The Intersection of Human Trafficking and Financial Investigations

Jane Khodarkovsky is a Trial Attorney and Human Trafficking Finance Specialist in the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section in the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ). Ms. Khodarkovsky investigates and prosecutes human trafficking cases with an emphasis on financial investigations in order to enhance human trafficking and child exploitation prosecutions.  She also assists and partners with U.S. Attorney’s Offices, federal, state and local law enforcement, and financial institutions in their human trafficking and victim focused investigations and prosecutions.  Of great importance to Ms. Khodarkovsky is advising on forfeiture and restitution for victims in human trafficking cases. Prior to working at DOJ, Ms. Khodarkovsky investigated and prosecuted enterprise corruption, larceny, public corruption and tax fraud schemes often involving money laundering in New York and New Jersey.  Significantly, she worked on human trafficking cases at the University of Michigan Law School’s Human Trafficking Clinic, where she also represented the clinic at the UNODC Expert Meeting in Vienna, Austria, and she worked as an extern in the U.S. Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.  Ms.Khodarkovsky graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 2011, where she served as Executive Editor of the Michigan Journal of Race and Law.  She obtained her Bachelor of Arts from Barnard College, Columbia University, summa cum laude. She is fluent in Russian. 

Sergeant Nick Odenath has been with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office for the past 19 years, including six years as a detective investigating human trafficking. Nick has also served in several other capacities with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office, including custody and patrol services, court services, narcotics investigations, asset forfeiture, financial investigations, and 6 years as a SWAT operator. Nick has become recognized for his lead on two large-scale human trafficking investigations that resulted in successful human trafficking prosecutions and used organized criminal investigative techniques that were victim-centric and specifically focused on mitigating a victim’s need to testify against their traffickers. He has performed case debriefs and trainings on the topic of human trafficking throughout the United States. Nick has also spoken on several panels addressing victim services and investigative techniques related to human trafficking cases. In March 2020, Nick was promoted to Sergeant and currently works as a Watch Commander at the Ventura County Pre-Trial Detention Facility. Nick continues to provide human trafficking training and case consults for various local, state and federal agencies; serves on the Ventura County Human Trafficking Tack Force committee for outreach and training; and works with community providers focused on combatting human trafficking within Ventura County. Nick also serves as the President for the Ventura County Deputy Sheriff’s Association. 

Katie Rossomondo is a member of the IACP Programs Team where she currently works on the Enhanced Collaborative Model (ECM) Human Trafficking Task Force Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) Program to support the needs of ECM task forces and allied stakeholders. Previously, Katie worked on IACP’s Law Enforcement and the Communities They Serve: Supporting Collective Healing in the Wake of Harm project where she assisted in providing TTA to 5 national demonstration sites. Before becoming a team member with the IACP, Katie was a Criminal Justice Research Assistant for CSR Incorporated, where she served as the lead TTA staff member for a variety of 15 BJA and OJJDP programs, working with grantees at the national, state, and local level to ensure data reporting compliance and accuracy on quarterly performance measurement reporting. Katie started her career in security system management having worked for the Sandy Spring Bank as well as the Montgomery County Police Department in Maryland.