MSA Investigations | News & Events

Cyber Security and Countering Corporate Espionage Symposium

 May 1, 2014 8:30 AM – 2:00 PM

New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT)

Campus Center, Ballroom A

MSA and the BEOC Alliance are hosting a free symposium to provide participants with pragmatic strategies, solutions and a way forward to more secure business practices.

Click here to register for this event. Participation is limited to the first 150 respondents.

Brian Finch, Fox Business Contributor and the head of Dickstein Shapiro LLP’s Global Security Practice, will bring his unique insights on cyber security strategies and the impact new regulations will have on programs over the next several years. His address will truly get participants thinking strategically in terms of a holistic approach to defending itself. 

Join experts from various disciplines including cyber security, technical  security (surveillance) counter-measures (TSCM), cyber security legislation and liability to discuss emerging trends in their fields:

  • Insight on Cyber Security Strategies - Keynote Address by Brian Finch
  • MSA Investigations’ blueprint for conducting Security Vulnerability Assessments and Penetration Testing - Andrew Donofrio
  • A look at the modern equipment and methodologies used during onsite TSCM inspections - San Panchal
  • Overview of the programs the BEOC Alliance are developing - Doctor Chumer

Our subject matter experts will participate in a scenario based discussion revolving around a cyber-attack on a critical infrastructure or key resource. This panel discussion will be moderated by Henry Straub of the BEOC Alliance. 

MSA Systems Integration will demonstrate the latest versions of access control, intrusion detection and technical surveillance counter-measures systems. For more information on MSASI, please visit http://www.msasi.net.

Click here for driving and public transportation directions to NJIT. Visitor Parking at NJIT is available in the NJIT Parking Deck, located near the corner of Warren and Summit streets with access from Colden Street.    

Click here to register for this event. Participation is limited to the first 150 respondents.

If you have any questions, please contact Lori Hickey at lhickey@msasecurity.net or 212-509-1336 x362.


WealthGuard and MSA Investigations Announce Partnership

San Francisco, California (PRWEB) February 25, 2014

In a joint statement, WealthGuard, Inc. and MSA Investigations announced today that the two firms are partnering in an effort to provide investors the most thorough, detailed due diligence and background information for WealthGuard's current and prospective financial advisors. Citing mutually beneficial business interests, WealthGuard CEO Roger Gershman believes the partnership with MSA Investigations is a step forward in his company’s goal of creating transparency in wealth management. “MSAI’s credentials speak for themselves and the experience they bring to the table allows us to offer their un-matched due diligence to our clients with regard to seriously vetting their financial advisors – to really know who is managing their wealth.”

Based in New York City, MSA Investigations (“MSAI”) is a multidisciplinary firm that delivers comprehensive solutions to clients in multiple practice areas, including investigative due diligence, litigation support, digital forensics, online crisis communications (including reputation management and social media monitoring), and court-appointed monitorships.

MSAI is led by former FBI agent Neil Moran as well as professionals with diverse backgrounds and significant experience conducting in-depth analytical research with a global reach. “We at MSA Investigations are excited to have formed a strategic partnership with WealthGuard. We look forward to exploring new opportunities and providing clients with a unique product that will reflect our combined expertise in investigative due diligence and wealth management protection,” said Neil Moran.

MSAI conducts sophisticated investigations for a broad array of clients, including prominent law firms, real estate groups, insurance companies, hedge funds and financial institutions. MSAI works closely with each client, customizing offerings to meet client needs. MSAI’s professionals and international network of partners have previously worked in the , sports, technology, investigative, financial, communications, and public accounting industries, enabling MSAI to bring a unique approach to each engagement.

“[MSAI] has a great track record working with high net-worth individuals and large organizations, and because of the close ties between those groups and the financial industry, we are confident that our clients will obtain the best possible due diligence available right now,” added WealthGuard CEO Roger Gershman, “it was a clear fit.”

About WealthGuard, Inc.:

WealthGuard, Inc. helps individual investors make better-informed decisions about the financial guidance they receive through unbiased transparent analysis of their advisors’ performance, commissions/fees, and solicited products. They serve only the best interests of clients, not advisors, banks or brokerage firms. Transparency in wealth management is more than their slogan—it’s the way they do business.

To find WealthGuard:

Web: http://www.wealthguardinc.com
Phone: 888-802-3935
Twitter: @WealthGuardInc
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/WealthguardInc

To find MSA Investigations:

Web: http://www.msainvestigations.com/
Phone: 212-480-4050
Email: info@msainvestigations.com
Twitter: @MSAInvestigator


MCCA to Host Customer Data Theft Prevention Summit Event - Aims to Bring Businesses and Experts Together to Strengthen Boston’s Data Security - MSAI's Andrew Donofrio to Give Keynote Address

January 29, 2014

BOSTON – The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority will host a Customer Data Theft Prevention Summit on March 5 at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center to discuss current trends affecting businesses’ efforts to protect their customers’ credit cards and data. This unique event – which will include officials from the state Attorney General’s Office, the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, the Boston Police Department, the U.S. Secret Service, as well as experts within the payment card industry ‐ is aimed at creating a free, inclusive forum to discuss and inform how local businesses and others can best comply with existing laws and regulations while keeping customer information secure.

Andrew Donofrio, Director of Cyber Security and Digital Forensics for MSA Investigations, will give the keynote address followed by two moderated panel discussions, one with leading experts from the payment industry and the other panel dealing with security and compliance.

MCCA Image resized 600The summit is being produced by the MCCA with a focus on local partners ‐ especially in the hospitality, retail and restaurant industries throughout the city ‐ who welcome the more than one million delegates to conventions and conferences each year, as well as tourists and local patrons. Attendees will receive up‐todate information on this growing threat, which impacted the MCCA last year when nearly 300 conventioneers had their data compromised at local bars and restaurants. Investigations into that breach are ongoing.

The event will also focus on recent large data breaches at retail stores which are believed to have compromised millions of credit or debit cards over the holidays. “While this isn’t a problem unique to Boston, we know firsthand the trials of dealing with a data security breach and the many unknowns businesses face in both protecting and warning customers,” said James E. Rooney, MCCA Executive Director. “This summit is intended to gather several key experts in one room with Boston business leaders and others to get the latest information to protect ourselves and our customers, now and in the future. If we take personal data from our customers, we have an obligation to protect that data, but the cyber thieves seem to be staying one step ahead.”

Topics to be discussed include:

  • Trends and current activities, such as the prevalence of credit card fraud and how criminals are operating.
  • What is happening in Boston and Massachusetts?
  • Are there developing gaps and exposures that need to be addressed by businesses?
  • What business or customer types are most targeted for fraud and theft?
  • Business obligations and how you can protect your customers’ information.
  • The future and how technology can be applied to provide greater protection.

The Customer Data Theft Prevention Summit will be held at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, March 5 in Room 205 at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, 415 Summer Street, Boston, MA. Parking will be available and the full program scheduled to last until noon. Registration is required at https://customerdatatheftpreventionsummit.eventbrite.com.


WealthGuard, Inc. Announces Addition of MSA Investigations Vice President Neil Moran to Founders’ Circle

San Francisco, California (PRWEB) January 23, 2014

WealthGuard, Inc. – an independent consultancy that helps individual investors make better-informed decisions about the financial guidance they receive through unbiased analysis of advisors’ performance, commissions, fees, and solicited products – has added F.B.I. veteran Neil Moran into the fold as a member of its Founders Circle.

"Our success is guided by solid, qualified input from our advisers. We are so honored to have Neil join this list of notable contributors.” WealthGuard founder and CEO, Roger Gershman.

As Vice President at MSA Investigations, Neil Moran oversees all of MSAI’s investigative services. Mr. Moran has over forty years of investigative experience in the private sector and with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and is a Certified Fraud Examiner. Prior to joining MSA Investigations, Moran worked for the international accounting firm BDO USA, LLP. As a Managing Director in BDO’s Litigation and Fraud Investigation Practice, he oversaw and participated in a number of investigations involving misappropriations of funds, bank fraud and money laundering. Mr. Moran managed various internal investigations related to large-scale corporate fraud and also administered BDO’s Investigative Due Diligence practice. Mr. Moran’s decades of service and expertise in investigation is expected to strengthen WealthGuard’s practice of due diligence of financial advisors for its clients.

describe the image"Having Neil on our Founders' Circle will bring an amazing boost to our company and clients," said WealthGuard founder and CEO, Roger Gershman. "Our success is guided by solid, qualified input from our advisers. We are so honored to have Neil join this list of notable contributors.”

Mr. Moran spent the first three decades of his career working in the FBI’s New York field office, where he investigated violations of various federal statutes, which included violent crimes, organized crime, terrorist groups and insurance fraud. Mr. Moran participated in a number of the FBI’s most prominent criminal investigations. These include the 1975 LaGuardia Airport Christmas Bombing, the Lufthansa Robbery at John F. Kennedy Airport, the U.S. Department of Justice civil rights investigation into the murder of an Australian rabbinical student in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and the investigation of TWA Flight 800. Acting as an undercover agent in what was at that time the most successful automobile insurance fraud investigation in U.S. history, Mr. Moran helped garner the convictions of 122 people.

For his service, Mr. Moran received the FBI Shield of Bravery and the FBI Star, in connection with his actions and serious injuries he sustained during a joint FBI/NYPD investigation of a violent truck-hijacking ring. Moran retired from the FBI as a Supervisory Special Agent and was responsible for the New York Office’s undercover and sensitive operations program.

Mr. Moran received a B.A. from Niagara University and he is an Associate Member of the American Bar Association, the FBI Agents Association, the St. John’s University Advisory Council, the NYPD Honor Legion and the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI. He is also a former adjunct professor at St. John’s University in the College of Professional and Legal Studies.

“We at MSA Investigations are excited to have formed a strategic partnership with WealthGuard,” said Mr. Moran regarding the partnership between MSA Investigations and WealthGuard, Inc. “We look forward to exploring new opportunities and providing clients with a unique product that will reflect our combined expertise in investigative due diligence and wealth management protection. To be included in the WealthGuard Founder’s Circle among so many notable industry leaders is indeed an honor.”

The WealthGuard Founders Circle is a group of leaders from numerous industries who bring their respective experience and influence to the direction and growth of WealthGuard, Inc. In addition to Moran, the WealthGuard Founders Circle includes Ben Stuart, who previously was Director of U.S. Advertising & Global Agency Relations at American Express and is now a leading marketing executive in financial services and Chief Marketing Officer for SureScripts, LLC. The WealthGuard Founders Circle also includes Benette Zivley, an attorney and former Texas Securities Commissioner; Barry S. Baer, a full-time financial management operator and consultant and Chief Financial Officer; Douglas H. Dolton, an experienced entrepreneur and consumer financial services industry CEO; Michael Mattson, the head of gift planning at Syracuse University; and John Luongo, a tech industry veteran and former Senior Vice President at Oracle.


MSA Investigations and its team of experts and services have been cited in the following publications:

IPPRO  Domain Man: Taking on the Websites

In this article about Intellectual Property (IP) investigations, featuring MSA Investigations Frank Sinacori and Andrew Donofrio, IP experts discuss different avenues open to brand owners wanting to reduce the amount of fakes that are available online.


MSAI's Director of Digital Forensics and IT Network Security to Present at Cyber Security Symposium

November 2012
New York City

Andrew Donofrio, Director of Digital Forensics and IT Network Security has been asked to speak at the Raritan Valley Community College "Cyber Security: The Next Frontier" symposium on January 15, 2013. The event will discuss new developments in cyber security and present effective stratgies for companies and organizations to protect their technology infrastructure and online information.

Mr. Donofrio is on one of three panels of experts and will discuss best practices for small, medium and large companies to bolster their cyber security defenses.  As the head of MSA Investigations' Digital Forensics, e-Discovery and Cyber Security practices, Mr. Donofrio was selected for his knowledge and expertise concerning the challenges organizations face when fighting cyber-crime. 


Andrew Donofrio Joins MSAI as Director of  Digial Forensics IT Network Security

September 2012
New York City

MSA Investigations is pleased to announce that Andrew W. Donofrio has joined the company as a Director of IT Network Security. In this role, Mr. Donofrio will direct and manage all of MSA Investigations' efforts in the area of IT Network Security.

Mr. Donofrio has over 25 years of experience with the Bergen County, New Jersey Prosecutor's Office, where he rose to the rank of Detective Lieutenant. During his tenure with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, Mr. Donofrio was responsible for the development of a digital forensics laboratory, where he oversaw a 35-member Computer Crimes Task Force. Mr. Donofrio is a respected educator in the field of computer security, where he has provided instruction to police officers on the procedures for securing an electronic crime scene, and at seminars where he has presented to parents and educators on Internet safety for children. Mr. Donofrio has conducted over 1,000 forensic examinations of digital evidence, and has also qualified as a court appointed forensic expert in New Jersey Superior Court and United States District Court.

Mr. Donofrio's Biography


Frank Sinacori Joins MSAI as Manager of Executive Protection and Investigations

June 2012
New York City

MSA Investigations is pleased to announce that Frank Sinacori has joined the company as Manager of Executive Protection and Investigations. In this role, Mr. Sinacori will oversee and direct all of MSA Investigations'executive protection assignments and also play a vital role in the investigative program.

Mr. Sinacori has over 25 years of experience with the New York Police Department (NYPD) and private industry.  While a member of the NYPD, Mr. Sinacori achieved the rank of Detective Second Grade Investigator.  As a member of the elite Highway District Accident Investigation Squad, Mr. Sinacori was responsible for conducting investigations of vehicle accidents city-wide, involving death and serious physical injury. In addition, Mr. Sinacori provided dignitary protection and engaged in high profile protection assignments, which included the annual United Nations General Assembly, presidential visits of George H. Bush and William J. Clinton, as well as the 1995 visit of Pope John Paul II to New York City.

Mr. Sinacori's Biography 


Neil Moran Joins MSAI as Director of Due Diligence and Background Screening

November 2011
New York City

MSA Investigations is pleased to announce that Neil Moran has joined the company as the Director of Due Diligence and Background Screening. In this role, Mr. Moran will oversee and direct all of MSA’s Investigative Due Diligence, International Due Diligence and Background Screening services.

Mr. Moran has over 40 years of experience in the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and private industry. Most recently, Mr. Moran was a Managing Director at an international accounting firm, where he managed the firm’s Investigative Due Diligence practice and also oversaw investigations concerning the misappropriation of funds, money laundering, bank fraud, securities fraud, employee misconduct and corporate internal investigations. 

Mr. Moran participated in a number of the FBI’s most prominent criminal investigations. These included the LaGuardia Airport Bombing, the Lufthansa Robbery at John F. Kennedy Airport and the investigation of TWA Flight 800. Mr. Moran acted as an undercover agent, in what was at the time, the most successful automobile insurance fraud investigation in U.S. history, resulting in the convictions of 122 people.

The Director of the FBI awarded Mr. Moran the FBI Shield of Bravery and the FBI Star for serious injuries he sustained while making an arrest, during a joint NYPD/FBI investigation of a violent truck-hijacking ring.

Mr. Moran's Biography


MSAI to Conduct Background Screening for 9/11 Memorial

September 2011
New York City

New York City based MSA Investigations was recently awarded a contract by the The National 9/11 Memorial and Museum to provide high quality background screening services. MSA Investigations will conduct extensive background investigations on candidates who apply to either work or volunteer at the 9/11 Memorial or the Museum. The 9/11 Memorial opened this past September 11th and the 9/11 Museum is scheduled to open on September 11th, 2012.

Located on Murray Street, in New York City, just a few blocks from the World Trade Center site. As MSA Investigations is extremely honored and proud to be rendering our high quality background screening services to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum.