Brief
A UK Factoring business was approached by an individual (Mr X) seeking invoice finance to support a newly formed entity (Business X). As a matter of course the Factoring business approached De Vere Intellica to conduct background and asset searches into Mr X and his business connections.
During the course of De Vere Intellica background searches it became apparent that Mr X had approached other companies to apply for similar lending facilities and had previously approached our client using a pseudonym. De Vere Intellica presented our findings to our client and highlighted the connections discovered between Mr X, his business interests and other entities he had sought funding for. Our findings indicated that Mr X had been utilising false invoices and shipping manifests to gain funding from factoring agents for a number of years and had absconded with the monies.
De Vere Intellica then advised our clients that building a picture of Mr X and his connections would be a useful tool to prevent future frauds of this scale and would also provide an insight into targets for any potential recovery action they wished to undertake.
Work Undertaken
After extensive searches into the background of Mr X and his conduct over the previous ten years De Vere Intellica began to establish a list of figures, persons, companies and assets.
De Vere Intellica took steps to compile these details into a convenient and easy to understand i2 chart which would aid us, and our clients, in understanding the extent of the fraudulent action undertaken by Mr X over multiple years and businesses.
Using our extensive experience using the package De Vere Intellica were able to construct an elaborate web of connections between funders, assets purchased using fraudulently gained funds and associated individuals who had assisted in the fraud. The connections were categorised and detailed using separate identifiers to make further analysis of the movement of money even easier.
Outcome
We passed our findings onto our client who moved to secure the assets associated with Mr X and recover the monies due to them because of Mr X’s fraudulent representation. The chart has also become a valuable tool in educating factoring clients as to the dangers of lending without suitable background understanding of the customer.
