Investigation of Entrepreneur Reveals History of Domestic Abuse and Financial Crime

Background

A client looking to go into business with an entrepreneur of interest hired Forward Risk to conduct a commercial due diligence investigation on the subject.

In addition, they requested that we supplement open source research with a HUMINT-based inquiry in order to build a more detailed and better-contextualized picture of the subject.

Our Work

By leveraging both public records and source inquiries from the subject’s previous colleagues, Forward Risk was able to build a complete and nuanced picture of the subject.

The combination of research methodology highlighted the subject’s extensive history of alleged criminal conduct and other legal issues, but also built a contextual illustration of his professional and personal life, rather than allowing adverse information alone to eclipse the full profile of the individual in question.

Results

Our public records investigation yielded several major pieces of adverse information, including several key litigation matters, such as a custody battle alleging abusive behavior towards his disabled children, criminal prosecution for physical violence against his family, and several financial crimes.

Despite his colorful home life and criminal conduct, direct source inquiries painted a complex and nuanced picture. For example, while most sources remarked on his questionable moral conduct, they also admitted that he was a “great salesman” with a knack for building a capable team in business settings and “taking care of” people at work for whom he was responsible.

This shed light on how – despite a wealth of adverse information in the public record detailing the subject’s personal and professional misconduct – certain attributes, including what was likely a carefully-cultivated persona in workplace settings, may have allowed him to preserve his career.

Ultimately, by delivering a comprehensive profile of this individual to the client – including both the negatives and positives from various perspectives – we equipped our client with a truly in-depth understanding of the subject, which empowered them to make the best-informed business decisions they could regarding this individual.