Tag: 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

 

 

 

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.

Mergers & Acquisitions, Press Release, Public Companies

DDC assists public company in $750 million strategic acquisition

Due Diligence Consulting, LLC (DDC) provided research support and due diligence as part of a U.S. public company’s approximately $750 million acquisition of a private company.

Although the cost was much smaller than its typical transaction, DDC’s client felt the private company was a strategic target of opportunity and that time was of the essence in negotiating and closing the deal. DDC worked quickly with the acquirer to set research parameters and delivered its research, including background checks on key executives, in less than 2 weeks and under the client’s budget. DDC’s research enabled its client to quickly close the deal before other parties could possibly raise the cost of the acquisition.

“Our clients rely on DDC to provide them with critical qualitative information when they are making investments or acquisitions, as well as deliver research on executives when they are evaluating the risks associated with any transaction,” said Peter Barakett, President of DDC. “What we uncover may impact the deal as well as which executives are retained and which are let go.”

About Due Diligence Consulting, LLC — DDC’s clients include Fortune 500 companies, private companies, family offices, law firms, hedge funds, private equity funds, venture capital funds, foundations, and accounting firms. Founded by Peter Barakett, formerly General Counsel and COO for Atticus Capital LLC, DDC focuses on executive background checks and investment related research and provides due diligence for mergers and acquisitions, proxy contests, litigation and special situations. DDC has a global reach, with clients around the world and decades of experience in sophisticated, detailed research in the USA as well as in foreign jurisdictions. DDC has consistently discovered information that others have missed, including numerous instances of corporate and supply chain fraud, as well as CEOs, investment managers and public company board members misrepresenting their education or work experience. In addition, DDC has assisted its clients in avoiding Ponzi schemes and other fraudulent schemes. DDC Investigations LLC is a full service private investigation firm (License #A1300198) and an affiliate of Due Diligence Consulting, LLC.

Contact: Peter Barakett, President, (239) 434-8393 Email: info@DueDiligenceConsulting.com

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.