by admin_lauth | Feb 23, 2017 | Corporate Investigations
Whether you are entering a merger, considering an investment, or assessing a competitor’s advantage, due diligence is a necessary factor to ensure a successful outcome. Business leaders know the importance of growth but every opportunity presented holds the potential for success or failure.
Business intelligence consists of collecting and organizing large amounts of data that enable businesses to identify opportunities and develop strategies that promote long-term success. Hans Peter Luhn, a researcher for IBM, said in a 1958 IBM Journal article, “Business intelligence is the ability to apprehend the interrelationships of presented facts in such a way as to guide action toward a desired goal.”
Successful business leaders know the importance of information gathering and review before making any business decision. They draw information and knowledge from various professional disciplines including business consulting, law firms, journalists, and of course investigators.
For instance, when considering a merger with another company it is crucial to know as much about the company’s history, business management, ethics, financial solvency, possible undisclosed liabilities, leadership of the company, and their affiliations. All business transactions have potential risks and it important to assess these risks prior to entering any business transaction. The public information gathered can be quite revealing and prevent a decision that could devastate years of hard work, reputation, and even avoid litigation in the aftermath.
Another circumstance that could arise is that your company may want to know the demographics of your competitor’s clients. The information gathered would contain the number of products offered by the company, how many were products were purchased, how many were sold to men or women, the age brackets of those who purchased the products, the average income level, zip code, and level of education. Utilizing a combination of commercial due diligence and intensive analytical due diligence can forecast sales growth; identify a competitor’s operational metrics, procurement, customer management, and even fraud.
While business intelligence can identify external opportunities and risks, internal business intelligence can be equally important. For instance, in the Human Resources Department of a company, the data collected on employee’s absences can be a predictive trend and therefore a strategy developed to combat income loss and retain employees. The same company may want to gauge how their latest marketing campaign is increasing sales in order to produce a trend analysis report and present the information in east to understand graphs and charts in PowerPoint at the next Board Meeting. The advantage of data analysis is endless when assessing performance measures of a business.
Professional investigative teams have private investigators that can verify information, collect information about financial transactions, assets, investments, liabilities, and identify existing contracts, business practices, and even political associations. The information is then provided to the client providing a solid base for decision-making.
Business intelligence involves research, measurement, querying, analytics, data mining, performance management, reporting, identifying benchmarks, information sharing, and regulatory compliance. To implement effective business intelligence strategy, it is important to have skilled investigators to help your company obtain the needed information while conducting a legal, ethical, and discreet investigation.
According to Thomas Lauth, owner and lead private investigator at Lauth Investigations International, business intelligence has become a necessary component of business management worldwide. “From a negative media campaign to competing for a contract, knowing who your opposition is and their political and media affiliations, marketing and internet campaigns, and even motives will give you the competitive edge” says Lauth. “The old saying, it is better to be safe than sorry!” rings true.
Written By: Kym L. Pasqualini
by admin_lauth | Feb 9, 2017 | Private Investigations News
Private investigators do a variety of work. They track down missing people and recover lost assets. They keep an eye on spouses when one partner is worried about infidelity or in the process of divorce. Private investigators look into business assets during a merger and vet CEOs to make sure there are not hidden secrets that will embarrass the company later.
People tend to assume private investigators only do one kind of work, but that’s a mistake. Here are some stories from around the web that demonstrate the versatility of private investigators and all they do.
Private eyes look for runaways, sex-trade victims to rescue
Founder and operator of Lauth Investigations International, Thomas Lauth, was featured in this article from the San Diego Tribune about private investigators working to recover missing people being trafficked into the sex trade.
In Indiana, Thomas Lauth, founder of Lauth Investigations, said his company has worked trafficking cases since “before the word ‘trafficking’ ever came around.”
Historically, he said, law enforcement turned their backs on trafficking victims they viewed simply as prostitutes.
He said that often times a girl is recruited by a friend who introduces her to a trafficker or pimp.
“Police say she left on her own. Parents don’t know what to do. They call police repeatedly. Then they call an investigator,” Lauth said.
Obviously we’re very happy to see Tom’s hard work and dedication to helping families and children being featured in such a big newspaper, but we’re even happier for the work itself. Tom has a long history of finding missing people and helping families recover their loved ones. It’s hard work, but Tom loves doing it and always gets it done.
Private Investigator Investigates Client while Client Investigates Him
In a strange case of cat and mouse, Buzzfeed Motion Pictures employee Mike Carrier hired a private investigator to investigate himself and see what he could dig up. Unbeknownst to the private investigator, Carrier hired a second private investigator to investigate the first private investigator. The story ends rather anticlimactically, but it’s worth reading just for the uniqueness of the situation.
Man Trashes Woman’s Home then Rinses his Hair
Burglars breaking into people’s home and using their showers is surprising common as we wrote about here. While most people would assume burglars want to get in and out as quickly as possible, they’re frequently tempted to get far too comfortable in the homes they invade.
In Youngstown, Ohio this week a man broke into a woman’s house and trashed the inside before the homeowner returned and found the man rinsing his hair in the shower. Surveillance video showed the man came from a convince store around the corner. Police said the man had a lengthy burglary record.
Star of Mannix, Mike Connors, Dies at age 91
Mannix was a tv show that aired for eight season on CBS starting in 1967. Mike Connors played the hero and title namesake Mannix. The show was a big hit despite poor first season ratings. Mannix was a private investigator in Los Angeles who solved street crime and mixed it up with bad guys.
In the CBS News obituary Connors said Mannix was a hit because, ““Up until Mannix, most private investigators were hard-nosed, cynical guys who lived in a seedy area and had no emotions. Mannix got emotionally involved. He was not above being taken advantage of.”
David Schroeder, Blog Writer, Lauth Investigations International
by admin_lauth | Jan 26, 2017 | Investigations
Jack E. Sandline, an Indiana Senator and owner of private investigation firm Jack Sandline and Associates, shared a post on Facebook mocking the women who participated in the post inauguration Women’s March as being fat and unmotivated. Sandlin shared a picture of the march which read: “In one day, Trump got more fat women out walking, than Michelle Obama did in 8 years.”
The post was quickly deleted, but it was too late. People had already taken screenshots of the post and it began spreading like wildfire. After the post was deleted, a second post appeared on Sandlin’s Facebook wall apologizing, but it was also deleted shortly after. Sandlin told the Indy Star he didn’t make either post, but he allow the possibility that he, “…could have hit something.”
Social media is a powerful tool. It can connect you with your audience directly to strengthen your brand. It can also destroy all of your hard work if you post the wrong thing. Here’s a few times people’s social media posts got them into hot water.
Saturday Night Live Writer is Suspended for Barron Trump Tweet
It’s no secret that Saturday Night Live and Donald Trump have an adversarial relationship. Alec Baldwin has been portraying Trump in less than flattering ways ever since Trump announced he was running for president. While SNL has a history of lampooning anyone and everyone, even they had to draw the line when one of their writers tweeted about Trump’s youngest son, Barron.
On the day of Trump’s inauguration, SNL writer Katie Rich published a tweet that said, “Barron will be this country’s first homeschool shooter.” The reaction across social media was swift and strong in its condemnation of the tweet. People were outraged Rich targeted a child with an insult.
Rich deleted the tweet and even deactivated her Twitter account after the backlash, but it was too late. Executives quickly suspended her for indefinite amount of time for the tweet. Rich’s name was removed from the credits of the following show.
Justine Sacco Caused a Social Media Meltdown and had no Idea
Justine Sacco was the director of corporate communications at IAC when she caused a social media meltdown. Sacco was sitting on a plane waiting to take off for Africa when she tweeted, “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding. I’m white!” Sacco’s flight took off shortly after the tweet was sent.
Sacco didn’t have internet access as she flew and had no idea her tweet was causing the uproar it did. With only 170 followers, it’s unlikely Sacco expected any significant response to her tweet. Unfortunately social media is unpredictable and it’s difficult to know what will and won’t blow up. By the time Sacco’s plane landed, there were numerous blogs calling her a racist and she had lost her job.
PacketSled CEO Resigns after Tweeting Death Threat to Trump
In case you thought only lower level employees would lose their jobs over social media posts, Matt Harrigan is here to prove you wrong. Harrigan was the CEO and President of PacketSled, a network security company before resigning due to some ill advised social media posts.
In multiple posts across his Twitter and Facebook pages, Harrigan wrote about wanting to personally kill Donald Trump.
Twitter and Facebook accounts tied to Matthew Harrigan, the President & CEO of PacketSled, included comments threatening Trump Sunday afternoon, according to an NBC 7 source.
“I’m going to kill the president. Elect,” was one of the posts on Harrigan’s Twitter account. It was followed by the comment, “Bring it secret service.”
“…getting a sniper rifle and perching myself where it counts,” reads a post to Harrigan’s Facebook account. “Find a bedroom in the whitehouse [sic] that suits you motherf—er. I’ll find you.”
After Harris’s social media posts began to garner attention, he tendered his resignation to the PacketSled board of directors who quickly accepted. As if losing his job wasn’t bad enough, his comments were also reported to the Secret Service. Harris did apologize for his comments, but it was too late.
David Schroeder, Blog Writer, Lauth Investigations International
by admin_lauth | Jan 23, 2017 | Corporate Investigations
When Hiring a CEO Goes Wrong
Hiring a CEO is a long and arduous process. Companies can’t afford to waste time and money on the wrong candidates. It’s bad enough when someone gets a CEO position and isn’t good at their job. It’s even worse when they have to resign in embarrassment.
More frequently than you might suspect, companies hire someone for a top executive position without doing a thorough background check. Instances like these not only waste company resources, but they hurt the company’s image and make securing top talent in the future harder. Here are a few times a more thorough vetting process could’ve protected a company’s resources and reputation.
Monica Crowley
Monica Crowley was a research assistant to Richard Nixon in the 1990s. She received a PhD from Columbia University in 2000 and was a political commentator for The Wall Street Journal, Fox News and MSNBC, among others. She has published multiple books as well.
When Donald Trump won the presidency he initially nominated Crowley to be the Senior Director of Strategic Communications for the National Security Council. Quickly after her nomination reports began circulating that Crowley had plagiarized large portions of the books she had written.
Initially the Tump administration said they stood by Crowley and that the attacks on her were politically motivated. However more and more evidence of Crowley’s plagiarism began to mount.
Crowley was found to have not only plagiarize portions of her books, but also her PhD dissertation for Columbia University. Harper Collins, Crowley’s book publisher, withdrew her books from being sold and Columbia said they were reviewing their records.
Crowley’s plagiarism went from minor footnote to national spectacle overnight. After standing by Crowley during the initial accusations, the Tump administration ended up withdrawing her nomination. This whole scandal could’ve been avoided with basic cross referencing and data mining.
Gustavo Martinez
Gustavo Martinez was the CEO of J. Watler Thompson, a major company in the advertising industry. JWT has over 10,00 employees working in more than 200 offices across 90 countries.
Martinez is originally from Argentina and became Global President of JWT in 2014. In January of 2015 Martinez was named CEO. Within a year of his promotion, Martinez was named in a lawsuit alleging discrimination by a female employee.
The lawsuit claimed Martinez had made numerous racist remarks during a company meeting. Martinez is said to have told employees to double check their bags and belongings since the hotel where they were staying had so many black people. Martinez is also accused of making comments about raping female employees.
One of the more shocking aspects of this case is the brazenness of Martinez. All of these comments were made in front of large groups of people. His comments about black people potentially stealing employees belongings are even on video. In fact, Martinez had been known to discuss his distaste for Jewish people.
Martinez’s willingness to speak this way publicly surely could have been discovered before he was made CEO. Instead J. Walter Thompson is now engaged in a high profile lawsuit and lost their CEO. Extensive background investigations can protect your company from embarrassing headlines and wasting money fighting lawsuits that should never have happened in the first place.
Scott Thompson
Scott Thompson is an American businessman with an impressive resume. Thompson had a long career in technology before becoming the CEO of Yahoo in 2012. He had been the Executive Vice President of Technology Solutions for Inovant, Chief Information Officer for Barclays Global Investors, Chief Technology Officer and then President of Paypal.
Thompson’s work history made him appear to be the perfect candidate for almost any job in technology. How could he have gotten so many high level technology jobs without any skeletons being rousted from his closet?
Despite his exceptional work history it turns out that Thompson had been falsifying his resume. After six months as the CEO of Yahoo, Thompson was forced to resign after it was discovered he lied about his college education. Thompson claimed to have received bachelor’s degrees in computer science and accounting from Stonehill College.
When Stonehill College was contacted about potential discrepancies on Thompson’s resume, they would only confirm he had received a degree in accounting. Thompson blamed a headhunting firm for the false information, but the firm strongly denied the allegation. Yahoo has been struggling to find stead leadership ever since.
All of these cases share a common theme; they were all 100% avoidable. There is no excuse for hiring a CEO who has to resign in disgrace with a year of employment or even before they begin the job. Private investigation firms like Lauth Investigations International can identity these issues before your company makes a move.
Companies aren’t just wasting time and money on unqualified candidates, but they’re risking their reputations. Appearing dysfunctional is bad for investors and makes it more difficult to secure qualified candidates in the future. Lauth Investigations International has the investigatory skills to protect your business from self-inflicted wounds.
David Schroeder, Blog Writer, Lauth Investigations International
by admin_lauth | Sep 19, 2016 | Corporate Investigations, Personal Investigations, Private Investigations News
1. We Locate People
The individual could be a witness, heir, a missing child, or a criminal. Maybe the individual is a former disgruntled employee who could whistle-blow about corporate misconduct or fraud. You might needing locate a subject in possession of the proverbial “smoking gun”—as in the case of stolen assets. Whether it’s an interview, serving papers, or investigate individuals, a Lauth PI can help you to identify and locate the subject.
2. We Locate Assets
Lauth Investigators are skilled at locating assets such as real estate, unclaimed property, and other valuable property like: artwork, antiques, collectibles, motor vehicles, aircraft, vessels, etc. A Lauth investigator can also help attorneys to identify the location both domestic and offshore bank accounts.
3. We Can Leverage for Negotiations
A Lauth Investigator can pull together key sources and intelligence to inform your side during litigation, in an M&A deal, during an internal investigation, or any other adversarial situation. It can make the difference between a favorable settlement and an unfavorable one.
4. We Can Help Attorneys Enforce Judgments
Obviously, a judgment is only useful if you are able to enforce it. A Lauth Investigator can help attorneys to identify current assets and uncover efforts to hide or misrepresent them through the transfer to family members, friends or other parties.
5. We Can Connect the Dots
Lauth Investigators can help you to know who is actually sitting on the other side of the table during litigation or a potential business deal. You can gain immeasurable negotiation power by identifying who is actually behind a faceless corporation or tying together undisclosed connections.
6. We Can Generate A Historical Reconstruction/Timeline
A historical reconstruction may be helpful in a number of different areas. Perhaps you need to review the history of a family to locate heirs. It could be a corporate history or a chain of title issue in a real estate matter. Whatever the issue, a Lauth Investigator can help to identify and piece together long lost documents, facts and witnesses.
Aaron Snyder — Research Investigator and Blog Writer — Lauth Investigations International
