If you’re a law firm, in the financial sector, or a corporation, I am sure you instruct a researcher or investigator to carry out open-source intelligence.
The essential questions you should ask yourself are: Do they solely rely on AI, or is it human-verified information?
Can they compliantly capture all available data from the surface, deep, and dark webs? Do they provide screenshots, or is it digitally captured so it is not contested in a Court of Law?
SIP knows the importance of the legal profession, financial sectors, all businesses in general, and private individuals who may have a cause to investigate someone or a company; having factual intelligence is essential to make informed decisions when planning legal or business strategies to enhance their chances of success, regardless of purpose.
Since 1983, SIP has amassed decades of experience gathering intelligence and employs a team of highly skilled investigative analysts.
To demonstrate our capabilities and the importance of our intelligence reports, I have summarised a few of the thousands of successful cases we have completed over the years.
SIP Client Success Stories
- A UK law firm instructed SIP regarding the matrimonial proceedings. The Respondent’s husband was wealthy, and during the marriage, he and his wife enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle with their children in the UK and Spain. From a young age, the husband rarely engaged in day-to-day business activities, as he relied upon a trusted partner resident in Spain who was very knowledgeable and well-connected in the Marbella region. However, when it came to his divorce settlement, he denied any interest in properties and entities that owned a golf course and substantial land and other properties in Spain, following SIP undertaking complex intelligence and forensic accounting. We were able to demonstrate that the husband was the beneficial owner of entities and properties worth more than £80 million, through offshore structures and powers of attorneys given to his business partner, was the ultimate beneficial owner in entities and properties and other assets of £80 million in concealed assets in offshore structures. The SIP report was presented to the Court, and based on its overwhelming intelligence, the wife secured a settlement judgment for £20 million, plus maintenance of £27,750 per month until full settlement of the judgment sum was received and £300,000 legal costs.
- A European investment fund that acquired substantial shares in a Moldovan Bank that was subject to illegal “raider attacks,” resulting in the theft of its shares and them losing the control it had over the Bank. By way of explanation, a raider attack is a company’s hostile and illegal takeover, often secured through forgery of official seals and documentation, fraud and corrupt court decisions. The investment fund instructed SIP to undertake the investigation. SIP’s specialist investigators and analyst teams penetrated the complex infrastructure of offshore entities, ultimately identifying falsified documentation and corrupt officials. SIP’s Intelligence Report had been a significant factor in our client’s success in recovering not only the bank shares lost in illegal raider attacks but also millions of euros that had also been stolen.
- SIP Intelligence Reports are also used in Criminal Defence; in one case, we were instructed by a law firm whose client, an owner of a bonded warehouse, had been charged concerning the illegal importation of more than 20 kilos of cocaine and contraband. SIP investigative analysts reviewed the prosecution evidence to identify weaknesses in the evidence presented and potential avenues for investigation. Following subsequent open-source intelligence, on-the-ground investigations and mobile phone cell forensics, SIP’s Intelligence Report was submitted to the Court by the Defence, which resulted in their client being found NOT guilty.
There are many other instances where SIP has acted for Defence lawyers, including where clients have been charged with white-collar crimes. In addition, SIP has identified multi-millions of assets globally for our clients due to identifying individuals behind complex global frauds and the assets they acquired from the proceeds of their crime.
SIP Intelligence does not stop there; it is regularly used for the personal protection of HNW individuals and corporate executives, pre-risk assessment for intended destinations, and 24/7 live real-time monitoring of the individual and media, blogs, etc, being published in the local environment, to the place of residence.
The advantage of SIP Intelligence Reports is that they don’t have to be for complex cases, no matter what your objective is, albeit due diligence on individuals or business entities, for associated business partners, wealth and lifestyle, witness background, enhanced KYC, risk assessment, asset tracing, pre-acquisition or merger evaluation, patent/copyright infringement, counterfeit products, crypto crimes, or even on yourself to be informed what other people can find out about you and if any negative media can be damaging to your reputation.
Why is SIP better than other agencies?
At SIP, we use a dedicated, compliant server to extract data from the surface and deep web, as well as a server that integrates over 400 global subscribers and established public databases. In addition, we have local resources in most jurisdictions that we use when information is not available online for the completeness of our research. In cases where data has been stolen through ransomware attacks, which may be sold on the dark web, or for identifying if counterfeit products are being sold or even a person’s involvement in an underground political movement, etc. We have the capability to infiltrate dark web chatrooms to secure any related evidence.
SIP does not rely on AI alone; we have a team of specialist human investigative analysts who verify the facts and then transform the data collated into meaningful information. All you have to do is tell us your objectives, and we will tailor your report to provide you with the most informative factual information so you can make an informed decision. Our reports contain a detailed executive summary that offers answers covering the objectives you sought to uncover and highlights key points of interest that we consider you should be aware of. A further advantage of our Intelligence reports is that they are digitalised, saving you a substantial amount of time scrolling through extensive documents, as within the index or if referred to in the executive summary, you click on the relevant named document or link and it will be displayed within a fraction of a second.
You can always stay with your current provider, but are you doing justice to yourself or perhaps to your client when there may be a more informative alternative? I am the first to admit that loyalty is essential, but so is finding the right path to continued success.
My philosophy is that you never know the advantages you could gain if you don’t try something once. Therefore, I suggest that you try SIP for your Intelligence once; not only would we welcome you as a new client, we are confident that our report will exceed your expectations. So why not email us for further information at client@sip-international.com or visit our website for another specialist service that may be of interest to you: www.sip-international.com
Article Submitted by Ken Lodge
Ken Lodge is the CEO of the SIP International group of companies. He has decades of experience in investigative intelligence and counterintelligence techniques and has worked for various Government Departments, Embassies, Financial Institutions, Oil Companies, and major Corporations globally.
