Curtis Johnson Jr.LinkedIn

Financial Crimes · Compliance · Applied AI

Curtis Johnson Jr.Financial Crimes Leadership & Applied AI

Director of Global Financial Crimes at Morgan Stanley, and Founder & CEO of AmazeGen Inc. — where compliance-grade discipline meets the practical power of artificial intelligence.

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Baltimore, MD · CAMS Certified · AI for Business, UPenn

Portrait of Curtis Johnson Jr., Director of Global Financial Crimes at Morgan Stanley and Founder of AmazeGen
AI

Built a Policy & Procedure Agent for the Global Financial Crimes Client Risk Unit team

100%

Created a CAMS Study Group with a 100% pass rate the last two years

14 yrs

Across accounting, finance, legal & compliance

40+

Employee network events planned and hosted

About

A compliance leader building at the frontier of agentic AI.

Curtis is a strategic, results-driven EDD, KYC and financial crimes professional with more than 13 years in corporate America at top-tier institutions. He evaluates client risk across PEP exposure, adverse media, source of wealth and funds, sanctions nexus, MSB, MRB and virtual currency — protecting financial integrity and meeting regulatory requirements.

As Team Lead for the Global Financial Crimes Client Risk Unit Banks Team, he completes EDD reviews on bank loan and institutional clients, trains new staff, answers complex KYC questions from first-line teams, and automated the team's metrics reporting process.

His work also lives at the frontier of agentic AI. Curtis helped build a Policy & Procedure Agent for his firm's Client Risk Unit and an ACAMS study agent that helped his team reach a 100% CAMS pass rate two years running. He is currently pursuing a data science track with DataCamp and Harvard's intensive on agentic AI.

Areas of expertise

  • Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD)
  • AML / KYC / CDD
  • OFAC Sanctions Screening
  • Bank Secrecy Act
  • PEP & Adverse Media Analysis
  • Source of Wealth / Source of Funds
  • Virtual Currency & MSB Risk
  • Marijuana-Related Business Analysis
  • SAR & Suspicious Activity Review
  • Wolfsberg FIQ / CISQ
  • Financial Structure Analysis
  • Fraud Investigation
  • Actimize & Actimize Workflows
  • Agentic AI & LLM Tooling

Career

Nine years at Morgan Stanley.

Jan 2025 — Present

Director, Global Financial Crimes

Morgan Stanley · Baltimore, MD

Team Leader for the GFC Client Risk Unit Banks team, completing Enhanced Due Diligence for bank loan and institutional customers across Tailored Lending, Home Loans and Liquidity Access Lines.

  • Assign and oversee EDD work, train staff on complex reviews, and support the Wealth Management team and its VP manager.
  • Partner with technology teams to test AI-powered KYC screening software performing due diligence and adverse media checks.
  • Specialize in institutional reviews — intricate corporate structures, legal matters, and firm-level risk recommendations.

Jun 2021 — Jan 2025

Associate, Global Financial Crimes

Morgan Stanley · Baltimore, MD

Key member of the GFC Client Risk Unit Wealth Management team, training new staff and leading priority remediation projects.

  • Completed 300+ Enhanced Due Diligence reviews in 2024 — the highest production on the team.
  • Founded a division-wide CAMS exam study group with 20+ staff in bi-weekly sessions, reaching a 100% pass rate.
  • Delivered the Lookback Remediation and PEP Designation projects ahead of schedule.

Aug 2018 — May 2021

Associate, Finance & Collateral Operations

Morgan Stanley · Baltimore, MD

Managed margin account creation for the Institutional Securities Group and owned the North America indications process.

  • Led the Indications Control Team in Mumbai, coordinating controls supporting North America workflow.
  • Eliminated 8,000 inactive and duplicate accounts across global ISG systems.
  • Ensured accuracy of institutional securities statements and client-facing marks.

Aug 2017 — Aug 2018

Associate, ISG Tax Reporting

Morgan Stanley · Baltimore, MD

Owned timely 1099 and 1042-S submissions to the IRS FIRE system and to institutional clients and investors.

  • Resolved withholding and documentation discrepancies using IRS and FATCA regulatory knowledge.

2015 — 2017

Earlier experience

  • Accounts Payable Processor — Exelon, Baltimore, MD
  • Operations Accountant II — Wells Fargo, Columbia, MD
  • Tax Office Manager — Liberty Tax Services, Glen Burnie, MD
  • Assurance Associate — Ernst & Young

Founder & CEO

AmazeGen Inc.

Launched in July 2026 to unite two enduring passions: community, and the practical power of artificial intelligence. AmazeGen builds Arize — wellness support for the people doing the most, often as the only one who looks like them in the room.

Arize brings together a peer community, The Village, and an AI companion, the Clarity Coach, to help people feel seen, heard and connected. It's wellness built for the culture — grounded in compliance and care in equal measure.

Why Not You?

amazegen.com

Compliance-first by design

A career spent in AML, sanctions and due diligence is the backbone of how Arize thinks about user trust, privacy and data.

Agentic AI in production

Built a Policy & Procedure Agent for a global bank's Client Risk Unit and an ACAMS study agent behind a 100% exam pass rate.

Built with clinicians

Partnered with a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor as Chief Product Officer, grounding the product in positive psychology.

Recognition

Awards & credentials.

Excellence Award in Quality

June 2021

Morgan Stanley Institutional Securities Group

Superior performance on the ISG HUB Project, cleaning up over 8,000 accounts across Morgan Stanley systems.

SPOT Award for Performance

November 2024

Morgan Stanley

Outstanding achievement during a Morgan Stanley Human Resources health event.

SPOT Award for Performance

July 2024

Morgan Stanley

Creating and leading the Global Financial Crimes CAMS study group.

SPOT Award for Performance

November 2023

Morgan Stanley

Excellent performance and management of the Lookback Remediation Project.

Education & certifications

  • Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS)ACAMS2023
  • Artificial Intelligence for BusinessUniversity of Pennsylvania2024
  • AI Fundamentals for Non-Data ScientistsWharton Online
  • Entrepreneurship Acceleration ProgramWharton Executive Education2022
  • Data Analytics for Business Intelligence NanodegreeUdacity
  • B.S. Accounting, Honors College GraduateTowson University

Community

A builder of people, not just programs.

Engage Baltimore Mentorship Program

Founder — connecting Baltimore talent with mentorship and opportunity.

FELLOWship Group, Morgan Stanley

Founder — a Black Employee Network initiative pairing colleagues with senior leaders and financial-literacy programming.

Baltimore Black Employee Network Steering Committee

Leadership committee member since 2022; co-created more than 40 events.

5Q LLC

Co-founder.

Contact

Let's connect.

Open to conversations on financial crimes leadership, applied AI in compliance, and building for community.

Emailcurtj@outlook.comPhone301-919-3385LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/creativecurtCompanyamazegen.com