UMD Justice for Fraud Victims and State’s Attorney Partner to Fight Financial Crime in Frederick

Justice for Fraud Victims at the University of Maryland is collaborating to combat financial crime with the Frederick County State’s Attorney’s Office’s Economic Crimes Unit. The move follows a similar, effective collaboration in Prince George’s County.

"Fraud victims are underserved due to the lack of necessary investigation and resources needed to make a case for prosecution,” said State’s Attorney Charlie Smith, “When a potentially fraudulent financial investigation is submitted to the [UMD] JFV team, the goal is for them to compose a forensically examined accounting report that shows that this is a criminal, and not a civil, case.”

Smith (Finance ’86), as currently the longest-serving State's Attorney in Maryland, returned to his alma mater, the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, on Oct. 15, 2025, to ceremonially launch the partnership with JFV. He addressed the group’s nearly 40 student volunteers and their mentors. 

The principals on hand included Smith School Accounting and Information Assurance Lecturer Samuel Handwerger, CPA, who guides JFV. “The work is a good learning experience for the school’s students. Oversight and mentoring by certified public accountants and other professionals is important so law enforcement can be confident that their findings can be used in court; and this makes this experiential learning opportunity even more powerful,” he said.

These mentors include Francis Liang (Accounting and Finance, ’18), Lisa James, Mike Spolidoro (senior UMD investigator—managing internal investigations and compliance programs) and David Hilton, who teaches forensic accounting as a Smith adjunct professor.

JFV’s services, free of charge, include fraud examinations and reports for cases of embezzlement, payroll fraud, HOA fraud and most other cases of misappropriated assets within small businesses and nonprofits. The group can also trace stolen funds and provide risk assessment evaluations for non-profits and small businesses.

Regarding the new partnership, Jason Shoemaker, chief prosecutor of the economic crimes unit of the Frederick County State's Attorney's Office, said he looks for “JFV to provide expert analysis on the financial histories.” He added, “Whenever we get a case, there's always bank records, tracking money—trying to figure out where it went, what it was spent on. But [local police] detectives are usually under the gun on timelines. So, [JFV] has the resources, wants the experience and is willing to do that work—the heavy lift of our cases.”

And there’s more, Shoemaker said. JFV has demonstrated translating their casework into effective courtroom testimony. “This strengthens our ability to be tougher on the sentencing end and ensure consequences for people who commit this kind of crime. So, when we learned about JFV, we were extremely excited about this dimension.” 

For JFV, State’s Attorney Smith reminded the students that the partnership bolsters their career prospects. “It’s really competitive out there. But you're setting yourselves apart,” he said. Employers in this field especially “give a lot of weight to internships, externships and practical experience,” he added. And being able to recount in a job interview “‘applying communication and analytical skills in solving an embezzlement case’ could net a job offer.”

Smith Professor and Accounting and Information Assurance Department Chair Michael Kimbrough, during the ceremony, reiterated, “Governments are resource-constrained… So, to be able to use the students’ brain power, energy, and dedication—powered by their training in the latest technologies and guided by professionals who generously share their knowledge and expertise as mentors—is a great benefit to the surrounding community and society at large. This is why I believe that [JFV] is a crown jewel for the [accounting and information assurance] department, the Smith school and the university.”

Photos are courtesy of the State's Attorney's Office.