Occupational fraud remains among the most damaging threats to organizational assets and reputation. According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE)’s latest Report to the Nations, organizations lose an estimated 5 percent of their annual revenue to fraud, with the median loss exceeding $8.3 million in cases involving senior employees. Investigating these frauds is particularly challenging because the perpetrators are trusted insiders who understand control systems and can influence evidence and witnesses. The Dixon municipal fraud, where a trusted employee embezzled $53.7 million over two decades, exemplifies how traditional controls can fail against sophisticated insider schemes.The critical first phase…
Continue Reading The Art of Investigating Occupational Fraud

This month’s VM Recommends brings us selections from Attorney Investigator, Devin Mikulka. What are your current book and podcast recommendations? I recently finished reading Supercommunicators, a book by Charles Duhigg, and have been recommending it to everyone I meet. The book is about how some people are gifted communicators— easy to talk to, able to connect with others, and the ones we turn to for advice. Duhigg suggests “supercommunicators” can recognize different types of conversation (practical, emotional, and social), and then subtly match their communication to the type of conversation occurring at that moment. Though we might think some people…
Continue Reading VM Recommends – Los Angeles Edition

In our prior blog post, “Build Bridges, Not Barriers,” we discussed how to make the most of an interviewee’s representative during an interview and ways to head off any potential friction in advance.  This blog post discusses some suggestions and options investigators have when a representative’s conduct crosses the line into disruptive behavior.  While the vast majority of representatives do not cross this line, these tips will help you if you ever encounter the rare exception.  #1 Offer To Treat Excessive Objections As “Standing Objections”Our previous blog post noted the importance of verbally defining the role of the representative…
Continue Reading A Bridge Too Far: Five Tips For Occasions When A Representative’s Conduct Becomes Disruptive

This month’s VM Recommends brings us selections from Partner, Erich Knorr, who leads the Tempe, Arizona office.  What is your favorite place to visit in Phoenix?One of my favorite things to do in Phoenix is wandering through the Desert Botanical Garden, marveling at the diversity of plants and succulents.  From the towering saguaros to the blooms of the agave plant and prickly pear cactus, every corner of this garden tells a story of resilience and adaptation to the arid desert climate.  The Desert Botanical Garden also offers a variety of events, such as concerts, art exhibitions, and educational programs.  My…
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In the world of investigations, whether it be workplace, campus or Title IX, we often run into situations where two people interpret the same events in wildly different ways.  As human beings, our memories can be subjective, and we are constantly interpreting events through the lens of our own backgrounds and experiences.  In the legal world, everyone is held to the standard of behaving like a “reasonable person.”  Can someone who always makes the best choices and always perceives the world in an accurate way really exist?  The short answer is no.  Everyone perceives the world in a different way…
Continue Reading Am I Being Reasonable? Fifth Scenario

Investigations of police or firefighter misconduct in California are governed by two key statutes: the Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act (POBR) and the Firefighters Procedural Bill of Rights Act (FBOR).  These statutes establish protections for peace officers and firefighters subject to such investigations.  With a few notable exceptions, the provisions of these statutes are generally similar or identical.  This article highlights some of the key provisions of POBR/FBOR from the standpoint of an outside investigator.  When POBR/FBOR Applies.  POBR covers most state, county, or municipal peace officers in California, including non-reserve deputy sheriffs, probation officers, and certain…
Continue Reading POBR/FBOR Investigations: A Primer on the Basics

Whenever an employer is on notice of an employee concern that warrants an investigation, the next decision, invariably, is whether to perform the investigation in house or hire an outside investigator.  In most situations, it is prudent, and even preferred, to use a qualified internal investigator.  This article, however, will examine some of the obvious—and not-so-obvious—issues an employer should consider before making that decision, and how a plaintiff’s attorney may try to capitalize on those issues. The first obvious issue internal investigators face is the appearance of bias.  The internal investigator relies upon their employer to pay their salary so…
Continue Reading “We Investigated Ourselves and Found We Did Nothing Wrong!”– A Former Plaintiff’s Counsel’s Perspective on Internal Investigators

This month’s VM Recommends brings us selections from our San Diego Editor and Paralegal, Antonia Gordon. What are your current book and podcast recommendations? I recently listened to the audiobook of Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll, which was inspired by the first “celebrity” serial killer, Ted Bundy, and is told from the (fictional) perspectives of two women affected by his crimes. I really enjoyed the story as well as the voice acting. It provided an interesting take on the recent surge in popularity of media featuring serial killers and sensationalizing the horrifying acts they committed. The novel did…
Continue Reading VM Recommends – San Diego Edition

In the world of investigations, whether it be workplace, campus or Title IX, we often run into situations where two people interpret the same events in wildly different ways.  As human beings, our memories can be subjective, and we are constantly interpreting events through the lens of our own backgrounds and experiences.  In the legal world, everyone is held to the standard of behaving like a “reasonable person.”  Can someone who always makes the best choices and always perceives the world in an accurate way really exist?  The short answer is no.  Everyone perceives the world in a different way…
Continue Reading Am I Being Reasonable?  Fourth Scenario

The laws applicable to the operations of public agencies create opportunities to gather evidence and information that are unique to the public sector.  These opportunities can help expedite and focus investigations by narrowing the scope of interview questioning, assisting with establishing timelines, and minimizing the delays associated with document requests or personnel file review.  This blog post discusses two such opportunities and the challenges they can help investigators overcome.1.       Public Meeting Agendas And MinutesOne challenge investigators invariably encounter is the limitations and quirks of human memory. For example, interviewees rarely remember specific dates, but can often roughly estimate when an…
Continue Reading Two Handy Tools For Public Sector Investigations (California)

The Morning Show is a ripped-from-the-headlines drama series about Mitch Kessler, a beloved TV anchor, who is fired for sexual misconduct during the MeToo movement. He’s basically Matt Lauer. As a workplace investigator, I was all in. How would the show portray our line of work? Inaccurately, it turns out!When The Morning Show starts, we learn that Kessler was suddenly fired after the network’s Human Resources department conducted an internal investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct. Companies usually don’t have their internal Human Resources departments perform investigations of high-profile employees. This is due to the perception that Human Resources…
Continue Reading The Morning Show: Workplace Investigations

Investigations should be conducted in a thorough, timely, and impartial manner. But what happens when an investigation is not conducted to these standards? As investigators, we frequently learn from the mistakes of other.  The investigative news organization Mother Jones recently published an article on an investigation that had several serious missteps; ‘Independent’ Investigations Into Sexual Abuse Are Big Business. Can Survivors Really Trust Them?”   Senior VM Partner Eli Makus is quoted in the article, explaining that California has specific expectations for investigators conducing a prompt, fair, and thorough investigation.  However, as Eli noted, “Across the country, there’s a lot of…
Continue Reading Lessons Learned from Faulty Investigations

This month’s VM Recommends brings us selections from our Sacramento Business Operations Analyst, Emma Newton. What is one of your favorite things to do in SacramentoWalking to the Midtown Farmers’ Market on a Saturday morning is one of my favorite things to do in Sacramento. The market takes up four blocks of the Lavender District with local vendors, farmers, food trucks and artists alike. This market is year-round, rain or shine, and is a great representation of the Farm-to-Fork Capital. If you’re lucky, you might even run into a member of the Kings grabbing their groceries for the week.
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