BOOK REVIEW

Hardcover
772 pages
6"x9"

Corporate Investigations

Compiled By Reginald J. Montgomery and William J. Majeski

The Lawyers and Judges Publishing Company is well know for producing some of the finest and most detailed investigative guidebooks for the industry, including titles like Advanced Forensic Criminal Defense Investigations and Advanced Forensic Civil Investigations, compiled and edited by Paul Ciolino and Grace Etling Castle. Now, in a similar style, comes the second edition of Corporate Investigations compiled by Reginald J. Montgomery and William J. Majeski, a 739-page book with contributions from some of the most respected investigators in the industry. Majeski and Montgomery each provided a chapter, as well.

Corporate Investigations contains dozens of well written essays on investigations ranging from the fundamental to the most complex. Obviously, the range of tasks encountered in corporate investigation is broad, which is why the book features contributions from more than 30 leading investigators. Topics included in the manual:
 
FCRA and corporate investigations
Voice and stress analysis
Profiling for corporate investigators
Electronic eavesdropping and corporate counterespionage
Voice identification
The statement as a crime scene: Low-tech tools for corporate investigations
The changing role of law enforcement in corporate investigations
The due diligence investigation
Forensic accounting and financial fraud
Intellectual property theft
Investigating internal theft in a small business
 
The book's topics range into the high-tech world -- author Kevin D. Murray has a chapter on eavesdropping detection and counterespionage programs. Murray's opening line, "Eavesdropping is not your enemy's goal. It is the means to an end -- money, power, ideology, or the ultimate capitalist offence... killing the competition," sets the hook in a well written and fascinating chapter that details the inspection of telephones, wiring, junction blocks and other communication elements that can be targeted with eavesdropping devices.
He also details a new method of detection -- Thermal Emissions Spectrum Analysis, TESA -- that allows hidden bugs and spy cameras to be displayed on a monitor by virtue of the extremely slight amounts of heat produced by their electrical currents. Prudently, Murray offers a perfect response to any prospective client who asks, "What is the average cost of an inspection?” Murray’s reply: “A whole lot less than suffering an attack."

Another example of the use of sophisticated technology in the corporate investigation world is written by Tom Owen and Michael C. McDermott, both experts in the field of voice identification, and their chapter covers the aural/spectrographic method. They explain how the development of sound spectrograph technology has moved from analog to digital, and discuss the computer programs that allow for a greatly improved range of measures and comparisons. "In order to arrive at a positive identification, the examiner must find a minimum of twenty speech sounds which possess sufficient aural and spectrographic similarities," the authors write. "There can be no differences, either aural or spectrographic, for which there can be no accounting." The chapter also includes a step-by-step breakdown of successful voice identification, and a detailed history of voice identification as evidence in court.

In another segment, Julius Bombet, Matthew Buchert and Steven Cooper break down the successful intellectual property theft investigation, explaining the four main categories of the crime: patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets. They write: "Armed with an understanding of the law, each investigator can turn personal skill, individual tactics, and an ever-present breadth of knowledge to complete successfully an intellectual property investigation." The chapter calls upon the wealth of experience the authors have, with Bombet citing a recent investigation of a copyright infringement case that called for some covert computer work. Another example involved Bombet's investigative team monitoring unlicensed apparel sold during a major sporting event.

Forensic accounting expert Robert DiPasquale -- named the 2004 Certified Fraud Examiner of the year -- lays out the basics of his area of expertise in one chapter, including some fascinating statistics from a study of financial fraud conducted by the certified fraud examiners, profiling the crimes, perpetrators and victims. He then explains the numerous sources investigators must consider when conducting a financial fraud investigation, and how to extract the proper information from those sources. "The detection of financial statement fraud can be very difficult and generally would not be detected by just reading the financial statements," DiPasquale writes.

Any investigator that sees corporate or business investigation regularly, or any who would like to add such investigation to his case load, should purchase this book. No other investigative manual culls so much information from so many outstanding sources.

More than half of the contributing authors, including the compilers, will be present at the World Investigators Conference in Las Vegas this September, and a book signing party will be held at the conference.

Michael Koryta (michaelkoryta.com), a regular contributor to PI Magazine, is an investigator and freelance writer.

Hardcover
772 pages
6"x9"
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