Forensic & investigation Economic crime and non-compliance

We’ll give you advice on the optimal way to carry out sensitive forensic IT investigations (e.g., into cartels, manipulating finances, tax offence proceedings or other financial offences, such as misappropriation of funds, corruption, etc.) and help you take the necessary steps - from initially recording the facts to individual measures to identify and limit the extent of the damage to forensically securing data that will stand up in court and analysing digital evidence. We meet such complex challenges with an experienced team, which is familiar with both the legal requirements and the technical implementation, doesn’t lose sight of the big picture even in large multi-party international cases and ensures uniform quality management.

We offer a coordinated and comprehensive resolution, which includes the following activities:

• Document analysis, such as recording the details of the incident and reviewing your internal guidelines,
• IT forensics (including securing/recovering and analysing electronic data, searching for key words in documents and patterns in databases from your ERP system)
• Interviewing the staff concerned as well as other involved persons,
• Background research on persons and businesses involved as well as investigating the whereabouts of assets,
• Data analysis using individualised algorithms.

Our asset tracing service includes identifying, tracking and – where possible – returning our clients’ assets. Since cross-border knowledge of legal systems, sources, etc. is usually called for here, we work closely with experts from across the international Grant Thornton network. Our goal is to identify all the assets of those owing that would be appropriate for settling outstanding claims. Building on this, we then advise our clients to what extent it would be advisable to take legal steps. In the case of a legal dispute, we chronicle the patterns of covert behaviour that have been uncovered in a way the courts can use.

Whether you are expanding into new countries or expanding your product portfolio, it’s nearly always necessary to work with new business partners. But experience and gut feeling are not enough to judge whether they possess integrity and capacity. Together with our clients, we firstly develop a uniform and compliant screening process. This firstly involves identifying and analysing all the individual risks relating to business partners. These are then compared with existing processes and controls, and any existing gaps are uncovered. The second step consists of carrying out a business partner assessment of potential business partners as necessary.

Our range of services is as broad as the questions you are faced with in court or out-of-court disputes. Examples of our services include:

• Consulting on contract negotiations (prevention).
• Mediation, expert/arbitration services in dispute resolution or private expert opinions for one of the parties.
• Preparation of conclusive documentation for court/out-of-court disputes
• Independent evaluation of transactions before closing and afterwards to support legal claims

We’ll assist you in implementing the provisions of the German Whistleblower Protection Act (Hinweisgeberschutzgesetz – HinSchG). We’ll give you access to a mechanism for reporting companies and public authorities. With this mechanism, whistleblowers, who may stay anonymous if they wish, can report tip-offs, including evidence about the company or public authority.

We also offer to legally scrutinise the plausibility and cogency of the information and if it turns out to be positive, we offer an end-to-end internal investigation involving the experts needed in employment law, criminal law, tax law, forensics and loss assessment.