A disgruntled bartender called the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation division, claiming the bar’s owner took $365,000 of the bar’s income for his personal use and was not reporting his actual income. The special agents went undercover and talked to the bar owner to gather the evidence. With the evidence they needed, the special agents — geared with bulletproof vests, guns and a search warrant — raided the bar and arrested the owner and his cronies. It’s not an uncommon situation.And it all played out in the Student Union on Tuesday with University students acting as the special agents during this mock scenario.Fourteen University students took part in the IRS-CI’s training session known as the Adrian Project, which introduces students to high-profile federal law enforcement through mock training scenarios similar to what IRS-CI special agents encounter in the field. James Perkins, special agent and senior recruiter, said the interactive training program is an opportunity to inform students about the IRS-CI, which works on high-profile financial investigations such as tax evasion, money laundering and political corruption. “The IRS doesn’t just collect taxes,” Perkins said. “The [Adrian Project] gives an all-day experience rather than being a five-minute career fair table. It’s a powerful recruitment tool.” This was the first time the University hosted to the Adrian Project. Michael DePalma, special agent in charge, said the program was a success everywhere it’s been held, and there are plans for the program to be held at the University every year. “We’re looking forward to working with LSU,” DePalma said. “We have a limited population of agents, so we have to choose the best applicants who may be employed by the IRS. This is why we’re at LSU, and we have a great partnership with them.” Students were chosen for the program based on a set of criteria, including a 2.75 grade point average, 15 hours of accounting classes, nine hours of business electives and a junior and senior or graduate student classification, Perkins said.”We like to try to catch students early, so they’ll know the requirements for the job and not realize by senior year that they can’t do this, and it’s too late,” Perkins said. “We don’t want just criminal justice or accounting majors. We want anyone with the core business skills — the cream of the crop.” The participating students became special agents for the day and were split into three groups, each with its own scenario. Each group had to interview informants, go undercover or conduct surveillance to gather evidence before executing search warrants and arresting individuals guilty of financial crime.  Eric Tabary, finance senior and Adrian Project participant, said he’d always been interested in working undercover for the government or in law enforcement and found the program to be more fun than he thought it would be. “I thought [the Adrian Project] would be presentations and us listening to them talk,” Tabary said. “I’ve learned a lot about being a special agent for the IRS. My favorite part was shadowing the people involved and actually going undercover to talk to the bar owner.” The Adrian Project exposed management senior Ponyda Meas to the possibility of working for the government after having experienced the retail and technology side of her major. “It’s been really interesting because we’ve been able to use things we learned in school,” Meas said. “How often do you get exposure like this to the federal government?”—-Contact Brianna Paciorka at [email protected]