Internal Investigations
After Allegations
Corruption Investigations: After Allegations of Corruption
For over 25 years, our veteran investigators have been digging deeply into bribery and corruption allegations, the systems that facilitate bribery, and all the agents in between — in every region of the world.
Corruption and Bribery Investigations
When allegations arise inside your organization, we work quickly so that in-house and outside counsel can make an informed decision such as removing an employee or agent, ending a contract, or reporting the matter to a government or supranational organization. Our investigations may also clear up allegations and indicate that no wrongdoing has occurred.
Extend the Reach of Your Legal Team
Working from 12 offices in 7 time zones, our multilingual team can extend the reach of a legal or compliance team in any language, geography and industry. Our investigators understand the local culture and business environment from their own experience in the countries where we work, and are trained in conducting detailed and ethical interviews, records review, and evidence-gathering.
Our work often begins online and ends in-country. Even in difficult jurisdictions and languages, we approach knowledgeable people, gather documentary evidence, and conduct forensic accounting and computer examinations.
Where the Bribes Are
As a public service, we published and have continually updated an interactive visualization, called Where the Bribes Are, which is widely cited around the compliance community.
Kleptocrat: How to Hide Dirty Money
And further to our thought leadership on corruption, we even created a game, called Kleptocrat: How to Hide Dirty Money, based on our study of corruption and asset-hiding patterns. It’s free in Apple’s app store as well as Google Play for Android; 7,500 have already played.
“‘It’s a parallel universe where almost nothing is reported publicly, where contributions are made in secret,’ said Jim Mintz, president of the Mintz Group, a private investigative firm that conducted the Utah House investigation with lawyers from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.”
2014
“‘It’s a parallel universe where almost nothing is reported publicly, where contributions are made in secret,’ said Jim Mintz, president of the Mintz Group, a private investigative firm that conducted the Utah House investigation with lawyers from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.”
2014
Representative Matters
Kickbacks & Conflicts
For a U.S. multinational, we conducted an internal investigation of kickback and conflict-of-interest allegations against their country manager in the Mideast. Our work included forensic reviews of the subject’s computer and e-mail; analysis of financial records, vendor contracts and other documents; and interviews of the subject, other local staff and third-party witnesses.
Concerns About an Agent
Before a pharmaceutical company engaged an agent in Mexico, we conducted an investigation to examine concerns that the agent had had improper interactions with government ministries.
Concerns About a Distributor
We assisted outside counsel to a medical device company with an investigation of corruption allegations against distributors in Europe.
Public Corruption
For the Utah House of Representatives, we conducted an investigation into corruption and misconduct allegations against the state‘s Attorney General. Working with counsel for a bipartisan legislative committee, we conducted hearings and reported to the public in a detailed report, as well as an interactive timeline of key documents.
Why Mintz?
- We have 30 years of experience in conducting internal investigations around the world: researching and obtaining records, conducting interviews, and overseeing the forensic collection and analysis of electronic data.
- We have invested in developing “boots on the ground” and internal “cookbooks” of resources for the 130+ countries in which we regularly work.
- We recruit our staff based on their investigative experience in various countries and their language skills. We have in-house fluency in more than two dozen languages.
- All information in our reports is sourced, to a document where possible. Our memoranda sit atop copies of the actual documents in which our information appears. We do not rely on rumor or innuendo, and our reports avoid using vague statements – such as “according to sources.”
- Our methodology and investigation work product have been subject to review by regulators and used by companies as a standard in responding to corruption allegations.
“Jim Mintz and Irwin Chen have created Kleptocrat, a new free game available in the Apple App Store. Kleptocrat operates on the premise that the Player is a bad guy trying to launder ill-gotten riches while evading the Investigator, a relentless exemplar of all the anti-corruption killjoys out there. Mintz is the founder of the Mintz Group, an international private-investigation firm (“Clarity in a complex world”), many of whose clients are law firms pursuing civil cases.”
