many areas, and compliance professionals need to not only be ready for it but also embrace it. Join Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance, as he visits with top innovative minds, thinkers, and creators in the award-winning Innovation in Compliance podcast. In this episode, host Tom Fox visits with Matt Friedman, who provides a 2026 update to the fight against the international scourge of human trafficking and modern slavery and discusses his latest book, Awakening the Advocate. Friedman is a leading voice in the fight against human trafficking and modern slavery, known for founding and leading the Mekong Club and for more than 35 years of advocacy, policy work, and corporate engagement. He views modern slavery as a vast, still underaddressed crisis, where tens of millions remain trapped while the number of survivors helped and criminals convicted remains far too small to match the scale of the problem. Friedman believes the biggest barrier is not compassion but awareness and that educating employees inside companies can “wake up” lawyers, bankers, marketers, and other professionals who already have the instincts to help. From his perspective, ESG and compliance efforts can protect the business while also driving meaningful anti-slavery action, making corporate compliance a practical engine for both risk reduction and social change. Key highlights: Compliance Evangelists Fighting Modern Slavery Together Leadership Briefings and Procurement Risk Assessments Board-Level Awareness Protects Reputation and Brand Value AI sifting data to uncover scam-center patterns Modern Slavery Risks Make ESG’s Future Uncertain Resources: Matt Friedman on LinkedIn The Mekong Club Awakening the Advocate on Amazon.com Innovation in Compliance was recently honored as the Number 4 podcast in Risk Management by 1,000,000 Podcasts.

Welcome to the award-winning Innovation in Compliance. In this episode, Tom welcomes back Gerry Zack, and they discuss the growing use of AI in compliance and the launch of Eastward AI. Gerry Zack brings a practical, cautionary perspective to AI-powered compliance and risk management, shaped by 18 months of advising organizations on how AI is being used in real compliance programs. He sees AI already embedded in functions like hotline support, policy-to-risk mapping, website scanning, behavioral analytics, transaction monitoring, and even parts of investigations, while warning against overreliance on it in sensitive investigative work. As one of the architects of Eastward AI, he helped evolve the platform from a CSRD and double-materiality tool into a flexible compliance and enterprise risk management solution that supports frameworks such as COSO ERM, DOJ guidelines, ISO 37301, and ISO 31000. Overall, Zack believes the real opportunity lies in reducing organizational paralysis, using AI responsibly, and connecting compliance more closely with HR, IT, and other risk functions to strengthen leadership and decision-making. Resources: Gerry Zack on LinkedIn RiskTrek Eastward AI Tom Fox Instagram Facebook YouTube Twitter LinkedIn