U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn ruled that a defendant in a digital forensics criminal case must turn over the unencrypted contents of her currently encrypted laptop. The defendant, Ramona Fricosu of Colorado, is charged with bank fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, and providing false statements to financial institutions in connection with her alleged involvement in […]
Category Archives: Legal Support
The legal support blog category contains posts on all varieties of private investigator legal support services.
Detecting Mortgage Fraud
Financial hard times have hit lending institutions from coast to coast. Under these conditions, in the wake of the sub-prime mortgage crisis, they are becoming more vulnerable to a serious threat not often mentioned in the media – – – mortgage fraud. If your firm is involved in mortgage lending, directly or indirectly, it is […]
The Billion Dollar Competitor; Intellectual Property Theft
By Yvette Rabago Are you familiar with the concept of Intellectual Property? Are you an owner of Intellectual Property? Is your company a victim of intellectual property theft? Is it possible you’ve been victimized and don’t even realize it? Intellectual Property is an original creative thought or design with commercial value which has been trademarked, […]
Internal Affairs: When Situations Demand Investigation
By Rory Montez Employers must ensure safe and productive workplaces. When employees feel that is not the case, they often complain to management. If an employee makes such a complaint, it is your responsibility to perform an investigation to determine the veracity of the claim and, if valid, to ensure a remedy. You must respond […]
Metal Theft: Too Costly To Ignore
By Rory Montez In 2007, the U.S. scrap metal business grew to a $61 billion dollar industry. High demand for scrap metal from China, India, Malaysia, Korea, and Japan continues to escalate, as economic growth feeds industrial expansion; commercial construction, factory production, and telecommunication systems require large quantities of raw metals. Scrap metals seeing […]
The Art of the Investigative Interview: Preparation, Attitude, and Documentation
By Kent Perkins There are three key areas of concern when approaching an employee (as the “Subject”) of an investigative interview: PREPARATION BEFORE CONFRONTATION: Before you conduct any investigative workplace interview, be fully prepared. Understand everything you possibly can about the situation and all the people involved before starting the interview. Do your homework, and […]
Guns at Work in these Wild, Wild United States
Where Company Policy Collides with State Law By Patricia Kotze In some states, especially Florida, employers may think their next official state holiday will be “Bring a Gun to Work Day.” Most employers have traditionally had the right to ban employees from bringing guns onto company property, even in personal vehicles in company parking lots. […]
Hide and Go Seek: Outwitting Holders of Hidden Assets
By Kent Perkins With costs of litigation added to losses suffered which gave rise to the initial lawsuit, Plaintiffs can spend “good money after bad” and end up holding only worthless judgment paperwork when unscrupulous Defendants successfully hide money offshore. Sadly, most other countries totally ignore United States judgments and refuse to help creditors attempting […]
Slip & Fraud: What Employers Should Know about Workers’ Compensation Claims
By Patricia A Kotze “Slip & fall, make the call and someone will pay the bills!” So goes the thinking of the majority of employees making fraudulent workers’ compensation claims. Fraudulent claims are on the rise in California and we know who will be picking up the tab…Yes, that’s right, their employer! Investigating potentially fraudulent […]
Who’s bugging you? What You Need To Know About Workplace Electronic Eavesdropping
By Frank Faulk IV, CPP Manager of Technical Services at Diversified Risk Management, Inc. Sometimes it seems uncanny that people have knowledge of information only shared in a private conversation, or in an email or specific data recently presented in a closed meeting. It’s especially daunting when the private communication was with those you trust […]