Tag Archive for: background check

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What You Won’t Read in Our Reports: “He Has No Criminal Record”

Clients who have seen the online “Nationwide criminal background check, $69” come-ons sometimes ask why we won’t ever say that someone has no criminal record. They also wonder why doing a proper criminal check in even a single state…
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Issue Spotting in Investigation

Remember those law school exams that depended not as much on getting the right answer as on issue spotting? Usually you got a fact pattern and you had to look at all the ways those facts would present interesting legal questions for a judge…
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Saving Money on Due Diligence: Look at the People First, Not Last

You are the Chief Investment Officer screening possible targets for a $5 million investment in a non-public asset. Whether you work at a family office, a private equity fund or somewhere else, the prospective deal flow should be coming at you…
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Cheating, Grade Inflation, AI – What Smart Job Screeners Need to Do Next

Hiring good people is getting a lot harder, and not just because there are fewer candidates in a lot of industries. With AI-enabled cheating, grade inflation, and the shunning of standardized tests by colleges and graduate schools, how is a…
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Can ChatGPT Help in an Investigation?

ChatGPT now comes up in most of the extended conversations I have with lawyers about how things are going. Many rave about how easy it is to have this robot whip up a simple motion or even, in one example, “a short speech about NATO defense…
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Financial Investigators: Don’t Forget About Emotion

In a financial investigation it’s easy to get buried under all the words and numbers and to forget about emotions – those of your client, the person you’re investigating, and your own. It’s understandable but something to guard against. Theballetspot.com If…
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Against Undue Credentialism

Is it in poor taste to argue against leaning too hard on credentials when you post something on LinkedIn, a platform where people showcase their credentials for all to see? I don’t think so. If you want a lawyer who will do a good job…
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FTX Warnings vs Madoff Warnings: What was the Difference?

Investors in Madoff Securities and FTX were both warned, but by different sets of people. If it turns out to be true that without customer knowledge FTX took billions of dollars of customer account money to invest in a risky company owned…
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The Advantage of Small Talk in Big Cases

Listen to me explain why putting people at ease is the best way to elicit information from them. I don't have a badge or a subpoena, so the key is to be nice to them and be interested in what they do, think, and feel. Get the podcast chat on…
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Good Due Diligence: Buy Back Your Future Mistake for 0.28 Percent

You want to invest $3 million into a real estate project. Time is tight because it’s closing in 12 days. The developer (51 years old) seems to have a decent track record and takes credit for billions of dollars of projects, but this project…