United States: Digging Deeper Episode 3: When Personal Lives Feed Criminal Activity

What happens when an investigator stumbles upon a personal detail that leads to professional misdeeds? In Episode 3 of Digging Deeper, Chris Morgan Jones interviews Lisa Silverman, senior managing director in Chicago, about cases where the personal interfered with the professional. 

One of the most challenging parts of an investigator's job is to not try and make the facts stick to a theory - but to develop a theory based on the actual facts. Everyone has a story, and often a client can have a theory. But what sets an investigator apart is the ability to find the accurate story, not the popular one. With the ever-increasing amount of information available on the internet, getting the information is just the first step. Where an investigator's skills come in now are in undertaking a thoughtful analysis, separating accurate information from falsehoods, and then determining how the information fits together to tell a story. Also, the repositories for information have changed over time. For example: twenty years ago, when investigating an employee for fraud, it was common to physically sift through files for details. While that still happens, more often, investigators forensically image the subject's computer and conduct their analysis digitally.

As investigations become more complex, the ability to observe and think critically have become invaluable to uncovering the facts and securing the right outcome. Whether the issues centers around cybercrimes; trade secrets spirited overseas; a due diligence on a prospective executive or board-level hire; a range of frauds; or a variety of international compliance issues with no easy solutions; a deep dive into a potential investment; or a range of other challenges, a skilled investigator's job is to follow the trail of clues to the bare facts, and then to help clients use them in a way that is as whole and protected as possible in the corporate and legal arenas they occupy.

Learn more about our investigative services. 

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.