Corporate Fraud & Financial Investigations
When money goes missing, we follow it, and prove who took it.
Embezzlement, vendor fraud, kickbacks, and financial misstatement, investigated by former FBI agents and attorneys and documented to a standard built for court. Licensed in New York State.
Former FBIAttorney LedLicensed in New York State
The Cost of Waiting
Corporate fraud is quiet, patient, and expensive.
By the time most companies notice, the scheme has already been running for a year. The longer it hides, the more it takes. The figures below come from the largest study of occupational fraud in the world.
5%
of company revenue lost to fraud every year
$145K
median loss per fraud scheme
12 mo
typical time before a scheme is caught
$9,900
lost every month a scheme keeps running
Source: ACFE, Occupational Fraud 2024: A Report to the Nations (1,921 real cases across 138 countries).
Follow the Money
The rarest fraud is the costliest.
Occupational fraud sorts into three families. Asset misappropriation, the theft of cash or inventory, is by far the most common and appears in 89% of cases. Financial statement fraud, where the books themselves are altered, shows up in just 5%. The damage runs in the opposite direction of the frequency.
Median loss per case, by scheme type
The less often it happens, the more it costs when it does.
Financial statement fraud · 5% of cases$766K
Corruption, kickbacks and bribery · 48% of cases$200K
Asset misappropriation · 89% of cases$120K
Source: ACFE, Occupational Fraud 2024.
How It Surfaces
Your controls probably will not catch it. A person will.
In the ACFE study, a single tip uncovered more fraud than every audit and management review combined, and most of those tips came from employees. That is exactly why an investigation has to move quietly, before the person responsible can destroy records or cover the trail.
How occupational fraud is first detected
Tips find more than the next two methods put together.
Tip · 52% come from employees43%
Internal audit14%
Management review13%
Source: ACFE, Occupational Fraud 2024.
Why Speed Matters
Every month it runs, the loss climbs.
A scheme caught within six months costs a median of $30,000. Let it run two to three years and that figure reaches $250,000. Let it survive five years or more and it hits $875,000. Waiting is not a neutral choice. It is the most expensive decision on the table.
Median loss by how long the fraud lasted
The average scheme loses about $9,900 for every month it stays hidden.
Caught within 6 months$30K
Runs 2 to 3 years$250K
Runs 5 years or more$875K
Source: ACFE, Occupational Fraud 2024.
What We Investigate
The schemes we see, and how they hide.
Most internal fraud is built on trust and access. A trusted bookkeeper alters checks. A manager sets up a shell vendor and approves its invoices. A buyer takes a kickback to steer a contract. In the ACFE data, 84% of perpetrators showed at least one red flag before they were caught, most often living visibly beyond their means or keeping unusually close ties to a vendor. The signs are usually there. They just need someone trained to read them.
The threat is not only internal. In 2024, the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center logged $16.6 billion in reported losses, including $2.77 billion to business email compromise, where a criminal impersonates an executive or vendor to redirect a wire. We investigate the insider, the outside actor, and the overlap between them.
Embezzlement & skimmingVendor & billing fraudKickbacks & briberyCheck & payment tamperingPayroll & expense fraudFinancial statement manipulationAsset diversionWire & invoice fraud
Our Process
How a corporate fraud investigation works.
Every engagement is confidential and built to hold up if it ends in court or in front of a regulator.
01
Confidential consultation and scoping
We learn what you are seeing, define the questions that matter, and map the fastest path to answers, all under strict confidentiality.
02
Evidence preservation
We move quickly to secure records, communications, and financial data before anything can be altered or destroyed.
03
Forensic financial analysis
We trace transactions, reconstruct the money trail, and separate honest error from deliberate deception.
04
Field investigation and discreet surveillance
Where the law allows, we corroborate the paper trail with lawful surveillance and fact development on the ground.
05
Interviews and source development
We conduct structured interviews and develop sources to fill the gaps that records alone cannot.
06
Court-ready reporting and testimony
You receive a clear, defensible report, and when needed, expert testimony that stands up to cross examination.
Watch
A short look at how a corporate fraud investigation comes together.
Why Insight
Federal experience. Legal discipline. Evidence that holds.
Our team brings more than 70 years of combined investigative, intelligence, and legal experience to the private sector.
Former FBI and national security
Our investigators come from the FBI and national security backgrounds, trained in counterintelligence and complex financial crime.
Attorney led, built for court
Attorneys guide every case, so the work meets the evidentiary standards a courtroom or regulator will demand.
Licensed in New York State
We are fully licensed New York State investigators, working within state privacy and investigative law.
Discreet, neutral, defensible
We work quietly and report only what the evidence supports, which is what makes our findings hold up under scrutiny.
Questions
Common questions about corporate fraud investigations.
What counts as corporate or financial fraud?
It covers any deception that causes financial or reputational harm to a business: embezzlement, vendor and billing fraud, kickbacks, payroll and expense abuse, asset theft, and manipulation of financial statements. If money, inventory, or the numbers themselves are not adding up, it is worth a look.
How do you investigate without alerting the person responsible?
Discretion is the core of the work. We build the case from records, data, and lawful field work before anyone is confronted, so evidence is preserved and the subject has no chance to cover their tracks.
Will your findings hold up in court?
That is the standard we build to from day one. Attorneys guide the process, evidence is preserved and documented properly, and our reports are written to withstand cross examination. We also support litigation with expert testimony when it is needed.
How quickly can you start, and what does it cost?
We can usually begin with a confidential consultation right away, and because the loss grows every month a scheme runs, moving early protects both evidence and money. Cost depends on the scope, which we define with you up front. Reach out and we will map it out.
The longer you wait, the more it costs.
Speak with a licensed New York State investigator today, in complete confidence. Former FBI, attorney led, and built for court.
Sources & Data
Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE). Occupational Fraud 2024: A Report to the Nations. Based on 1,921 real cases across 138 countries, January 2022 to September 2023.
Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). 2024 Internet Crime Report. Figures reflect losses reported to the IC3 during 2024.
Statistics on this page reflect global and United States data as reported by the sources above.
Former FBI professionals, attorneys, and national security experts delivering high-integrity private investigations built for legal, corporate, and high-risk environments.
INSIGHTS
- The Insider Threat Sitting Inside Your Company Right Now
- Due Diligence Failures That Cost Companies Millions
- Before You Sue, Know the Facts: Why Smart Attorneys Use Investigators Before Filing
- Social Media Never Forgets: How Digital Investigations Expose Contradictions
- The CFO Is Not the Only Risk: How Internal Fraud Hides in Plain Sight
Reach Us
We are diligent and determined because we care about our clients.
1335 Jefferson Rd, Rochester, NY 14623