The Mintz Group conducts a variety of investigations on behalf of clients who believe they have been victims of fraud. These cases often involve misdeeds inside our client company's walls—embezzlement, accounting fraud and other frauds committed by our clients' employees. In other cases, the perpetrators are outsiders—vendors, customers, joint-venture partners or fiduciaries.

Internal Investigations

We are accustomed to gathering information when allegations arise internally, working quickly with in-house and outside counsel toward making an informed decision such as firing an employee, filing a lawsuit or referring the matter to a regulatory or law enforcement body. Sometimes, of course, our investigations clear up allegations and prove that no wrongdoing has occurred.

We employ or work closely with some of the leading investigative accountants, computer-forensic experts and questioned-documents professionals in the world. We know how to re-trace fraudsters' steps, how to uncover hidden relationships among businesses and people, and how to “follow the money.”

We are particularly experienced at pursuing allegations of employee misconduct involving:

• Embezzlement
• Kickbacks
• Fraud
• Conflicts of interest
• Discrimination and harassment
• Leaks and other misappropriation of intellectual property

Assisting Outside Counsel

We often report to outside counsel who are themselves experienced at conducting internal corporate inquiries. We use written to-do lists, interview templates and other mechanisms to make sure we operate under counsel's direction and control.

These investigative attorneys—many of them former prosecutors and regulators—use the Mintz Group to extend their reach in a variety of ways:

• We bring an investigative approach to the search for relevant deleted material in hard drives and computer systems. (The Mintz Group's E-Discovery Team is headed by Thomas E. Williams. He is a Seized Computer Evidence Recovery Specialist (SCERS), a Certified Computer Examiner (CCE), an Access Data Certified Examiner (ACE) and is also certified in the use of Mac Forensics software.)
• We use computer-forensic and other methods to reconstruct a detailed chronology of what particular employees did during particular time periods.
• We have substantial expertise in evaluating and following up on anonymous tips about internal wrongdoing and other issues.
• We have developed a cost-effective way to analyze telephone records and to identify the “owners” of telephone numbers, even if several years old. This often provides key links to collaborators outside the company.
• We “second chair” interviews that lawyers conduct internally and then reach out ourselves to former employees, vendors or other outsiders who have no reason to cooperate.
• We look all over the world for people and money that have gone missing.

In Parallel with Government Investigations

The Mintz Group is experienced and adept at conducting investigations at the same time that criminal and regulatory authorities are looking into the same matters.

Our work often helps fulfill a client's obligation to get the facts (regardless of where other investigations end up). For example, we were chief investigator for the Connecticut legislative committee that was considering the impeachment of Governor John Rowland, at the same time that a criminal investigation of Governor Rowland (who later resigned) was reportedly under way.

Monitorships

The Mintz Group has been brought in by companies as a monitor after an internal or government investigation has raised questions about some employee, department or aspect of its business.

In some of these cases, we are assigned to report not only to the company but to a law enforcement agency or court, in a role sometimes referred to as “private inspector general.” For example, the Mintz Group has recently been monitoring an elevator company after the company came under investigation for bribery; we report the results of our work to the New York City Department of Investigation as well as to the company itself.

Jim Mintz was a founding director of the International Association of Private Inspectors General and continues to serve on its board.