Investigations
FTI Consulting's Investigations services provide compliance, investigative, litigation consulting and remediation expertise on a wide range of investigations to management and boards of directors. Our global team comprises senior professionals with former Big 4 accounting and audit; government regulator; ethics and compliance; law enforcement; and public company experience.
Our experts conduct investigations over a wide scope of issues and allegations, including export controls and sanctions; financial reporting fraud; FCPA violations; embezzlement and other types of corruption; anti-money laundering; workplace discrimination; Ponzi schemes; and theft of intellectual property.
Featured Insights
Remote Investigations

A series of articles on leading practices in conducting forensic investigations using remote technology and investigative techniques. More
Investigations of Life

A series of articles highlighting our data analytics expertise behind ordinary lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. More
How We Help
Information Collection & Preservation
We combine investigative expertise with forensic technology and a specially designed discovery and review workflow to find important documents early in the process and help shape strategy for better outcomes.
We help our clients to:
- Identify, collect and preserve data from servers, computers, mobile devices and emerging data sources (cloud-based collaboration applications, social media, etc.)
- Understand technology-dependent cybersecurity issues in order to translate sophisticated artifacts and findings for easy comprehension by judge and jury
- Reconstruct corrupt data and records at the user and enterprise server level
- Uncover obstruction or evidence tampering, including recovery of deleted files and identification of attempts to destroy data
- Identify unusual activity such as unexplained gaps in computer usage, Internet browsing history, use of USB drives, and file access activities
Secure Review of Data
FTI offers clients a solution uniquely suited to the breadth of matters often encountered in large, complex investigations.
Our portfolio of analytics platforms allows our clients to:
- Conduct efficient early case assessment by systematically culling non-relevant emails, documents and files
- Develop a methodology to identify key relevant documents using targeted search terms, other variables and complex unstructured data analytics
- Leverage AI and machine learning to quickly uncover important data
- Manage document review through industry-leading platforms
- Provide comprehensive legal review globally, through managed review services, to aid with large multilingual document review projects with tight deadlines
- Set up a mobile unit of experts and technology for complete investigation onsite at a company location, from collections and analysis through review and production
- Comply with privacy and state secrecy laws
Business Intelligence
We routinely perform reputational due diligence and third-party screening on a global basis on behalf of corporate clients related to acquisitions, agents, vendors, customers, joint ventures and other business partners.
We have experts who can:
- Search both publicly available material and proprietary sources of intelligence
- Perform discreet source inquiries and interviews
- Trace assetsv
- Investigate beneficial relationships
- Conduct business risk assessment
Data Analysis
Our data scientists combine technical expertise with a deep understanding of internal controls, regulatory compliance and industry-specific financial and operational systems and can evaluate the efficacy of those systems during investigations and remediations.
We have leading edge investigation capabilities around:
- Web scraping
- Data parsing, data cleansing and Big Data solutions
- Complex system synthesis
- Blockchain (ETL from permission-less ledgers) and Crypto (ETL)
- SQL Analytics
- Machine Learning/Predictive analytics
- Data Visualizations
- Text and Graph Analytics
Fact-finding & Analysis
We specialize in high-stakes investigations triggered by the unanticipated discovery that previously reported financial results and/or disclosures might be materially misstated – intentional or not.
Our professionals can help if a client needs to:
- Perform forensic accounting and transaction testing, including identification of higher risk transactions and review of supporting documentation
- Analyze compliance with or adequacy of internal controls
- Review business and accounting documents for discrepancies, inconsistencies or evidence of fraud
- Reconstruct accounting records
- Conduct interviews of personnel to understand business processes and transactions
- Build complex financial models to quantify fraud losses, fines and penalties
- Interpret complex financial data
- Communicate client’s story as appropriate to stakeholders (employees, investors, the media)
Stakeholder Reporting
When issues extend beyond the investigatory event, we can support our clients with any reputational, liquidity and regulatory concerns that arise.
We routinely:
- Assist lawyers on appropriate case strategy throughout an investigation
- Produce a report for key stakeholders
- Advise on possible next steps and provide recommendations on control enhancements
- Identify target remediation issues during an investigation
- Provide expert testimony in court as necessary
- Update and report to law enforcement and regulatory authorities as directed by the client
Strategic Communications
Our seasoned team works hand in glove with legal counsel to develop comprehensive strategies to guide the company through the investigation, helping our clients understand and navigate public narrative.
Our communications specialists can perform the heavy lifting to:
- Execute a scenario-planning exercise to identify all possible outcomes of the pending investigation
- Prepare investor, employee and other stakeholder communications for each scenario
- Identify and leverage third parties who can advocate on behalf of the client
- Develop and deploy tailored government affairs strategies
- Develop both traditional and digital media strategies to communicate directly to the most important audiences
Remediation and Monitoring
Our integrated global team of industry specialists and compliance experts provide a wide range of cost-effective services to help clients test, enhance, and monitor their corporate compliance programs.
These services include:
Damages and Valuation
- Quantify the proceeds of corruption for disgorgement and recovery purposes
- Calculate the organization’s ability to pay fines to support legal counsel in negotiations with regulators
- Act as an independent compliance consultant reporting to the Board
- Assist a court-appointed monitor pursuant to a settlement agreement or prosecution
Compliance Program Remediation and Enhancement
- Evaluate the organization’s underlying culture of compliance with the law and policy and ethical conduct
- Enhance the organization’s compliance program governance and oversight structure, and board-reporting processes
- Improve the organization’s processes for identifying, prioritizing, and assigning accountability for managing the spectrum of compliance risks
- Developing or updating compliance policies on a variety of topics (e.g., anti-bribery and anti-corruption, insider trading, anti-harassment, etc.)
- Improving the organization’s compliance training, education, and communications strategies and programs
- Optimize the organization’s whistle-blower and employee “speaking” up program
- Strengthen the organization’s testing, auditing, and monitoring capabilities in key areas of compliance risk
- Evaluate and improve the organization’s approach to managing third party risk
Featured Case Studies
Key Contact
Edward J. Westerman
Senior Managing Director, Co-Leader of Risk & Investigations Practice