Collaboration Across Borders and Sectors, The Evolving Face of Financial Crime in South Africa

Brenton Steenkamp is a senior executive and trusted adviser specialising in cybersecurity risk, digital governance, and regulatory investigations, with deep experience supporting boards, general counsel, regulators, and executive leadership through high-impact incidents relating to cyber and data breaches, and complex integrity investigations. Recognised for translating technical cyber and digital risk into clear legal, regulatory, and commercial outcomes, Brenton operates at the intersection of law, technology, forensics and governance, advising on matters with significant reputational, financial, and enforcement exposure across Australia and international jurisdictions. Brenton previously led EY's Cyber Response and Forensic practice group in the Netherlands. While based in Amsterdam, he worked extensively across Europe and the UKI. Since joining Clayton Utz Australia, in October 2023, Brenton has positioned the firm's cyber and data governance offering with a focus on proactive and reactive cybersecurity and data governance services.

He advises and assists clients across the lifecycle of cyber response and remediation, related compliance programs, through to crisis management and high-stake regulatory investigations. His clients include multinationals and government agencies, whom he has advised on following some of the most significant cybercrime and ransomware attacks across Europe and Africa. This included advising Ireland's Health Executive Services (the largest employer in Ireland) regarding the catastrophic cyberattack that paralysed the Irish Health system in 2021. He has also managed multiple, highly sensitive cybercrime and regulatory investigations on behalf of clients and stakeholders working closely with risk advisors, legal representatives and prosecutors, including working alongside law enforcement agencies in Europe and Africa, as well as cooperating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Brenton previously lead the Western Australian EY's forensic practice in Perth, where he developed and scaled the national EY forensic technology business across Oceania. He has strong leadership and project management capabilities, in addition to building profitable teams. Besides the managerial aspects of the business Brenton has demonstrated his ability to service clients directly as client service delivery partner has aided him in developing a wider global network of diverse professionals and collaborative teams to service the needs of clients. With a personal interest in leadership and the development of the next generation of leaders and has received formal and informal training in this regard. He was a participant in the EY Harvard Leadership Programme and has regularly hosted informal leadership masterminds to input into the next generation of emerging business leaders.

Core Areas of Expertise:

• Cybersecurity & Digital Risk Governance

• Data Breach Response & Crisis Management

• Financial Crime, Fraud & Technology-Enabled Misconduct

• Board & Executive Advisory (Risk, Accountability and Duty)

• Technology, AI & Emerging Digital Risk

• Cross-Border Regulatory & Litigation Strategy Membership and Training:

• Bachelor of Law – University of South Africa

• Post Graduate Dip - Cyber Law, University of Johannesburg

• Diploma – Criminal Justice & Auditing – University of Johannesburg

• Master of Commerce (MCom) - Forensic Accountancy, University of North-West – South Africa

• EY Harvard Leadership Program

• Leadership Program – Transformative Leadership (EY Global - Internal).

• Member of Australian Institute of Company Directors

• Member – ACFE.

Steven Powell is Head of ENS' Forensics practice. He is a renowned specialist white-collar crime prosecutor and forensics lawyer. Steven specialises in leading financial crime investigations that result in successful disciplinary and criminal proceedings as well as the recovery of losses from offenders in both civil and criminal matters.

Steven has been appointed to act for the South African Asset Forfeiture Unit to execute a multitude of restraint and forfeiture orders to recover the proceeds of crime flowing from corporate fraud, drug and abalone smuggling. He has performed investigations in, amongst others, the financial, oil and gas, mining, insurance and retail sectors in multiple jurisdictions in Africa.

Steven’s experience also includes anti-fraud and corruption matters and assisting clients to meet the anti-corruption compliance requirements in the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the UK Bribery Act, as well as the South African Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act. Steven also assists clients with anti-fraud and anti-bribery risk assessments, training, due diligence and compliance programmes. Steven has been commended for his contribution to the work of the judicial enquiry into State Capture led by Judge Raymond Zondo in South Africa.

Steven was recognised as the Financial Crime Investigator of the year for 2022 by the International Association of Financial Crime Investigators (IAFCI) at their annual award ceremony in Washington DC.

Steven is also frequently invited to present on white-collar crime, fraud and corruption issues throughout Africa and lectures on these topics at the local universities.

Steven is recognised as a leading/recommended lawyer by:

• Chambers Global Guide 2026, 2025, 2024, 2023, 2016 – Corporate Investigations (South Africa)
• Best Lawyers® 2016 to 2023 – Criminal Defence (South Africa)
• ACFE SA Awards 2016 – Contribution to the Anti-Fraud Profession in South Africa (Advocacy) of the Year Award
• SACA – Southern Africa Compliance Awards – Best Regulatory Lawyer of the year, 2014

Sharon Knowles is a cybersecurity and financial crime investigator specialising in cybercrime, digital investigations, and economic crime analysis. She is a Certified Cybercrime Investigator, Certified Cybercrime Intelligence Analyst, Certified Financial Crimes Investigator, Certified Cryptocurrency Investigator, and a Certified Economic Crime Forensic Examiner. Her work focuses on uncovering complex digital fraud, analysing financial crime networks, and supporting organisations and victims affected by cyber-enabled crime.

As the founder of Da Vinci Cybersecurity, Sharon leads a South African-based firm that delivers advanced cybersecurity and investigative services, including penetration testing, dark web monitoring, incident response, and intelligence-led digital investigations. The company works with businesses, legal teams, and individuals to identify vulnerabilities, investigate cyber incidents, and strengthen overall cyber resilience. Through a combination of technical capability and investigative depth, Da Vinci Cybersecurity positions itself as both a defensive and investigative partner in the fight against cybercrime.

With extensive experience in digital investigations and intelligence analysis, Sharon operates at the intersection of technology, finance, and criminal behaviour. Her work spans business email compromise, cryptocurrency tracing, online fraud, and broader cyber-enabled financial crime. She applies open-source intelligence techniques alongside financial analysis to identify threat actors, map criminal networks, and support evidential processes for legal and regulatory matters.

Sharon holds an Executive MBA and a Master’s degree in Digital Business, providing her with a strong strategic perspective on how technology, governance, and risk intersect within modern organisations. This enables her to advise boards, executives, and investigators on cyber risk, digital trust, and financial crime prevention in a rapidly evolving threat landscape.

At the IAFCI 2026 Summit, Sharon brings a practical, investigative lens grounded in real South African and cross-border cases. Her contribution will focus on how investigators can combine OSINT, digital forensics, and financial intelligence to uncover hidden networks and accelerate case outcomes. She will share actionable frameworks for tracing funds, identifying coordinated activity, and strengthening evidential chains for prosecution. Delegates can expect clear, experience-based insights on bridging the gap between technical investigation and legal admissibility, as well as building collaborative approaches across law enforcement, private sector investigators, and financial institutions.

BLC; LLB; LLM (Procedural Law & Law of Evidence) (cum laude); LLM (Labour Law); LLM (Commercial Law); LLD (Criminal Law); Diploma in Forensic Accounting; Advanced Diploma in Alternative Dispute Resolution (cum laude). Llewelyn Curlewis is a senior-lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria and lectures at various other public and private tertiary institutions, institutes of law and many other law schools in SA and abroad. He is a former prosecutor and advocate. Currently, he is an attorney, notary public and appraiser. Dr Curlewis is a senior-trial lawyer in full-time practice and was involved in many high-profile court cases. He has been in legal practice for more than 30 years. He worked as senior associate at Rooth & Wessels Attorneys Inc. and was the managing director of his own firm, Pieterse & Curlewis Attorneys Inc. He is currently Senior Consultant at 3 other law firms.

Dr Curlewis specialises in Criminal Law, Procedural Law, Disciplinary Law, Labour Law and Trial Advocacy. In addition, he lectures at various Bars for aspirant advocates and is a member of the Silk-committees of the Gauteng Society of Advocates and the South African National Legal Practice Council (“LPC”). Dr Curlewis has served and continues to serve on numerous committees, councils and boards within the legal profession and educational sphere in various capacities. Dr Curlewis currently serves as the Deputy-Chairperson of the National LPC and previously served as DeputyChairperson of the Provincial LPC, Chairperson of the Pretoria Attorneys Association, Chairperson of the Gauteng Attorneys Association, President of the Law Society of the Northern Provinces and Councillor of the Law Society of South Africa, to name but a few. He is lifelong honorary member of the PAA, as well as the SA Institute for Valuers. He is a well-known speaker on numerous radio stations and a familiar face on many television channels both in the RSA and abroad. In addition, he is a recipient of numerous prestigious awards for his work, not even to mention his sport achievements.

Dr Curlewis is an author of a myriad of law textbooks and law articles in local and international journals/magazines. In summary, he represented the legal profession on a global-scale and participated in hundreds of local and international conferences as key-note speaker. He most recently presented a paper at the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime. He is one of very few South Africans on the panel of defence counsel of the International Criminal Court in The Hague (Netherlands) and has been appointed as an Acting Judge of the High Court of South Africa, Gauteng Division on numerous occasions.

Mrs Nicolene Schoeman–Louw founded SchoemanLaw Inc. in 2007 and is now the Managing Director of the

firm. She is an admitted Attorney of the High Court of South Africa, Conveyancer, Notary Public and Mediator

with a passion for entrepreneurs and helping them reach their most ambitious goals. In addition to her legal

and entrepreneurial background, she is an internationally accredited Legal Project Practitioner and Accredited

Trainer, and an accredited Extended DISC consultant.

She obtained her LLB degree cum laude and completed her LLM degree (dissertation) in commercial law and

B-BBEE, both at the University of the Free State. In addition, she obtained her postgraduate diploma in

financial planning (CFP) at the University of Stellenbosch.

An abstract of her LLM dissertation was published in the Journal for Estate Planning in 2006. Now, she

regularly writes for academic publications such as De Rebus (the SA attorneys’ journal) as well as Without

Prejudice and Polity.org (legal briefs). She also regularly contributes to various online publications such as

Spice4Life and other mainstream publications such as The Entrepreneur Magazine, Business Briefs and

Personal Finance Magazine (to name a few).

For over seven years, she presented The Law Report with Karen Key on SAFM until the show was cancelled.

She currently shares her knowledge regularly on Radio 786, RSG, and other radio stations.

Nicolene lectured at the University of the Free State during her studies, currently guest lectures

at Stellenbosch Business School, and presents seminars and workshops on a wide range of legal topics for

various organisations such as Bandwidth Barn, UnitedSucces, Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and

the Business, Retail, and Marketing Indabas, to name a few.

During her studies, Nicolene has won a number of prestigious awards for her academic

achievements:

• 2012: Finalist in the Professional Category of the Regional Business Achievers’ Awards (RBAA) –

Western Cape

• 2013: Finalist as CEO magazine’s Most Influential Women in Government and Business Africa

• 2019: Second Runner-up WOZA Women in Law Awards Corporate Attorney (Practicing)

• 2019: Finalist Standard Bank Topwomen Awards Top Young Achiever Under 40

• 2020: Finalist Accenture Rising Star Awards Entrepreneur Category

• 2022: First Runner-up WOZA Women in Law Awards Best in Corporate Law (Practicing)

• 2023: Winner Legal Personality of the Year 2023 FFI-MEA 3rd Anniversary Award

• 2023: Winner Female Founder Star of the Year 2023 FFI-MEA 3rd Anniversary Awards

• 2025: Runner-up Entrepreneur Category Phenomenal Women in the Winelands Awards

Nicolene has enjoyed the confidence of many successful entrepreneurs (both locally and

abroad) over the years and continues to do so. She has been an integral part of clients expanding their

operations into or outside of South Africa, often working as part of a larger multi-disciplinary team or

leading it as project manager. Her work has included advisory work in cross-border expansions and

assisting clients in local and international mergers and acquisitions. As a trusted advisor and

seasoned mentor, she helps people align their marketing message (promise) to all legal documents.

This helps create credibility and, ultimately, trust – key ingredients in building a successful business.

She has actively contributed to the successes of many businesses and helped and continues to help

many entrepreneurs build lasting legacies.

Craig du Plooy is a seasoned cybersecurity and digital forensics specialist with over 20 years of experience across both the private and public sectors. He serves as Director at Cysec (Pty) Ltd, where he leads operations focused on digital forensics, cybersecurity, and governance.

Craig holds a Bachelor of Commerce Honours degree in Information Systems and Forensics from the University of Cape Town and is an Associate Certified Chief Information Security Officer (C|CISO). He is also an ISO 27001:2022 Lead Implementer and holds numerous advanced certifications in computer and mobile forensics, cybersecurity, and investigative technologies.

Over the course of his career, Craig has built and implemented information security management frameworks for some of Africa’s largest organisations. His expertise spans digital forensics, penetration testing, vulnerability assessments, ISO 27001 and NIST gap analyses, disaster recovery, and corporate governance. He has worked extensively across industries including financial services, oil and gas, retail, mining, and manufacturing.

Craig has also played a key role in regulatory and compliance initiatives, assisting organisations with frameworks such as POPIA, GDPR, COBIT, FFIEC, and ISO standards. In addition to his consulting work, he frequently fulfils CISO roles for clients, providing strategic cybersecurity leadership.

A respected educator and trainer, Craig has trained more than 200 forensic practitioners from the South African Police Service and corporate sectors across Southern Africa. He is an accredited trainer in multiple forensic platforms and regularly lectures on cybersecurity, digital forensics, cryptocurrency investigations, and social media intelligence, including engagements with the University of Florida and the University of Cape Town.

Craig has extensive investigative experience, having worked with organisations such as PwC, the South African Police Service, and various government departments. He has provided expert witness testimony in court for institutions including the South African Banking Risk Intelligence Centre (SABRIC), the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI).

He is a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners and the International Association of Financial Crime Investigators, reflecting his ongoing commitment to combating cybercrime and financial fraud at the highest level.

Award winning performance development specialist, Nasreen is a dedicated occupational therapist with a BSc Honours degree along with a Diploma in Education. Nasreen brings 18 years of experience in providing effective solutions to the corporate world when employees find themselves facing challenges to their health which impedes their performance. Her focus on prevention has enabled leadership with effective solutions to optimal employee performance and employee support. As a strong advocate for mental health, Nasreen provides organisations with Emotional Intelligence (EQ) workshops and is regularly featured on media platforms such as SABC TV, ETV as well as radio including KFM, GHFM, and Metro FM.

Nasreen's enhancement of mental health, productivity and performance interventions provides holistic support for individuals nationally and internationally to achieve their greatest potential in work, life, and personal development.

Her mission is driven by a relentless passion to empower others, helping them reach their unique maximum level of function and performance.

Jolene Visser is a Chartered Accountant (SA) and forensic accounting specialist with over 16 years of experience in complex financial investigations, commercial insurance claims, and fraud-related loss quantification across South Africa and broader African markets.

She began her career at a Big Four accounting firm, gaining experience locally and internationally across both audit and forensic services. She later joined an international loss-adjusting firm, where she specialised in commercial insurance, working on high-value and complex business interruption losses across multiple industries.

Jolene is the founder and director of Forensure, a specialist forensic accounting and loss adjusting firm established in 2025. A Chartered Accountant (SAICA) with a Bachelor’s degree in Law, she brings a multidisciplinary perspective to complex financial matters. Under her leadership, the firm focuses on complex, high-value matters involving fraud, financial misrepresentation, business interruption losses, and dispute-related quantum assessments.

She works closely with insurers, legal professionals, and corporates, often in litigation and dispute environments where financial records are incomplete, inconsistent, or deliberately manipulated. She has delivered expert testimony as a forensic accountant in complex matters before the High Court of South Africa.

Her work spans financial crime, insurance, and commercial disputes, and she is frequently engaged to analyse financial evidence in specific scenarios, reconstruct financial positions, assess the impact of economic realities on profit, and quantify losses in matters where documentation is incomplete, manipulated, or deliberately misleading. Her investigations often uncover indicators of fraud embedded in operational data, financial records, and transactional behaviour.

Jolene is widely regarded by industry professionals for her technical expertise, professionalism, and ability to navigate complex, high-value claims. She is particularly recognised for her ability to translate complex financial and transactional data into clear, defensible insights that support legal proceedings, insurance determinations, and dispute resolution.

She is a Licentiate of the Institute of Loss Adjusters of Southern Africa (ILASA) and serves on the ILASA regional committee, contributing to the development and advancement of the loss adjusting profession. She is also a member of the Institute of Commercial Forensic Practitioners (ICFP) and the Insurance Institute of South Africa (IISA), and is actively involved in initiatives aimed at strengthening fraud detection, claims integrity, and professional standards within the insurance and forensic sectors.

Jolene has presented at industry conferences, including the ILASA Conference, as well as professional platforms such as the SAICA Tech Talk Series, and contributes to published industry discussions on business interruption, insurance-related financial risk, and forensic accounting practices. She is a strong advocate for proactive fraud detection, emphasising the use of data analytics and behavioural indicators to identify irregularities before they escalate into significant losses.She values collaborative stakeholder engagement, built on trust, clear communication, and efficiency, particularly in high-pressure and sensitive environments.

At IAFCI 2026, Jolene brings a private-sector forensic perspective to financial crime, highlighting how fraud manifests within commercial transactions, insurance claims, and everyday business operations, often in ways that fall outside traditional law enforcement visibility, yet have significant financial and economic impact.