With the tabloidsโand mainstream mediaโabuzz over Jeff Bezosโ stolen texts and pictures, Worthย checked in with security consultant Paul Viollis, chief executive officer of Viollis Group International, to see what security issues are top of mind for him. Here are four of them.
MAKING SURE CONTRACTORS ARE VETTED
โPresident Trump is a fan of ICE. He firmly believes in utilizing ICE, and the focus for ICE is going to be immigration in concert with MS 13 gang activity. So affluent families that are building or renovating have to make sure that your contractors, all of them, are vetted. If ICE comes to their job site because they got a tip that MS 13 members are on the job site, everyoneโs liable. It comes down to who knew and should have known.โ
KEEPING THE PATRIOT ACT IN MIND
โThe second thing that everyone in the wealth management world has to be very, very careful of is the redefining of due diligence so as to ensure compliance with the Patriot Act, the post-9/11 law that expanded the surveillance powers of the government.
โSay that you and I are going to get involved in a transaction that involves a company in Dubai. So we check the numbers of the client list in the business plan. We check the financial end of that transaction to make sure thereโs going to be a solid ROI.
โWhat we arenโt doing is checking the sources of the money. There is so much money from ISIS, as well as Mexican cartels, that is being washed, because the humans arenโt being vetted.
โIf you are involved with a company thatโs laundering money for ISIS, the FBI is going to show up at your office with a whole bunch of windbreakersโand if you havenโt at least done the basics, your business is done. But if you have the first line of defense of, โHey, we did vet them,โ at least you did what was reasonable, and thatโs a great defense.โ
SECURING YOUR EMAIL AND CHATS
โLast year my firm handled more extortion cases than everโit was over 50. But with more people traveling outside the country, kidnapping is a great business model. Secure chats and secure email are really to me the same thing. We need to passionately secure our email transmissions and chats. Why did Jeff Bezos not do this? Itโs crazy.โ
VETTING ANY UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL
โIโm apolitical, but the American brand is struggling outside the United States. So international travel must be preemptively vetted,from ground transportation, to the events that people are attending, to where theyโre staying. I have a client whose daughter was going to go to the Dominican Republic with her sorority sisters to stay at a particular location, and that location was well known to local police for complaints by guests about being groped and sexually assaulted by male employees. So vetting the itinerary is critical.
โItโs just smart business. I will have at least two or three parents who ask me to vet something for their kids. I tell the kids not to go there. They do anyway, and then the parents retain me to get their kids back.โ
KEEPING THE PATRIOT ACT IN MIND