151: Debra LaPrevotte – Kleptocracy, International Corruption, and Recovering Human Remains

Retired agent Debra LaPrevotte served in the FBI for 20 years. She spent most of her career working international corruption investigations. In this episode of FBI Retired Case File Review, Debra reviews the initiation of the FBI’s Kleptocracy program and seizing more than $1 billion from corrupt foreign officials, including the recovering $630 million of Nigerian government funds stolen by General Sani Abacha, former President of Nigeria. Debra, who has a Master’s Degree in Forensic Science, also talks about serving for several years on the Evidence Response Team (ERT) at the Washington Field Office (WFO) and an ERT Unit at the FBI Laboratory and training at the “body farm.”

Later in her career, Debra served as a Supervisory Special Agent in the International Corruption Unit at FBI Headquarters, focusing on investigating greed that fuels war crimes and atrocities. Since retiring from the Bureau, Debra LaPrevotte is a senior investigator with The Sentry, which seeks to disrupt and ultimately dismantle the network of perpetrators, facilitators, and enablers who fund and profit from Africa’s deadliest conflicts. They organization’s motto is “War crimes shouldn’t pay.”

 

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Jerri Williams, a retired FBI agent, author and podcaster, attempts to relive her glory days by writing crime fiction about greed and hosting FBI Retired Case File Review, a true crime/history podcast. Her novels—Pay To Play and Greedy Givers—inspired by actual true crime FBI cases, feature temptation, corruption, and redemption, and are available on Amazon.