What our for Profit Status does not mean. The Fraud Discovery Institute, Inc. (FDI) is a for profit entity. However, FDI has never charged a victim of fraud a fee to investigate their alleged fraudulent investment in non- publically traded entities. This is confirmed by letters (that are now public record) written, for example, to the US Senate Special Hearing for the Aging by certain past clients. Moreover, FDI has never been paid by any law enforcement agency for our undercover work, our generated reports nor our investigative efforts that often work in conjunction with their ongoing investigation. For example, in the case of Derek Turner, Barry Minkow posed as an investor for 18 months and even flew to the Bahamas wearing a wire to secure evidence against Mr. Turner who recently received 20 years in federal court. Typically, investors call FDI because of the various media outlets reporting on past investigations and because of the perceived ‘bureaucracy' that exists with the various law enforcement agencies. Once contacted, FDI immediately performs a preliminary evaluation of a particular investment opportunity that a client is invested in, or in the case of Pinnacle Development Partners, LLC, contemplating investing in to determine if there is probable cause that a financial crime is taking place. Then, FDI encourages the client to fully cooperate with law enforcement and the company to secure usable documentation from the promoters that can be used by law enforcement to proactively shut down the investment opportunity and thereby preventing further loss for new investors. Clients are always told that by cooperating with FDI and, more importantly, law enforcement directly, they may be working against their own interest because if the investment company does prove to be fraudulent, the client may lose their principle investment. In all of our cases, without exception, this has not deterred any client from cooperating as the ‘greater good' (stopping others from investing) mitigates against their own interests. Again, full disclosure of our approach and the above factors is made in advance to each potential client because FDI will simply not take a case where full cooperation with law enforcement is not agreed upon and understood by all parties. What our for profit status does mean. When fettering out fraud within public companies , The Fraud Discovery Institute, Inc. has a for profit model . If investigating a publically traded company, FDI does not work along side law enforcement in the gathering of evidence nor do we seek information from law enforcement as we do in private investment fraud cases like the ones mentioned above. We do, however, inform the party that has initiated contact with us that upon completion of our report that it will be submitted to the various law enforcement agencies (if applicable) with full disclosures made of any short positions we may take or deals with third party payers. Moreover, both the FBI and the SEC (and if necessary the IRS) are told early on in the process that we have an investigation into a fully reporting public company but the name of that company is withheld for the appearance of propriety. To that end, all obtained evidence in cases dealing with public companies must be usable, which means FDI will provide a trail of evidence with corroborating documentation included in the final report in order to prove it was generated independent of law enforcement involvement and therefore the rightful property of FDI. In the case of AOB Commerce, Inc. there was a public company indirectly involved in this case but FDI did not sell this information to third party payers nor did we trade in any ‘short position' because information obtained was with the assistance and approval of law enforcement. Finally, if (and only if) a company insider is providing FDI with ‘tip' type information through phone or email, we are required to contact the company's audit committee chairman with the information received. It must be understood and clearly disclosed that just because FDI says a company, especially a public company, is an apparent financial fraud in progress, unless law enforcement corroborates such findings it is a meaningless conclusion as the finder of fact is always law enforcement and the courts. Barry Minkow almost always holds a position in securities reported on, or profiled by, FDI websites. Neither FDI nor Mr. Minkow will report when a position is initiated or covered. Each investor must make that decision based on his/her judgment of the market. We always insist that anyone who relies on our reports, independently corroborate our findings before making any decisions. FDI also derives income from various training sessions (for example, accounting firms pay fees for continuing education) as well as public speaking engagements. However, there has never been a fee received by FDI or Barry Minkow for public speaking engagements done for law enforcement. The Frauds Gone Wild DVD series and the accompanying booklet was funded in part by a victim from the first fraud uncovered by FDI, MX Factors, LLC. This victims' story is told in his own words, on the Affinity Fraud DVD and proceeds from this project are designated to go to this victim first in hopes that he recovers the initial amount he had invested in the MX Factors, LLC fraud before any profits are given to FDI. To the credit of the victim, his concern was more for proactive tools to be distributed to potential investors in hopes of equipping them to avoid being defrauded than it was for a profit. As for Barry Minkow, Judge Dickran Tevrizian dismissed his restitution order in August of 2002 and to date, Mr. Minkow has never missed a monthly payment to Union Bank, the last remaining victim of the ZZZZ Best fraud. :: FDI Privacy Policy :: This privacy policy outlines the privacy policy for frauddiscovery.net. This privacy policy applies solely to information collected through this web site. Please note, you can access our web site home page and browse our site without disclosing your personal data. Use of Information Collected We are the sole owners of the information collected on this site. We only have access to/collect information that you voluntarily give us via e-mail or other direct contact from you. We will not sell, rent, loan, trade, or lease this information to anyone. We will use your information to respond to you, regarding the reason you contacted us. We will not share your information with any third party outside of our organization, other than as necessary to fulfill your request, e.g. to respond to your request to be contacted. Unless you ask us not to, we may contact you via e-mail in the future to tell you about new products or services, or changes to this privacy policy. We do not log data or use cookies to store data. Your Access to and Control over Information You may opt out of any future contacts from us at any time. You can do the following at any time by contacting us via the e-mail address or phone number given below:
Security We take precautions to protect your information. When you submit sensitive information via the web site, your information is protected both online and off-line. If you feel that we are not abiding by this privacy policy, you should contact us immediately via telephone at 1.888.300.8307 or via e-mail at info@frauddiscovery.net. |
