John Roberts is the Managing Director of Ernst & Young LLP’s Forensic & Integrity Services Philadelphia practice. John’s over 37 years of experience as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) includes 12 in “Big 4” forensic accounting and 25 as a Special Agent and Supervisor for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). John leads a team of 28 forensics practitioners who specialize in providing investigative and litigation support, forensic accounting, dispute resolution, regulatory advisory services, and expert witness testimony. The forensics practice John leads focuses on unwinding complex domestic and transnational financial matters, identifying and mitigating potentially illicit activities, and evaluating the current state of his client’s systems of internal and other controls in mitigation of internal and external fraudulent activity. John and his team provide these services across industry lines, for domestic, international, private, and public service clients.

John also leads a sub-practice devoted to providing industry-agnostic, subject matter expertise in holistically assessing the current state of his client’s existing physical security, critical infrastructure, business continuity, executive protection, and crisis management frameworks against the prevailing guidance, industry standards, and leading practices resulting in the development of actionable improvement opportunities to enhance program maturity and its level of compliance. 

John has assembled and led global, multi-disciplinary teams crucial to successful work plan execution; collated and reported findings to key stakeholders, including client and firm executive personnel, general and outside counsels, audit committees, compliance officers, regulatory authorities, SEC and DOJ attorneys, and others. In over his 37 years of professional experience, John has provided direct, rebuttal, and expert witness testimony, on a wide array of highly complex and nationally publicized criminal and civil matters, in multiple jurisdictions to include U.S. District and Magistrate Courts; various State and Commonwealth courts; Federal and State grand juries; arbitration hearings, and other venues/proceedings. Since leaving government service, John is routinely engaged to provide expert witness testimony on a wide variety of matters and venues.

During John’s 25 year with the FBI as a Special Agent and Corruption/White-Collar Crime Squad Supervisor, he led the investigative efforts of 24 FBI direct reports responsible for initiating, evaluating, and investigating complex domestic and international white-collar crimes, internal and external corporate and accounting frauds, illicit insider activity, and other matters of a criminal nature.

John’s experience spans a cross-section of industries, to include pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, financial services, real estate, life sciences, aerospace/defense, higher education, oil and gas/raw mineral exploration and extraction, as well as state, local, and federal governmental operations. 

John is a frequent domestic and international speaker on these and other topics, including developing and presenting the course curriculum for a 40-hour classroom and practical problem seminar on the detection and mitigation of complex financial crimes to senior level investigators and prosecutors from Eastern Europe.