The United States military originally developed computerized On-line
Database Retrieval Systems during the 1950s. By 1983, dramatic developments
in the banking industry, combined with certain political changes, brought
about a sharp increase in the private use and commercial availability
of database information. Over the past 20 years, on-line databases have
expanded more than 500%, and that pace continues to accelerate on the
international side.
It is our belief that the domestic surge of computerized on-line database
products is now coming to an end. The regulatory agencies, privacy community
and their political agents have all come together to search for a means
to stop the growth of on-line database access. We believe this will
result in terrible problems for the banking, and investment community
as fraud, embezzlement, and theft pervades these industries.
On the international side, ICI also has a wealth of ground sources on a regional basis.
These assets have unique access to proprietary databases that can be
searched for difficult to find data. For example, ICI often is used
to locate hidden assets, discover covert business relationships, and
trace missing funds that have been embezzled. Our international sources,
both electronic and human are unparalleled in the private intelligence
community.
ICI also can trace exfiltrated assets from companies or organizations
by former employers seeking to convert hard assets or intellectual property
assets. This is done through contacts in the banking, financial, credit,
and corporate on-line community, as well as other resources.
Many attorneys use databases to search out case law, precedent, and
judicial rulings in order to fashion their legal strategy, leaving substantive
support for their case to other sources.
It is now easy to use database searches to find needed material facts,
check credentials of expert witnesses, obtain biographical background,
trace assets, and retrieve earlier court and media records at a reasonable
cost.
ICI, with its familiarity with electronic sources and understanding
of what litigators and legal strategists need, knows how to find and
report the facts required.
In short, lawyers manage the law and the client - - ICI manages the facts and how to find them.
During the past 24 years, ICI has been engaged by attorneys throughout
the United States to handle some of the most complex and difficult federal
criminal and international investigations.
During this time, ICI began to integrate the firm's investigative expertise
and the emerging computerized on-line database investigations industry
in an effort to reduce litigation costs for its clients.
For example, before 1989, antitrust defense counsel in one case spent
over a million dollars attempting to locate and interview hundreds of
potential witnesses that were long time former employees of a company.
The task required over 10,000 investigative hours worldwide because
the searches had to be individually done by hand.
Today, location of the same group of people can be done in less than
six weeks, using less than 1,200 person-hours, all at a fraction of
the cost. Ninety percent of the work is done on-line, dramatically cutting
the cost of travel, hotels and other investigative costs.
In corporate background and screening investigations, companies struggled
to vet the backgrounds of employees in a timely fashion and the information
obtained was very limited. That was only nine short years ago.
Today, searches can be done in less than a week in most cases and the
costs are dramatically less, given the amount of information that can
be obtained. ICI has customized programs, depending on the level of
security involved, type of employee, and perspective risk posed by the
candidate to the corporation.
In the past, when conducting due diligence investigations companies
lost huge sums of money because mergers and acquisitions were done without
proper checking. The risk of disclosure of an in depth due diligence
investigation, the inability to obtain current information, or the difficulty
of conducting searches because of other considerations, all contributed
to inadequate advice to management.
Acquisitions went forward without regard to considering the background of the
principal figures involved, and soon displeasure mounted because of poor
performance or other personal problems that were either unknown or ignored at
the time of the purchase.
Today, ICI can do a complete scan on an individual, corporation, or
organization. Special searches can be custom structured to concentrate
on banking, financial, credit, litigation, administrative regulation,
past employment, corporate affiliations, executive associations, family
background, and many other behavioral traits.
From 1989 to the present ICI has researched, developed and perfected
several proprietary products and processes that are unique to the on-line
database investigations industry. It has used these tools, combined
with human assets, to provide corporations and law firms some of the
finest intelligence products available to the private sector.
While most firms may have access to the contents of the same toolbox,
ICI has developed its own "sniffing software" which contains
artificial intelligence agents that conduct relational studies and correlates
this information with data obtained from other sources. A complete,
source annotated report is presented with the downloaded optical images
direct from the on-line source.
As an outside provider of investigative services, ICI removes the client
from direct involvement with sensitive inquiries. That is one reason
ICI's client list includes many of America's largest and most prestigious
law firms which have their own in-house electronic database capability.
Among the advantages it offers, ICI
Conducts
all inquiries, electronic and otherwise, on its own authority. The
law firm client, and its ultimate client, is not identified with
the investigation.
Keeps
abreast of new database sources used in various legal specialties.
ICI constantly uses these sources and knows their capabilities from
experience.
Expands
to meet unusually complex or particularly urgent assignments, thus
eliminating the need for the law firm client to strain its own staff
resources.
Combines
electronic searches with on-site investigations, when necessary.
Performs at substantially lower overall cost for large investigations
than does the law firm's in-house electronic library.
ARADS®, ColdChek™, DirectChek™, DockuChek®, EuroChek®, Global Scan®, IdentiChek®, IncomeTrust™, and TerrorChek® are Trademarks of Investigative Consultants, Inc. All Rights Reserved.