Master the
HTF™
Methodology.

The Threat Finance Academy (TFA) trains financial crime investigators to think like intelligence analysts — mapping criminal networks, disrupting threat actors, and producing outputs that generate real law enforcement value.

Browse All Courses Our Mission
The Problem
$200B
Annual global AML spend, <1% recovery
85–95%
Industry false positive rate
1–2%
ROI on disrupting financial crime
LAYERING INTEGRATION SUSTAINMENT REVENUE GENERATION PLACEMENT

Master the Methodology. Disrupt Global Financial Crime.

Who It's For

Built for every level
of the financial crime professional.

Whether you're an individual investigator, an enterprise compliance team, or a public sector financial crime unit — TFA has a program designed for your context.

Individual Professionals
Stay relevant and upgrade your skill level to meet new challenges in fighting financial crime. Show compliance effectiveness and increase your value to the organization. From entry-level up to experienced compliance professional.
Earn certification and advance your professional standing on your own timeline with HTF™-grounded training.
Financial Institutions
Upskill AML teams, compliance officers, SIU investigators, and fraud analysts with intelligence-grade tradecraft. White-label options available for enterprise rollout at scale.
Instructor-Led Training Available
Public Sector & Law Enforcement
Equip FIU investigators and financial crime units with the same tools used by elite practitioners. Flexible group licensing and ILT delivery available for agencies of all sizes.
How We Teach

Practical tradecraft,
delivered three ways.

From self-paced online modules to live in-person instruction, TFA meets your team wherever you are.

Async · Self-Paced
Online Courses
On-demand, self-paced online training courses, globally applicable, that fit your schedule and requirements. Learn from experienced instructors, compliance practitioners, and university professors with experience in fighting financial crime.
Live · Facilitated
Webinars & Exercises
Join us for live sessions and webinars, where we walk through case studies and discuss latest regulatory changes, expectations, and developments.
Hands-On · On-Site
In-Person Training
Tailored instruction delivered by our experienced teachers and instructors, delivered at your institution, a neutral venue, or via video conferencing.
Keystone Courses

Start your HTF™
journey today.

Contact for Full Catalog →
★ Keystone · Start Here
HTF-Intro: Foundations of Hybrid Threat Finance™
⏱ 3–4 hours 💻 On-demand
Your entry point into the HTF™ methodology. Build the foundational understanding of the five-stage criminal lifecycle, actor-centric intelligence, threat finance networks, and how the HTF™ framework differs fundamentally from traditional AML compliance thinking.
You Will Learn To
  • Apply the 5-stage HTF™ criminal lifecycle model
  • Distinguish actor-centric from transaction-centric investigation
  • Identify criminal roles and network structures
$350introductory / $500 standard
Enroll Now
Keystone · Course 2
Alert Review Investigations
⏱ 6–8 hours 💻 On-demand
The Alert Review course is designed to enhance the analyst's skills to triage alerts by applying the concepts of the Hybrid Threat Finance methodology. Analyze the CORE-4 and build a profile of the transaction pattern and involved parties.
You Will Learn To
  • Review and disposition alerts
  • Apply hands-on exercises to build skills through example alerts
  • Build referral-grade case files
$500
Enroll Now
Keystone · Course 3
Financial Investigations: From Transactions to Targeting Packages
⏱ 6–8 hours 💻 On-demand
Move beyond alert disposition. Learn to construct actor-centric cases, map criminal networks, identify threat roles, and build targeting packages that support real enforcement action and produce law enforcement-grade outputs.
You Will Learn To
  • Construct actor-centric investigation packages
  • Map criminal network structures and roles
  • Build targeting packages for enforcement referral
$500
Enroll Now
Student Journey

Your path to
HTF™ Certification.

Complete four Keystone courses to earn the HTF Certification — Section 2's mark of intelligence-grade Anti-Financial Crime (AFC) competency.

1
HTF-Intro
$350 intro / $500
2
Alert Review
$500
3
Investigations
$500
4
SAR/STR Writing
$500
✓
HTF Certified
4 courses complete
College-Level HTF Certificate — Coming Q4 2026
In partnership with a leading academic institution — a prestige-tier program for AFC professionals seeking an academically accredited credential. Reserve your place on the waitlist today.
Join the Waitlist
Individual courses: $2,000
$1,600
Bundle saves $400
Our Mission

Stop chasing
transactions.
Start targeting
threats.

Traditional AML training teaches investigators to process alerts. The Threat Finance Academy teaches them to think like intelligence analysts — building actor-centric cases, mapping criminal networks, and understanding the full lifecycle of illicit finance.

Built on the same proprietary framework powering Hybrid Threat Central™, our curriculum bridges the gap between compliance volume and actionable intelligence.

We are an elite collective of seasoned practitioners and educators drawn from decades of experience in the public and private sectors of financial crime. This unique blend of expertise led us to develop a proprietary methodology focused entirely on practical, pragmatic tradecraft — the hands-on skills needed to successfully investigate and disrupt complex financial threats.

Actor-Centric Intelligence
Map threat networks, identify criminal roles, and build targeting packages that follow money through the full criminal lifecycle — not just the transaction.
HTF™ Methodology
Five-stage criminal lifecycle training replaces outdated placement/layering/integration models with real-world threat intelligence frameworks drawn from actual operations.
Intelligence-Grade Outputs
Produce SARs, targeting packages, and case narratives that generate real law enforcement value — not just regulatory paperwork that gets filed and forgotten.
Practitioner-Only Faculty
Our academy is powered by a distinguished faculty of law enforcement veterans, seasoned compliance practitioners, and academic experts, all bringing frontline, real-world experience to the fight against financial crime.
The Faculty

Decades of experience
you can count on.

Every TFA instructor brings real-world financial crime expertise from the public and private sectors — practitioner-only, no exceptions.

Debra Geister
Debra Geister
CEO & Founder
Section 2 & TFA
Debra Geister is an industry catalyst who has spent over 25 years engineering the systems that protect the global financial ecosystem. As the primary architect of our curriculum, she has dedicated her career to a single mission: making a measurable difference in the fight against financial crime. From leadership roles in major banking to government innovation and fintech, Debra distills her expertise into our core Hybrid Threat Finance™ Methodology, a sophisticated framework that equips practitioners with the investigative precision and technological edge required to expose and eliminate even the most complex financial threats.
CEO BSA Officer RegTech HTF Architect Banking Consulting
Robert Bacon
Robert Bacon
Head of Special
Investigations Unit
Robert Bacon is a seasoned investigator and intelligence analyst with over 30 years of experience spanning international special operations, domestic law enforcement, and military service. As a key instructor and course developer for the Threat Finance Academy, Robert leverages his extensive background in counter-terrorist finance (CTF) and anti-money laundering (AML) to train the next generation of financial crime fighters. His dual-cultural background and decades of service across the NYPD, DEA, and international special units provide students with unparalleled insight into the intersection of law enforcement and financial intelligence.
Counter-Narcotics FIU Operations Law Enforcement CTF/CFT
Suzanne Lynch
Suzanne Lynch
Education Specialist
Subject Matter Expert
Suzanne Lynch is a cornerstone of the Threat Finance Academy, bringing a rare synthesis of high-level corporate strategy and academic rigor to the field of financial crime. With a career forged in the leadership ranks of global powerhouses like Goldman Sachs, MasterCard, and Comerica, she possesses an insider's understanding of the vulnerabilities within modern payment systems. Beyond her corporate pedigree, Professor Lynch has shaped the next generation of investigators as the former Director of graduate programs at Utica University, where she translated complex risk analysis into actionable intelligence.
Academic Lead Payment Systems Fraud Expert Consulting
Get Started

Ready to build your AFC
intelligence capability?

Whether you're an individual professional, a compliance team, or an enterprise seeking white-label training — we'll find the right solution for you.

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