William K. Black

William K. Black earned his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School and Ph.D. in criminology from the University of California, Irvine. He is an Associate Professor of Law and Economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where he teaches white-collar crime, public finance, antitrust, law and economics, and Latin American development. From 2005-2007, Dr. Black was the Executive Director of the Institute for Fraud Prevention. He has taught previously at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and at Santa Clara University, where he was also the Distinguished Scholar in Residence for Insurance Law and a Visiting Scholar at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.

Dr. Black is the author of The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One (University of Texas Press 2005), which was described by Nobel Prize-winning economist George Akerlof as “a classic,” and praised by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker for its analysis of the critical role of Bank Board Chairman Gray’s leadership in reregulating and resupervising the industry. He is responsible for developing the concept of “control fraud” - frauds in which the CEO or head of state uses the entity as a “weapon.” - which Dr. Black argues cause greater financial losses than all other forms of property crime combined.

Dr. Black has recently helped the World Bank develop anti-corruption initiatives as well as serving as an expert for OFHEO in its enforcement action against Fannie Mae’s former senior management. Previously Dr. Black has served as Litigation Director of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, Deputy Director of the FSLIC, SVP and General Counsel of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, and Senior Deputy Chief Counsel of the Office of Thrift Supervision. He was also Deputy Director of the National Commission on Financial Institution Reform, Recovery and Enforcement.

Dr. Black has testified before the Senate Agricultural Committee on the regulation of financial derivatives and House Governance Committee on the regulation of executive compensation. On April 20, 2010, Black testified before the House Financial Services Committee in a hearing titled “Public Policy Issues Raised by the Report of the Lehman Bankruptcy Examiner” about the role that Alt-A mortgages on residential real estate played in the downfall of Lehman Brothers. Dr. Black was a central figure in exposing Congressional corruption during the 1980’s Savings and Loan Crisis. His written notes of the “Keating Five” meeting were later published in the press, and brought the event to national attention and a congressional investigation.

Dr. Black is a frequent guest on local, national, and international television and radio and is quoted as an expert by the national and international print media nearly every week. He contributes regularly to the Huffington Post and also blogs at New Economic Perspectives.