On June 23, 2010, Mr. Thomas Borgers received the 2009-2010 ACFE DC Examiner of the Year Award.  The citation was read by Mr. Victor Cunicelli:

Mr. Thomas Borgers is the ACFE DC Examiner of the Year Award recipient.  He is so honored for his selfless and tireless service to the United States people through his position at the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC).  Briefly, Mr. Borgers has largely neglected his personal company (The Felsen Network) to work for the FCIC at great personal expense and sacrifice.  He has been working in the DC area for the last 7-8 months.  His wife and son are in the New York area where Mr. Borgers is an active member of the local ACFE Chapter.  He consistently recruits and makes presentations at the Chapter -- often paying all expenses. 

On the FCIC staff, Mr. Borgers has used the tremendous network of connections he has built up as an active Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) to the benefit of the FCIC staff.  The FCIC has directly benefited by Mr. Borgers extensive expertise in banking, financial investigations, expertise in whistleblower complaints and exceptional document review skills.  Though 60 years of age, Mr. Borgers consistently works 70+ hour work weeks, commuting back to the New York area on weekends.  His sacrifices of his own personal time, money, and expertise for the benefit of the American people are to be admired.  I would say without hesitation he is the single-most effective and productive investigator on the FCIC staff.  Without his efforts, several featured panelists on televised hearings would not have been located and an untold number of salient documents would never have been discovered in the tidal wave of discovery materials the FCIC has received.  Mr. Borgers dogged pursuit of evidence has earned him the moniker "The Bloodhound" from management.

I cannot express in words all the acts of kindness, professionalism, and mentorship Mr. Borgers has demonstrated during his short tenure on the FCIC staff.  I am pleased the Washington Chapter has recognized Mr. Borgers for his service to the American people and his exemplification of the best values of the ACFE.

I would add that Mr. Borgers wrote an article in the ACFE Fraud Magazine entitled,  Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission is Biggest Financial Investigation Since 1930s’ Pecora Commission.  In the article, he put the Financial Crisis in historical perspective by reminding readers of the Pecora Commission of the 1930’s.  He detailed the daunting task before the Commission by enumerating the 22 potential causes of the crisis to be investigated and reported upon by December 2010.  Lastly, and most importantly, he wrote in conclusion:  The FCIC leaders will need a tremendous amount of purpose, integrity, talent, skill, expertise, administration, and people skills to manage the investigative and legal activities. I encourage CFEs to follow the progress of the FCIC and support its efforts. If it meets its major goals, the commission’s final report should demonstrate that fraud and other related wrongdo ings were the cornerstones for this domestic and international crisis. The ACFE will play an important role in the continued investi gation, recovery activities, and, of course, detection and prevention so that this crisis won’t be repeated in future generations.

Lastly, Mr. Borgers offered the services of his company to find an proffer between 20-30 CFEs to the Commission as employees.  He interviewed hundreds to arrive at the several dozen he proffered.  One of Tom’s nominees was selected as the Commissions Chief Investigator.  But the Commission had seen and heard enough of Tom that they offered him a position as well.  In the spirit of service which so pervades everything he does, Tom took the position and has provided the purpose, integrity, talent, skill, expertise and people skills he presciently predicted the Commission would need.

Please join me in recognizing Mr. Thomas Borgers.