Investigations for companies and executives

What our work covers

We act at the request of a board, a management team, a legal department or a family office. The work concerns facts: verifying a counterparty before signature, checking declarations, investigating financial irregularities, identifying conflicts of interest, documentary research on a third party, and verification of the statements that party makes about itself.

The business intelligence we practise remains factual: open sources, commercial registers, publications, authorised interviews, observation in public space. We produce no forecasts and no ratings; we establish what can be verified, state plainly what cannot, and keep the two separate throughout the report, without filling gaps by assumption.

From alert to mandate

An internal report, a doubt raised in an audit, a transaction under review: the starting point varies, the method does not. We begin with a scoping meeting with the authorised person, to define the perimeter, identify legal risk and settle what will not be examined.

The written mandate names a single point of contact and sets out deliverables, timetable and confidentiality rules. Where the file is handled by counsel, we work under their instruction, which preserves professional privilege and the procedural strength of the findings if the matter later becomes contentious.

What the company receives

The report sets out a chronology of facts, the material supporting it and the points that remain open. Findings are dated and sourced; hypotheses are identified as such and never presented as conclusions, however plausible they may appear. Each finding states where it comes from, so that a reader can weigh it without taking anything on trust.

We add a reading of the risks observed and, where appropriate, internal control recommendations. The purpose is not to name culprits but to give management a factual basis for deciding, negotiating or instructing its advisers. It substitutes neither for an audit nor for legal advice.

Discretion, independence and limits

A poorly conducted internal investigation exposes a company as much as the conduct under review. We apply proportionate means, keep each step traceable and treat the individuals concerned consistently, in line with employment law and data protection. The same standard applies to every person involved, regardless of seniority or role.

We do not access private messaging, personal accounts or banking records, and we install no surveillance device without a legal basis. Mandates requiring those limits to be crossed are declined, including where they are framed as a simple, routine verification or a harmless internal request. The answer does not vary with the seniority of the person asking.