The word “fraud” has several meanings and relates to many types of allegations and investigations. Employee fraud relates to thefts and embezzlements through employment; financial statement fraud refers to companies misrepresenting their position and results within their published financial statements; bank fraud relates to customers defrauding financial institutions (in many ways); and fiduciary fraud relates to theft or embezzlement by someone in a position of trust over someone elses’ assets, to name a few.
There also exists a difference between “alleged” fraud versus actual fraud, and many investigations are predicated on the need to support or refute an allegation of some type of fraud.
The key to any investigation, whether alleged or known to be actual, is to remain objective. We seek to identify every explanation possible to protect against reaching the wrong conclusion, the consequences of which are almost always irreversible.
In our experience, many cases involving allegations of fraud concluded that no evidence of such fraud existed, and identified the real explanation for the identified problem or issue.
Our experience includes the following contexts for fraud investigations:
- Financial institutions – lending customer issues
- Medical and dental practices – billing issues
- Employee thefts and embezzlements
- Civil matters – partner’s use of funds
- Probate matters – fiduciary’s use of funds
- Marital dissolution matters – spouse’s use and/or disclosure of funds