by admin_lauth | Sep 2, 2016 | Private Investigations News
After the 2007 to 2008 financial crisis and subsequent Great Recession, several federal regulations and laws have been put in place to minimize the amount and extent of securities fraud. Security fraud, also known as stock fraud and investment fraud, includes any practice that induces investors to make financial or investment decisions on the basis of false information, particularly in the stock or commodities markets. Government agencies have worked to limit the financial damaged created by fraudulent activities by implementing whistleblower programs that empower and reward individuals who come forward with information regarding securities fraud or fraudulent activities.
The United States’ Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has an entire office designated to whistleblowers. The Commission believes that whistleblowers can be invaluable tools, helping the Commission to identify fraudulent activities, naming those involved, and detecting these activities much earlier. A major perk of the whistleblower program is that the Commission has been able to minimize the financial damage incurred by investors due to securities fraud.
The Dodd-Frank Act created in 2010 established the Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Law in order to encourage company employees to come forward with information. The Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Law has given more power to the SEC to detect potentially financially disastrous securities fraud. According to the SEC website, the governmental department “oversees the key market participants in the securities world including securities exchanges, securities brokers and dealers, investment advisors, and mutual funds”. Some states have followed the national government’s model by adopting individual whistleblower programs. Indiana and Utah are two examples of states that have followed the federal government’s example. Edward Siedle, a representative of a whistleblower in Indiana stated “leveraging the power of the whistleblower is tremendously helpful, and it’s not costing the state anything.”
While the Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Law establishes that whistleblowers can and should come forward and any interference by the company in question is strictly forbidden, the law does not force companies to establish their own programs aimed at increasing company transparency. Private Investigators can lobby companies to establish whistleblower programs that will help prevent securities fraud and other illicit activities. By creating company-wide whistleblower programs, companies can save significant amounts of money for the company itself and investors.
The Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary Jo White stated in a speech to the Ray Garrett Jr. Corporate and Securities Law Institute at Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago that she “would urge that, especially in the post-financial-crisis era, in which regulators and right minded companies are searching for new, more aggressive ways to improve corporate culture and compliance, it is past time to stop wringing our hands about whistleblowers”. According to Investment News it has been over five years since the SEC created the whistleblower program, and as Chairman White explained the SEC has “seen enough to know that whistleblowers increase our (SEC) efficiency and conserve our scarce resources”. The Chairwoman also noted the importance of individual internal compliance programs in companies. Hiring a Private Investigator to advocate for a company-wide whistleblower programs can prevent costly legal fees, poor publicity, and loss of faith in the company. The financial damage to a company because of securities fraud can be astronomical, and hiring a PI to help the company create or expand a whistleblower program can save companies millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars.
For More Information on Whistleblower Programs Visit: www.Sec.gov
Tiffany Walker – Blog Writer, Lauth Investigations
by admin_lauth | Sep 2, 2016 | Private Investigations News, Tips & Facts
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation there were approximately 8,277,829 property crimes reported by law enforcement in 2014. These property crime reports include burglaries, vehicular theft, and larceny-thefts, with an estimated 14.3 billion in financial losses for the victims of these crimes. Of the total number of arrests made by law enforcement, only about 10 percent were for property crimes—even though property crimes make up a large sum of criminal reports.
Police Departments across the country have difficulty prioritizing theft investigations over those involving physical violence. Consequently, the theft of your grandmother’s pearl earrings will most likely not be a priority for the local law enforcement. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, a police department can have to manage up to 50 reports of burglaries and around ninety percent of these cases will go unsolved.
Art Theft
The United States’ largest property crime, the Isabelle Stuart Gardner Museum heist, still remains unsolved. The financial losses incurred by the one property crime totaled more than $600 million. None of the stolen paintings have been recovered even after two decades. Private art collections or family heirlooms can be targets for criminals. However, private investigators can be extremely useful tools in finding your stolen property when law enforcement cannot help. Private Investigators have the experience and necessary tools needed to find your property in a timely manner. Unlikely police departments, private investigators can give your case individual attention in order to recover your valuables.
Electronic Theft
The FBI’s National Crime Information Center also tracked the number of reported electronic thefts in the United States. Laptop thefts have increase almost fifty percent from 2007 until 2009. The number of reports jumped from 73,700 to 109,000. During the same period, the number of reported thefts of cell phones also increased about 33 percent. More shockingly, the amount of theft of music players reports increased over ninety percent, with the number of reports rising from 8,900 to over 17,000. More recent estimates suggest that 1.6 million smart phones were stolen in 2012 to 3.1 million in 2013.
Stolen personal electronics are not always reported to police in order to avoid potentially wasted time. Many people have opted for a private investigation in order to ensure more attention to their particular case.
How Private Investigators Can Help
With property theft it is important to act as quickly as possible. Contact the police to create an official report, but also hire a private investigator to ensure that you will have the best chance of finding your stolen items. Private investigators are able to dedicate many more hours than individual police officers because they often have a smaller caseload.
Private Investigators Can:
- Conduct interviews with witnesses, pawn shops, and institutions
- Dedicate more hours to a single case
- Provide positive results more frequently than law enforcement
- Begin investigating right away
- Depending on the victims preferences, collect evidence for prosecution
- Track the sale of stolen goods online
- Conduct a more inconspicuous investigation—in order to avoid tipping off the perpetrator
Stolen items can have significant sentimental value and therefore are priceless, hire a private investigator to ensure you have the best chance of being reunited with your belongings.
Tiffany Walker – Blog Writer, Lauth Investigations
by admin_lauth | Sep 1, 2016 | Private Investigations News
Stolen Family Jewelry
In December 2012 Lauth Investigations International’s Indianapolis office was retained to locate a stolen wedding band—valued at $35,750.
The Case
The owner of the ring was a local grandmother, who we will refer to as Client X. Client X was the grandmother of three, and the mother of two older children—both of whom were married. One of her grandchildren was a special needs child, and required near-constant care. The financial burden of the care was becoming too much for her son’s family. Meanwhile, the client and her daughter-in-law were estranged for many years.
Client X briefed Lauth Investigation’s Private Investigators on the case, and she was adamant that her daughter-in-law, the one with the special need son, could be responsible for the theft.
Client X insisted that she was responsible, and that her son had no knowledge of his spouse’s thieving behavior. In the briefing for Client X, she further explained that she was loaning her son money to pay for various things for their special needs son such as education, clothing and other necessities.
She also had purchased the house they lived which alleviated them of any mortgage or rent payment. The client was firm in remembering where she left the ring inside the home and felt comfortable implicating the daughter-in-law—as there was a history of small items disappearing from inside her home.
The Investigation
The client had contacted other local private investigation companies but they were unable to assist. Lauth Investigators requested that Client X file a police report, and to get the detectives name and report number for reference when speaking with vendors.
Lauth Investigations was confident they could utilize local sources in gathering evidence leading to the daughter-in-law and perhaps even locate the ring.
Lauth Investigators began the case by compiling a strong data timeline to track the various auctions and pawn shops. Investigators worked on a critical timeline to locate the ring before it was sold.
Investigators requested photos from Client X of the daughter-in-law, the ring, and any insurance statements or police reports she filed.
Investigators then compiled a geographical list of auctions and pawnshops near the subject’s home in order to interview shop owners and request receipts.
On Day-Two of the investigation, Lauth Investigations uncovered a receipt from a location nearly one-hour from the suspects home. Evidently, the suspect had sold the ring to a small jeweler for over $8,500.00—just two days after the ring was stolen.
After Client X authorized Investigators to proceed confronting her daughter-in-law regarding the theft, investigators took the receipt and written statement from the jeweler and then attempted to obtain a confession from subject. Investigators attempted to confront the woman to discuss but she adamantly denied the theft and refused to talk any further.
The confession attempt interaction then started a thunderstorm of conflict in the family and people began to shut down.
Investigators then scoured other jewelers and auctioneers and found an additional receipt for $4,000 from months before the other theft.
The Results
Lauth Investigators then contacted the original law enforcement detective on the case and reported their findings.
One week later suspect was arrested.
Client X was very happy to have received closure on her wedding ring, and she recommends anyone having a household theft problem to contact a private investigator.
– Thomas Lauth, CEO, Lauth Investigations International
![Demand For Background Checks on the Rise]()
by admin_lauth | Jul 8, 2016 | Private Investigations News
The demand for background checks is on the rise.
According to Time Magazine, the FBI completed more than 2.1 million background checks for gun purchases in June 2016. This is an increase of 40 percent over 2015, and experts are pointing to the June 12 shooting in Orlando, where 49 people were killed, as the cause of this spike.
These FBI background checks are initiated anytime someone tries to purchase a firearm from a federally licensed gun dealer.
“Mass shootings and acts of terrorism tend to spark increased gun sales because Americans fear for their safety and also because gun advocates worry that the mass shooting will initiate stricter gun control,” writes Time Magazine’s Rosalie Chan.
Mass shooting and acts of terrorism also tend to spark an increase in background checks more broadly.
As employers and HR specialists are becoming increasingly worried about workplace violence, as landlords become increasingly concerned about the backgrounds of their tenants, and as those in the dating world are becoming increasingly anxious about whether or not a would-be-lover is indeed who they say they are.
Consider out these statistics compiled by HireRight:
False Information
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53% of all job applications contain inaccurate information.
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In a survey conducted by CareerBuilder.com, 49% of the 3,100 hiring managers surveyed had caught a job applicant fabricating some part of his/her resume.
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34% of all application forms contain outright lies about experience, education, and ability to perform essential functions on the job.
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9% of job applicants falsely claimed they had a college degree, listed false employers, or identified jobs that didn’t exist.
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11% of job applicants misrepresented why they left a former employer.
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Nearly one-third of job applications listed dates of employment that were inaccurate by more than three months.
On-The-Job Violence
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Up to 5% of American workplaces experience a workplace violence episode annually.
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FBI Studies estimate nearly 355,000 businesses will experience a workplace violence episode in any given year.
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13% of the 5,840 workplace fatalities that happened in 2006 were the result of assaults and violent acts.
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There were 11,613 workplace homicide victims between 1992 and 2006, averaging just under 800 homicides per year.
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Of those establishments reporting an incident of workplace violence in the previous 12 months, 21% reported that the incident affected the fear level of their employees and employee morale.
Employee Theft
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In 2008, the majority of retail shrinkage was due to employee theft at $15.9 billion, which represented almost half of losses (44%).
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In 2008, the average employee theft case was $2,672.
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30% of all business failures are caused by employee theft.
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In 2007, one in every 28.2 employees was apprehended for theft from their employer.
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The FBI calls employee theft the fastest growing crime in America. 55% of perpetrators of employee theft are managers.
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75% of all employees steal at least once.
Drugs
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More than 75% of substance abusers are employed.
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In 2007, 8.4% of those employed full-time were current illicit drug users, and 8.8% reported heavy alcohol use.
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Substance abusers change jobs as frequently as 3 times a year.
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Substance abusers are at least 33% less productive.
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Substance abusers are 2.5 times more likely to be absent 8+ days a year.
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Drug abusers cost twice as much in medical and worker comp claims as drug-free workers.
Bad Hires
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Negligent hiring cases have had verdicts of up to $40 million.
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The average settlement of a negligent hiring lawsuit is nearly $1 million.
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Employers have lost more than 79% of negligent hiring cases.*Source: Fortune, 2/00
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It costs $7,000 to replace a salaried employee, $10,000 to replace a mid-level employee and $40,000 to replace a senior executive.
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The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that the average cost of a bad hiring decision can equal 30% of the first year’s potential earnings.
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Replacing supervisory, technical and management personnel can cost from 50 to several hundred percent of the person’s salary.
Hiring an experienced investigations firm that is adept in conducting complete and thorough background checks from the ground up is the best first step in safeguarding against false information, workplace violence, employee theft, drugs in the workplace, and bad hires.
Be sure to visit our website for more information.
![Demand For Background Checks on the Rise]()
by admin_lauth | Jul 7, 2016 | Private Investigations News
Here are 8 Signs of a Potential Dangerous Person In the Workplace. This is in no way an exhaustive list, merely a few common red flags to watch out for:
1. A Controlling Nature
This person is not the industrious take-charge type, but a true threat when it comes to controlling others. Change unravels this type of person.
2. Violent Opinions
These people tend to blame victims and are particularly interested in news about the latest school or workplace shooting, bombing, etc. It could be a red-flag if the individual often talks about, or expresses interest in, violent and odd topics.
3. Obsession With Power
This point has some overlap with number one, but this type of individual may have a gun collection, subscriptions to ammo or paramilitary magazines, or be active on online communities for firearms. He or she might also be obsessed with law enforcement.
4. Assume Others are Out to Get Them
Employees who seem hyper-vigilant, or even paranoid, may be under the impression that others are out to get them. A signal could be something as simple as a comment saying, “somebody is poisoning this coffee.” Paranoid thoughts, and expressions of those thoughts, are a red-flag for potential violent behavior in the future.
5. Frequent use of malicious references
These people are likely to say things like: “She had it coming,” or, “Karma is a great thing and will come back to bite him.”
6. A Generally Weird Personality
They generally are the oddballs, the ones who stand out. They don’t get invited to parties coworkers throw. Although there are tons of harmless people with odd personalities, this is a potential red-flag.
7. Lifestyle is Not Health-Conscious
Not very many of us have the discipline to live a completely health-conscious lifestyle. That is not uncommon. However, at the extreme end of the spectrum: people often smoke and/or drink, rely on pain pills all the time, are hooked on sleeping pills, eat junk-food constantly, and are the last people you’ll see at the gym performing lifts or taking a high-impact aerobics class.
8. Ongoing Anger
These types of people are frequently irate, and they often blame others for this anger. These are the people, that at some point, will reach boiling point.
![Demand For Background Checks on the Rise]()
by admin_lauth | Apr 5, 2016 | Private Investigations News
If your home was broken into, would you be able to quickly provide law enforcement and your insurance company with serial numbers, photos, and/or receipts of everything that was stolen?
For far too many people, the answer to that question is: “no”.
Police Are Not Always Able to Help in Asset Recovery Cases
Police have a whole host of issues they deal with on a daily basis—violent crime among them. Most law enforcement agencies simply lack the manpower needed to deeply investigate every stolen item reported to them.
Unfortunately, even if you are able to provide local law enforcement with specific information about the items taken, police can only assist in asset recovery to a certain degree and only in certain situations.
For example, police are much more likely to conduct a proper investigation when there has been a home-break-in, armed robbery, or cases where there is evidence of forced entry. If none of these circumstances exist, the police are not likely to be of much assistance.
Essentially—if you leave your garage open some afternoon, and you’re new, expensive road bike is stolen—you likely won’t receive much help from police.
What police might do, depending on the state you live in, is communicate with local pawn shops regarding items that may have been stolen. However, this isn’t always fruitful for various reasons: laws surrounding communication between pawn shops and police vary greatly from state to state, individual pawn shops deal with possible stolen property differently.
For example, pawn shops in some states are not required to report or otherwise communicate with local police. On the other hand—states like Ohio require all pawn shops to report daily to local law enforcement. In Ohio, pawn shops send daily reports on items, loaned or pawned, which they have reason to believe may be stolen.
The variation between laws from state to state creates differences in the way pawn shops handle possible stolen property. However, for the most part, pawn shops do not want to purchase stolen merchandise or sell it to their customers. For this reason, among others, pawn shops are no longer the place criminals are taking their stolen items to sell.
Why (Smart) Criminals Don’t Take Stolen Items to Pawn Shops
So as we’ve already determined—pawn shops are no longer the “go-to” place for criminals to sell their stolen items. So why aren’t they taking their stuff to local pawn shops anymore?
There are three main reasons that criminals have moved away from pawn shops: 1. Pawn shops don’t want stolen merchandise, and are more cautious now than they have been historically, 2. Pawn shops and police work together relatively efficiently (in most states), and 3. There are better, safer, online solutions for criminals to sell stolen merchandise.
Pawn brokers and the pawn shop industry in general have been pushing back against the stereotype that they are the “go-to” place for thieves to sell stolen goods. This is the main reason pawn shops don’t want stolen merchandise. They, like other businesses, value their reputation. Pawn shops are largely not interested in forgoing a good reputation in order to make a couple of bucks on a stolen good. For this reason, most pawn shops try to avoid buying stolen goods at all costs.
When things do slip through the cracks and a stolen item is purchased or loaned to a pawn shop, police (in many states) are sometimes effective in recovering the stolen property, which is enough to scare of some would-be-sellers.
However, one major reason that pawn shops are not the number one choice for thieves looking to sell is because of the growth of the internet and social networking sites.
Online Storage for Your Photos, Serial Numbers, and Receipts
To be fair, it is pretty laborious to keep all of the necessary information for your belongings—you would likely have to buy a new filing cabinet. That’s why police detectives and private investigators are urging the public to upload this information to an online database.
According to a recent ABC News article, Houston police officer Todd Harris offers this advice about these new online databases:
“If it came from your grandfather or your grandmother, take a picture of it and describe it and put it on there. If things were to get stolen, [it] gives us a better chance to find it—anything that is important to you, even if it isn’t super expensive.”
Websites like LeadsOnline.com and their “Report It” service are just one of many online service solutions for storing this type of information. Even using a service like Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, OneDrive, or something similar to store this information is better than nothing.
It may seem like a pain, but it’s much easier than keeping paper copies of everything; if you are ever unfortunate enough to be the victim of a break-in, you will thank yourself later.
So What Should You Do?
Check back here at the blog—there is an upcoming article about how a hiring a private investigator could be your best option when facing an asset recovery case. In the mean time—make sure to decide on a safe and secure place to store all of your photos, serial numbers, and receipts.
Aaron Snyder, Writer, Lauth Investigations Blog
