Elizabeth MacDonald is a Director within Control Risks’ Compliance, Forensics and Intelligence practice, based in Washington DC. Elizabeth’s professional experience has focused on complex corporate investigations and compliance matters relating to ethics and anti-bribery and corruption.

She assists companies with the development, enhancement, and assessment of compliance programs; implementation of compliance controls; third party risk management and audits; and investigating allegations of bribery and fraud. 

Elizabeth has conducted engagements in approximately 20 countries across Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Europe in addition to working in Brazil for 2 ½ years.

Elizabeth’s recent experience includes:

• Leading a workstream of an investigation into allegations that a foreign company’s subsidiary paid bribes via a sales agent in Brazil to obtain large contracts with a state-owned enterprise. Regulators from multiple countries were involved and responsibilities included understanding accounting practices and assisting with the disgorgement calculation analysis.


• Supporting the DOJ and SEC appointed independent monitors with forensic accounting and internal controls subject matter expertise on a multi-year monitorship in connection with a deferred prosecution agreement.


• Performing a multi-disciplinary investigation in Latin America in response to whistleblower allegations around accounting irregularities (i.e., revenue recognition and misallocation of costs in construction contracts) and bribery in an acquired company, affecting the company’s valuation and purchase price in addition to regulatory exposure.


• Conducting forensic investigations into Brazilian sales agents potentially implicated in the Operation Car Wash scandal

Prior to joining Control Risks, Elizabeth worked in KPMG’s forensic practice in São Paulo and Houston. She also worked for several years within an oil & gas company’s global compliance department as a forensic accountant. Elizabeth is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE).