Top Geopolitical Risks for 2023: An Infortal Perspective
Some geopolitical risks remain for years, even decades, while others may seem to come and go within a few months. Typically, though, even these risks have built [...]
Spotlight on FCPA Violations – Q1 2023
Foreign Corrupt Practice Act (FCPA) enforcements are picking up at the start of 2023 after a slow-down due to Covid-19 lockdowns which made it more difficult [...]
The Costs of Skipping Due Diligence: Understanding the Potential Consequences for Your Business
When hiring a new executive, considering a merger, purchasing another company, or even contracting a vendor, you need to know who you’re about to be working with. [...]
The Impact of Geopolitical Risk on Businesses
Any business that deals with other businesses, including vendors, in other countries must be aware of the various geopolitical risks they’re opening themselves up to. While [...]
Honeywell’s $160m+ Resolution (Part I)- Brazil and FCPA Failure
Bribery Schemes in Brazil to Win Exclusive Business Demonstrate Lack of Strong Due Diligence and Compliance Program. At the close of 2022, when some were paying for [...]
How to Conduct a Business Risk Assessment to Avoid the Consequences of Money Laundering
When preparing to acquire another company, hire an executive, form a partnership, or even hire a third party vendor, you need to conduct a full risk assessment [...]
What Every Executive Team Must Know About Sanctions and Supply Chain Due Diligence
One of the key parts of any larger business is its supply chain. A supply chain is made up of various vendors that supply raw materials and [...]
George Santos and Political Due Diligence
Lessons from George Santos Background Misrepresentations The New York Times dropped a bombshell article purporting that representative-elect George Santos lied about his education, work history, family background, [...]
How M&A Due Diligence Can Protect the Outcome of Your Deal
Businesses merge together or outright acquire one another on a regular basis. Two companies that have enjoyed a partnership for several years may decide to fully merge [...]
The Sentencing of Theranos’ Elizabeth Holmes and Sunny Balwani
Elizabeth Holmes and Ramesh “Sunny Balwani” of Theranos fame, or infamy, were sentenced after receiving convictions earlier this year. Holmes, founder and ex-chief executive officer (CEO) [...]
What Every Executive Team Must Know About Sanctions and Supply Chain Due Diligence
One of the key parts of any business is its supply chain. A supply chain is made up of various vendors that supply raw materials and transport [...]
How to Conduct a Risk Assessment to Avoid the Consequences of Money Laundering
When preparing to hire an executive, form a partnership, acquire another company, or even hire a vendor, you need to do a full risk assessment so you [...]
What is the Difference Between Basic and Deep Dive Due Diligence?
Imagine hiring a new executive only to find out that they were involved in a serious crime, have a major conflict of interest, or have a history [...]
The Importance of Due Diligence in Executive Search
When an executive leaves a company, it creates a vacuum. Often, an entire division of the company is left without executive leadership. The CEO or board [...]
Identifying the Three Main Levels of Due Diligence
On May 9, 2022, Jorge Gomez joined Moderna, maker of the COVID-19 vaccine, as their new CFO. Gomez was fired just one day later when it [...]
The Most Significant Consequences of Insufficient Executive Due Diligence
According to common practice, a strong compliance program focuses on policies, employee training, books and records and internal controls, onboarding questionnaires and risk ranking of third parties, [...]
The Psychology of the Con
Underscoring the Need for Enhanced Due Diligence Investigations Cassie Chadwick the “Queen of Ohio” in 1897 started an audacious, highly lucrative, and extremely successful con. At a [...]
FCPA Recidivists and Due Diligence Investigations
According to FCPA tracker data, there are around 100 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) investigations ongoing as of August 2022, with 20 new investigations disclosed since the [...]
Protecting the Board
Board Risks and How to Mitigate Them The board of directors play a critical role in a company. They represent the company and have a fiduciary duty [...]
“Heroes and Monsters”
An Artistic Dive into Due Diligence Through the Brush of Art Fraud Art. The word has spawned the question: “What is art?” It is a fairly modern [...]
Uber: A Legacy of Reputational Damage
Showcasing the Need for Due Diligence Investigations Reputation is critical in business. Warren Buffet once said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes [...]
Assessing Character: The Indispensable CEO Quality
A number of interesting C Suite “characters” have been in the spotlight in recent years in the area of business corruption, fraud, and other acts of misconduct. [...]
Spotlight on FCPA Violations – Q2 2022
Foreign Corrupt Practice Act (FCPA) enforcements so far in 2022 total $112.3 million in settlements with three companies: South Korea’s KT Corporation, Stericycle, Inc. headquartered in Illinois, [...]
Glencore’s $1.18 Billion FCPA and CFTC Violations: What this Means for Businesses
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced last Tuesday a $1.18 billion dollar agreement was reached by Glencore International A.G. and Glencore Ltd. (collectively Glencore), part of [...]
Why Due Diligence Background Checks Should be Conducted on Executives and Business Partners
Times are particularly litigious and reputation can rise or fall with a new scandal or questionable behaviors by key executives. The global economy has opened up a [...]
Disregarding M&A Due Diligence – Is It Worth the Risk?
Stericycle’s Rapid Global Expansion with Lack of Due Diligence and Compliance Program Cost $90M in FCPA Violation Fines Global markets continue to be the domain of the [...]
The 1-Day CFO
Lack of Effective Executive Due Diligence and Moderna Preventative care is used to differentiate between detecting health problems before they develop and diagnostic care, or evaluating someone [...]
GoodMoney: Bad Due Diligence
Good Money, Inc., is a financial technology, or fintech, online digital banking platform, founded in 2018, that directs half of its profits to what it deems social [...]
Protecting the Board: Board Risks and How to Mitigate Them
The board of directors play a critical role in a company. They represent the company and have a fiduciary duty to its shareholders and assets. While they [...]
Mentoring and Entrepreneurship in Challenging Times – An Interview with Candice Tal (Part 2)
This is part two of Mentoring and Entrepreneurship in Challenging Times. To listen to part one, click here. Candice Tal, CEO of Infortal Worldwide, a leading global [...]
Mentoring and Entrepreneurship in Challenging Times – An Interview with Candice Tal (Part 1)
Starting and growing a business is challenging, but can prove even more difficult during tumultuous times. Business formation requires bringing numerous elements together successfully: dedication, specialization, skill [...]
Spotlight on FCPA Violations – Q2 2021
Ongoing global business connections provide great benefits, but also conceal great risks. This has led to increased cooperation between corporations and multi-national government agencies to uncover FCPA violations.
Top 5 Things You Should Know About Protecting Investors
Investors play a key role in the success of many businesses. They invest their capital into your business to provide the money necessary to fund your [...]
The Top 5 Things You Should Know About Supply-Chain Risk Mitigation
Global supply chains are often taken for granted when businesses expand nationally and internationally. Supply-chain vendors are often selected as quickly as possible to keep the movement of goods and supplies or manufacturing capabilities moving rapidly and at a reasonable cost. So, what does a company need to do to mitigate risk in its supply chain?
Spotlight on FCPA Violations – Q1 2021
Doing business is an increasingly global endeavor, from establishing international locations, sourcing, manufacturing and global supply-chains to mergers and acquisitions of international entities, plus increasing foreign investments. However, these benefits come with a wide range of potential and even substantial risks...
Due Diligence for Non-Profits
There are times when non-profits fail to live up to their mission statement and stray into unethical or illegal activity such as mismanagement, fraud, or embezzlement. Additionally, non-profit executives may have a history of financial crimes, abuse or sexual harassment, amongst other harmful characteristics...
Infortal Celebrates 35 Years!
We’re so excited to celebrate our 35th anniversary of helping customers succeed in business by protecting them from bad actors. It has been an amazing journey, meeting incredible people along the way. Much of our growth and success over the years has been connected to the wonderful clients, coworkers, and colleagues that we’ve worked with...
Checkmate: 5 Most Overlooked Background Moves
We don’t know exactly when chess was created, but its history can be traced back at least 1500 years. Background checks may be newer than chess, but often involve just as much strategy and are no game. Businesses strive to create win-win situations by hiring teammates that empower them, while avoiding those that could cause harm.
An Interesting Case of Mistaken Identity
Cases of mistaken identity are nothing new. They have existed throughout history and persist to the present day. Some people are mistaken for someone else because [...]
Workplace Violence Prevention
This article is designed as a brief guideline to assist you in creating greater awareness of workplace violence issues. This information will help in preventing workplace violence [...]
25 Warning Signs of Workplace Violence Risk
This article is designed as a brief guideline to assist you in creating greater awareness of workplace violence issues. This information will help in recognizing some of [...]
Best Practices in Executive Due Diligence
With so many recent scandals at senior executive levels, often resulting in dismissals and resignations, more companies are becoming proactive in checking the backgrounds of their [...]
Truth or Dare?
What are you willing to risk in conducting executive background checks? As many know, truth or dare is a popular social game, especially among children [...]
Spotlight on FCPA Violations
Doing business globally can increase the risk of FCPA violations Doing business globally is increasingly complex, from establishing international locations, establishing and maintaining intricate sourcing, [...]
International Due Diligence Investigations Episode 5 – Global Investigations and Innovation
Innovations-in-Global-Due-Diligence-Investigations We have considered aspects of international due diligence investigations. In many ways this can be viewed as finding a needle in the corporate haystack [...]
International Due Diligence Investigations – Episode 4 Innovation and Continuity
Unlocking the secrets in M&A transactions for greater transparency and risk mitigation I recently had the honor of speaking about various aspects of due diligence [...]
International Due Diligence Investigations – Episode 3, What Is and Is Not Working
In this 5 part series, I am visiting with Tom Fox, the Compliance Evangelist. We consider various aspects of international due diligence investigations. In many ways this [...]
International Due Diligence Investigations – Episode 2, Insights from Recent FCPA Enforcement Actions
Incomplete due diligence results lead to a fragmented view of risks I recently spoke with Tom Fox, The Compliance Evangelist on The Compliance Podcast Network [...]
International Due Diligence Investigations: Episode 1 When Basic Due Diligence Is No Longer Enough
It was an honor to be discussing due diligence investigations this week with Tom Fox, The Compliance Evangelist. The following is excerpted from a series of 5 [...]