BUSINESS & FINANCIAL INVESTIGATIONS

Being a victim of fraud can be a harrowing experience with far-reaching and even disastrous consequences. Recovering from fraud is something no company or individual should go through alone.

An insurance claims processor recruits friends and family members to submit false claims she approves for reimbursement, then splits the proceeds with them. A purchasing manager buys laptop computers on her company’s account and sells them on E-Bay. An executive submits false expense reports and his secretary, who handles the paperwork, discovers the scheme and begins to blackmail him. A marketing manager in charge of administering a retail chain’s prize sweepstakes recruits ringers to whom he steers winning game pieces worth tens of millions of dollars over a decade-long period.

These cases may come to us as a fraud that is suspected but not proven, or a known fraud of unknown breadth. Our imperative as investigators is to “get our arms around” the fraud so we can answer a client’s pressing questions as to the size of losses and extent of exposure.

To trace the source and to stop it, we immediately address the following:

• Is the fraud ongoing?
• What is the magnitude of the loss?
• Did a single person perpetrate the fraud, or a group of conspirators?
• Was the company alone defrauded, or were its clients and customers also victims?

IGI has the experience you need to regroup and recover

We field an expert interdisciplinary team with experience on what it takes to build a case for referral to law enforcement officials and/or to pursue a civil case and obtain restitution. Our attorneys also provide legal counsel as needed on issues that may arise in the course of the investigation, including data or personal privacy considerations. We deploy forensic accountants to examine controls and compute and document losses from the fraud, which can bolster insurance claims and recoveries. Our investigators interview suspects and witnesses, review documents, and may be tasked to track down and help recover stolen assets. Our computer forensics experts search company servers and devices for incriminating messages and recover deleted files, while adhering to chain of custody and other evidentiary protocols to ensure admissibility of evidence.

We work in close consultation with our client’s in-house counsel, board special committee or other designated point of contact to advance the client’s interests and meet their objectives. This includes scaling our work, and associated costs, so that it is commensurate with the size of the fraud, prospects for recovery, reporting requirements, the need to eliminate risk of recurrence and other common-sense criteria.

Fend off hostile takeovers, win proxy battles, stand up to activist investors and otherwise prevail in contests for corporate control.

We look closely at would-be acquirers, activists and the slates of board nominees that activists put forward, to develop information and insight into their past track records, including financial reporting irregularities or governance or compliance deficiencies. Such information has proven instrumental in our clients’ efforts to mount an effective defense, undermine their opponents’ efforts, gain the upper hand in negotiations or shift the price or terms of a deal in their favor.

IGI is typically retained early in the contest for corporate control as part of the client’s legal, investment banking, and public relations team. Clients incorporate our findings into court filings seeking to enjoin or compel takeover-related measures, or communicate the findings to shareholders, institutional investors, lenders, and other stakeholders positioned to affect the course of events.

Companies turn to IGI’s investigators and attorneys for our robust experience and sophisticated understanding of how to develop evidence to build or defend against an antitrust case.

Our experience in antitrust and competition-related investigations has spanned a variety of industries and sectors, including transportation, consumer goods, information technology, telecommunications, and pharmaceuticals.

Please read our story below, "Why IGI is a leader in anti-trust investigations"

We “follow the money” to trace and recover assets domestically and globally. Clients have included sovereign entities seeking to follow funds stolen by corrupt government officials; defrauded investors and businesses trying to recoup stolen or embezzled sums; and creditors and lenders pursuing parties who have defaulted on debts.

Asset searches are rarely simple. Money is easy to move, spend and hide. Stringent privacy laws apply to private financial data. These cases require IGI to collect and analyze evidence of complex (and often international) business relationships and transactions.

We have collected information to demonstrate that  asset sales or inter-company transactions in advance of a bankruptcy were fraudulent conveyances to conceal assets from a bankruptcy trustee. We’ve built cases to pierce the corporate veil to hold a corporation’s owners and members personally liable for business debts.

And we may develop information to challenge the legitimacy of asset transfers in a bid to become “judgment proof.” We also seek to identify attachable income streams from contracts, accounts receivable, royalties, and other sources.

We may conduct surveillance to observe a subject’s lifestyle and collect information on assets and habits – yachts, luxury automobiles, and spending.

IGI assists clients involved in business disputes, often with partners, vendors, suppliers, distributors, current and former employees, competitors or customers.

These disputes may arise when a formerly trusted party poaches our client’s customers, diverts business opportunities away from our client, usurps our client’s business relationships or misappropriates and copies our client’s business model or signature products and services.

Working with in-house or outside counsel, we collect evidence to help clients build a breach-of-contract case or other legal causes of action. Investigative steps in these kinds of cases may include computer forensics, interviews and “controlled buys.”

We work for publicly traded companies that have been attacked by short-sellers who attempt to drive down the targeted company’s share price, sometimes by circulating false or misleading information or rumors about the company and its management.

In cases where the identities of the short-sellers are unknown, we gather intelligence through discreet inquiries to Wall Street and hedge fund sources, and comb investor message boards for clues.

We analyze SEC and other financial disclosures for insight into the short-selling activities. In these cases we often work closely with our clients’ in-house or outside counsel and with the client’s  Investor Relations team.

“Thanks for this. Very insightful.” – CEO and founder of publicly traded online retailer.

The rise of cryptocurrencies and blockchain have created new challenges for governments, central banks and investors.

Through our investigations of cryptocurrencies and exchanges, IGI has developed substantial expertise in these areas, including familiarity with evolving financial regulatory policies and legislative developments.

Legal investigations concerning cryptocurrencies may become imperative in diverse scenarios when potential breaches of the law or questionable activities associated with cryptocurrencies come to light.