John D. (Don) Fort

John D. (Don) Fort is the Director of Investigations at Kostelanetz LLP, and the former Chief of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation (CI) Division. Having spent nearly 30 years in law enforcement for the federal government, Don has deep expertise in financial crimes and has an extensive network of connections both within the government and in private industry.

At our firm, he assists clients facing governmental investigations involving all manner of alleged financial and economic crimes, including tax controversies or suspected tax crimes, money laundering, and Bank Secrecy Act violations. Don has an expertise in investigations involving cryptocurrency and cannabis related matters. Don also is involved in conducting internal investigations and advising clients on compliance regimes. He is available as an expert witness and litigation consultant and for voluntary or court-mandated monitorships.

Don currently provides his leadership and law enforcement expertise to the advisory boards of several fintech, anti-money laundering compliance, cryptocurrency, and cannabis compliance companies, including AML RightSource, ZenLedger, and NCS Analytics. Don also serves as Chief Business Officer with IVIX.

As Chief of IRS-CI from 2017 to 2020, Don led the sixth largest U.S. law enforcement agency, managing a budget of over $625 million and a worldwide staff of approximately 3,000, including 2,100 special agents in 21 IRS field offices and 11 foreign countries. Don’s time in law enforcement included overseeing investigations of some of the most significant financial crimes involving tax evasion, sanctions evasion, money laundering, bribery, international corruption, bank malfeasance, cyber and cryptocurrency crimes, and terrorist financing.

As both Chief and Deputy Chief of IRS-CI, he oversaw numerous high-profile matters, including the college admissions scandal known as “Varsity Blues” that ensnared several celebrities; the Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen federal tax investigations; the Michael Avenatti tax investigation; the takedown of the largest darknet child exploitation website funded by cryptocurrency; two Chinese nationals who were charged with laundering $100 million in the hack of a cryptocurrency exchange; the Swiss Bank Program in which 80 Swiss banks entered into agreements with the government and paid $1.36 billion in penalties; the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) worldwide money laundering, structuring, and tax evasion matter; the Credit Suisse guilty plea, and many more.

Don began his IRS career in 1991 as a Special Agent in Baltimore, Maryland, and later served in numerous supervisory roles before entering the Senior Executive Service in January 2011, when he was appointed to serve as a Director of Field Operations. He held that position until his appointment as Deputy Chief, IRS-CI. In 2020, Don was the recipient of the ACAMS Public-Private Partnership Award.

Don is an accomplished public speaker and serves as an expert in law enforcement, leadership, financial crimes, and enhancing public-private partnerships. Don has extensive experience in briefing high-level government officials, has testified before Congress and has provided numerous briefings to congressional staff.

Don has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Management from Gettysburg College and is a licensed CPA in the State of Virginia.