INTERNAL INVESTIGATIONS
The Firm provides answers when allegations of wrongdoing or other sensitive issues arise inside a company or governmental organization. The Firm has significant experience in gathering facts, analyzing the issues, and reporting to those in charge of governance. Fraud related issues might include misappropriation of assets, financial statement fraud, corruption, conflicts of interest, investment scams or cyber issues. Most importantly, the Firm’s results will have integrity, credibility, and independence.
The Firm’s Internal Investigations practice includes:
- Hot Line Response
- Electronic Data Imaging
- Interview & Interrogation
- Collection of Tangible Evidence
- Investigative Analysis
- Recovery of Losses
- Presentation of Findings
- Solutions
FORENSIC ACCOUNTING
The Forensic CPA Advisory Practice specializes in fraud, business and marital dissolutions, damage calculations, and litigation support. When badges of fraud become apparent to an enterprise or regulatory and criminal authorities, significant civil and criminal implications can arise. The Firm works with those involved including legal counsel to provide investigative services, litigation support and expert witnessing.
The Firm’s Forensic CPA Advisory Practice includes:
- Damage Calculations
- Consulting Services
- Expert Witnessing
- Asset Identification
- Asset Reconstruction
- Deposition & Trial Testimony
- Analysis & Interpretation of Records
- Litigation Support
Fraud Mitigation Consulting
The Firm will work with your organization to develop a robust fraud deterrence program. This program was developed from lessons learned in law enforcement, private sector best practices, and experts in academia. The Firm will study existing internal controls and improve them. More significantly, the Firm works with management to install “soft controls” that will provide for a fraud resistant organization. The Firm can implement an integrated solution using the fraud life cycle approach: (1) Prevention, (2) Detection, (3) Investigation, (4) Mitigation, and (5) Remediation.
The Firm’s Fraud Mitigation Consulting Practice includes:
- Risk Assessment
- Policy Development & Implementation
- Internal Controls Study
- Proactive Compliance Programs
- Training
- Fraud Life Cycle Approach
DUE DILIGENCE | ASSET INVESTIGATIONS | INTELLIGENCE GATHERING
Successful relationships depend on the honesty of all parties. This is true with businesses, investments, and personal relationships. Performing due diligence to discover financial problems, criminal activity, and legal action can keep your business in check, your investments in the right hands, and your relationships with vetted individuals. The Hartman Firm incorporates best practices from intelligence gathering agencies and the private sector to obtain and interpret business intelligence. The right intelligence gives you the power to make the right decisions.
Knowing where the information is located, having access to it, and the technical expertise to exploit is required.
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Due diligence investigations examine the backgrounds of corporate entities and the principals who manage them. This specialized investigative technique allows you to gather necessary intelligence so you can make informed decisions when dealing with vendors, suppliers, third-party intermediaries and those managing your investments.
Valuable intelligence may also be obtained from well-placed human sources and interviewing key individuals. Information discovered in a due diligence investigation will empower you and/or your company to make informed decisions. This may involve:
- Substantiating third-party representations
- Obtaining information in foreign countries
- Identifying legal entities
- Locating key stakeholders
- Tracking an individual’s activities through social media, open source media, and proprietary databases
- Inspecting the deep web for hard to locate information
- Locating a company’s products being sold illegally or counterfeited
- Exposing fraudulent business enterprises, locating assets, and finding hidden intelligence
Locating assets is at the core of many forensic engagements. This type of intelligence can be vitally important before engaging in business formations, contracts, or transactions. Asset investigations can be of equal importance during a business or marital separation to ensure you have sound information when negotiating the separation of assets. You may need a comprehensive asset investigation when encountering the following circumstances.
- Assessing the value of a legal claim prior to initiating litigation
- Collecting on a judgment
- Locating hidden bank and investment accounts
- Identifying a silent partner, business ownership and funding partners
- Finding the previous owner of a property or entity
- Employment screening for compliance and fiduciary responsibilities
- Investing in a business to keep your money and sanity secure
- Business mergers or combinations
- Business separation
- Marital separation
Your matter may require a search of social media and open source media. Social media services can provide a rich source of information for both personal and business intelligence. However, these media services and the content they provide are constantly changing. Full exploitation of this information requires specialized knowledge. Today, social media includes: Facebook, Blogger, Twitter, WordPress, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, Google+, Tumblr, Craigslist, personal webpages, eBay, Amazon, and others. The following services can be provided:
- Conducting an online background on any business, person or entity, foreign or domestic
- Locating online social network profiles and assets
- Managing intelligence gathering on cutting edge services
- Establishing relational information among entities, individuals, and assets
- Establishing a social media-monitoring plan based on topic, geographic location or other indicators including geo-fencing
Although much of today’s intelligence can be obtained on the Internet, in public records, and through social media, critical pieces of intelligence may still reside with fee-based service providers. These providers include:
- Westlaw
- LexisNexis
- Thomson Reuters CLEAR
- TLOxp (TransUnion)
- IRBsearch
- Dun & Bradstreet
- Experian
- Equifax
- TransUnion
- Other Proprietary databases
- Names, aliases, and Social Security Account Numbers
- Bankruptcies, foreclosures, liens, and judgments
- Real estate records
- Criminal histories
- Civil and criminal court records
- Phone numbers, cell phones, listed and unlisted landlines
- Relatives, neighbors, and associates
- Assets including property, vehicles, and more
- FAA Pilots, water and aircraft registration
- Marriage and divorce records
- Licenses including professional, driver’s, and more
- Email addresses and social networks
- Current and previous employees, officers, and directors
- Corporate affiliations
- UCC filings
- Branches, subsidiaries, parents companies, and headquarters
- Secretary of State filings
Whistleblower Representation
Are you a Whistleblower? Will no one listen? Let's discuss compensation strategies. The firm will assess, investigate, and counsel you regarding the matter. Your information may qualify you for a substantial award with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTF), the Department of Justice (DOJ) as a qui tam matter under the false claims act, or other federal or state program.