Rider Students Participate in IRS Adrian Project

Editor's Note: The following is a news release issued by .

Rider University’s Center for Business Forensics and Department of Accounting hosted the Internal Revenue Service’s Adrian Project Student Fraud Conference, a day-long mock criminal investigation, on March 23, on the Lawrence Township campus.

This was the third year in a row that Rider has hosted the conference, and this year there was a new twist.

In addition to 17 student participants from Rider’s College of Business Administration, nine students from Sayreville War Memorial High School worked alongside IRS criminal investigation agents to crack a white-collar crime case.

Through the investigation, students learned interviewing and surveillance techniques and document analysis. Students also gained experience writing affidavits for search and arrest warrants, and being part of an undercover team. Actors, which included IRS agents and Rider community members, role-played as suspects, informants, unscrupulous accountants, and witnesses during the simulation.

The Adrian Project, which was developed by the Criminal Investigation Division of the IRS, is an interactive learning experience that provides students an opportunity to participate in a simulated criminal investigation using forensic accounting techniques.

The crimes used for the project include investigations of drug traffickers, money laundering and terrorism schemes as well as multi-filer tax schemes.