Lester Joseph

Lester Joseph, the President of Joseph AML Consulting LLC since May 2024, is an expert in financial crime and financial regulation. He has experience working in both the public and private sectors. Lester Joseph was a prosecutor for the United States Department of Justice from 1984 to February 2010. From 2002-2010, he was the Principal Deputy Chief of the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section (AFMLS). During his tenure, the Section played a major role in several noteworthy money laundering investigations and prosecutions involving major financial institutions, including Riggs Bank (2005), E-Gold Ltd. (2008), and Credit Suisse (2009), Lloyds TSB Bank PLC (2009), Sigue Corporation (2008), Union Bank of California (2007), American Express Bank International (2007), BankAtlantic (2006), and Banco Popular de Puerto Rico (2003). During this time, he participated in international anti-money laundering initiatives such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), where he served as the Legal FATF examiner during the first Mutual Evaluation of Hong Kong in 1994 and during the first Mutual Evaluation of Austria in 1997. 

In 2010, Lester Joseph joined Wells Fargo and created the Global Financial Crimes Intelligence Group for the purpose of establishing a financial crimes intelligence team that would assist the bank to better address financial crime threats and contribute to the establishment of an effective anti-money laundering (AML) program. The group collected, analyzed, developed and distributed intelligence based on Wells Fargo’s financial transactions and financial investigations databases, combined with political, social and economic information, to identify financial crimes trends and threats, and to assess the relevant risk and impact to Wells Fargo. During his tenure with Wells Fargo, he traveled with his business counterparts to visit foreign financial institution customers and regulators in markets around the globe including the UAE, Turkey, Panama, Bangladesh, Israel, Jordan, Morocco, Colombia, and Indonesia. Lester Joseph retired from Wells Fargo in April 2024.