Category: Executive Background Check

Background Investigation, Executive Background Check, Hedge Funds, Investment Due Diligence, Mergers & Acquisitions, Private Invetigation, Public Companies, Reputational Risks, Resume Verification, Uncategorized

DDC and President Peter Barakett positively highlighted in Institutional Investor story on investigators who work for hedge funds

DDC and President Peter Barakett were positively highlighted in an Institutional Investor story on Investigators who Work for Hedge Funds.

“Peter used to work at an activist hedge fund and knows exactly what to look for. It’s often a race to hire him.” READ THE ARTICLE.

“A former lawyer, Barakett has a simple standard. The material ‘has to have been legally obtained and, if necessary, admissible in court.'”

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The Ruthless, Secretive, and Sometimes Seedy
World of Hedge Fund Private Investigators

 

 

 

Background Investigation, Executive Background Check, Family Offices, Household staff, News of Interest, Private Invetigation

DDC Investigations™ identifies violent gang member connected to job applicant for billionaire’s household staff

A billionaire’s family office recently engaged DDC Investigations™ (“DDC”) to vet a household staff job applicant. The candidate applied to work in one of the billionaire’s residences, and the position would have allowed her to have direct contact with the billionaire, his family and other staff.

While research indicated the applicant had minimal experience, it also indicated she had no criminal record, no civil litigation, no debt and no obvious red flags.

DDC uses a proprietary research method that routinely produces differentiated research results for clients. Research of the candidate’s social media presence indicated she had been in a 4-year relationship with a young man. DDC dug deeper. Research into the boyfriend revealed various photos of him on social media and included evidence that indicated he was involved with a criminal gang that is noted for its extreme violence.

While DDC is the worldwide leader in detailed executive background checks, mergers and acquisitions research, and other investment due diligence, DDC handles each assignment with thoroughness and care, including the background check of household and family office staff.

DDC specializes in detailed research and business investigations and executive background checks on behalf of family offices, hedge funds and private equity firms, law firms and public and private companies worldwide.

DDC Investigations™ is a Florida licensed private investigation agency (License # A1300198) affiliated with Due Diligence Consulting LLC.

Database Errors, Executive Background Check

The cost of inadequate background checks is higher than doing it right

An estimated 7 million felony conviction records — nearly 25 percent of all felony convictions — are missing from a key federal database that’s used to conduct background checks prior to gun sales, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report.

Due Diligence Consulting (DDC) executive background checks use proprietary research methods
Millions in missing felony records in key database shows importance of DDC’s proprietary background check methods.

Millions of missing records from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) used by the FBI and gun retailers have resulted in thousands of firearm sales that should have been blocked, based on statistics compiled by the WSJ. Gaps in the database have occurred for a variety of reasons, including data matching problems and state and local jurisdictions that don’t share their data.

The WSJ story underscores what Due Diligence Consulting (DDC) has long known: criminal and other databases relied on by law enforcement, law firms and private investigators have gaps in coverage. DDC’s proprietary research process starts where our competitors finish. DDC uses multiple databases in its background investigations and researches a person or entity everywhere they have had a contact or connection, collecting data to the most original source level possible.

Recently, DDC discovered domestic violence charges at a local court house that were absent from commercial databases and used by law firms and private investigators. A research service used by law firms missed the information that DDC found for its client.

We call. We check in person. We submit written records requests. Our proprietary research methodology is based on decades of experience that generate differentiated results missed by others. We provide our clients with the critical information that they need to make decisions on investments and key executives.

Executive Background Check, Reputational Risks, Resume fraud, Resume Verification

The Harvard Lie

It’s only March and already DDC has discovered a public company CEO who has lied about having a Harvard degree.

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To most people, it seems absurd that someone would lie about having a Harvard degree and presume to get away with it. But every year for the past 10 years running, DDC has discovered at least one Harvard bluff during the course of a detailed executive background check. What’s more extraordinary is that these public company executives have invariably already been vetted by other background check firms, executive search firms, law firms and journalists. Repetition of the misrepresented Harvard degree adds to the credibility of the lie over time. Certainly, others have checked this out, the thinking goes.

At DDC, we check everything — every time. Public companies, investors and law firms hire DDC to conduct thorough executive background checks to mitigate reputational risks and protect credibility. A misrepresentation by a public company CEO or board member could leave a company vulnerable to an attack by an activist shareholder, market-moving adverse publicity and loss of investor confidence.

Our clients rely on our detailed, thorough checks to spot omissions and misrepresentations like a Harvard lie. And that’s the truth.