Corporate intelligence企业情报
The bloodhounds of capitalism资本主义的侦探
It is a good time to be a corporate investigator做一名公司侦探正当时
Jan 5th 2013 | NEW YORK | from the print edition
2013.01.05| 纽约 |印刷版
SHERLOCK HOLMES once remarked that: “It is my business to know what other people don’t know.” These days, detective work is a huge business. Thanks to globalisation, there is a lot that companies would like to know but don’t, such as: is our prospective partner in Jakarta a crook?
夏洛克福尔摩斯曾说过：“了解他人不知道的是我的分内之事”。现如今，侦探工作可谓前景广阔。由于全球化，很多公司都面临大量他们想了解却又清楚的事，例如：在雅加达，我们那位潜在合作伙伴是一个骗子吗？
Corporate detectives sniff out the facts, analyse them, share them with clients and pocket fat fees. Yet, oddly for a multi-billion-dollar industry devoted to discovering the truth, little is known about private investigators. So your correspondent took up his magnifying glass and set off in pursuit of the bloodhounds of capitalism.
公司侦探找出真相，并加以分析，再提供给客户，并赚得盆满钵满。然而，奇怪的是对于这样一个致力于揭示真相、数十亿美元的产业，却鲜有人了解私人侦探。因此本人拿起了放大镜，出发追寻这些资本主义的侦探。
The best-known is Kroll, founded by Jules Kroll, a former assistant district attorney, in 1972. Along with a dozen or so rivals, it can undertake assignments anywhere in the world, at short notice, deploying teams of former cops and prosecutors, computer whizzes, accountants, investigative journalists and others. These firms are the big dogs of private detection. The industry has, ahem, a long tail of thousands of smaller ones. The precise number is unknown since the business is unregulated in some countries.
最出名的是创建于1972年的Kroll公司，创始人朱尔斯克罗尔（Jules Kroll）曾是一名律师助理。Kroll公司可以承接世界上任何地方的任务，并有大约十多家竞争对手，一旦接到任务，就会派出一个由前探员，检察官，电脑高手，会计师，调查记者等组成的队伍。这些公司无疑是私人侦查领域的巨头。额…这个行业里更多的是数以千计的小公司。因为在一些国家这个行业有待规范，所以这类公司的具体数量也就不得而知。
There is plenty of work to go round. Assignments linked to mergers and acquisitions have dwindled along with the number of deals, but other areas are expanding. One big source of work is the growing complexity of business regulation. Multinationals can never be sure that some employee, somewhere has not violated America’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or some other anti-bribery law. Corporate compliance departments often bring gumshoes in to assist their own investigations.
这需要大量的准备工作。与兼并收购有关的任务已经减少了交易数量，但有些领域正在扩大。一个较大的工作量增加来源于越来越复杂化的商务规则。跨国企业永远都不知道在某个地方，某些员工是否违反了美国反海外行贿法，或其他反贿赂法。公司的监察部门常常设置暗哨来帮助他们调查。
An increase in whistleblowing has created more work. So has the push by Western firms into emerging markets (see Schumpeter). “It’s a business we win in America but serve in Asia, driven by the export of Western ethics,” says Tom Hartley, head of Kroll Advisory Solutions. “We’ve seen double-digit growth in each of the past four years.”
检举揭发案的增加创造了更多的工作。西方公司打入新兴市场也创造了更多就业岗位（参见Schumpeter）。德安华商业风险管理咨询有限公司（Kroll Advisory Solutions）的老总，汤姆哈特利（Tom Hartley）说道：“这是一项让我们赢在美国，服务于亚洲，出口西方伦理价值观的需要，在过去的每四年中，我们看到了两位数的增长”。
Another growth business is “due diligence” work, such as running background checks on a client’s potential hires or business partners. Last year Mintz Group, a medium-sized firm based in New York, conducted more than 20,000 checks, up 40% on 2010. “We tell clients to invest globally but investigate locally,” says Jim Mintz, the firm’s boss. Some clients ask for checks on everyone they deal with, even chauffeurs. Sleuths are also hired to probe the provenance of money. Amid a global crackdown on tax evasion, companies have grown warier of doing deals with dodgers.
另一项增长的业务是“尽职调查”，例如对某位客户的潜在雇员或商业伙伴进行连续背景考核。去年，位于纽约的一家中等规模的公司，明茨集团（Mintz Group）实施了超过20,000次考核，这一数据较2010年上升40%。该公司老板吉姆明茨（Jim Mintz）说“我们告诉客户进行全球性投资，本土性调查”， 一些客户要求核实与他们有交易的每一个人，甚至是司机。侦探们也有接到要求调查资金来源的活儿。面对全球严打偷税漏税，各个公司与漏税者们交易起来也越发小心谨慎。
Even downturns are not all bad for corporate gumshoes. Hard times often expose wrongdoing by causing scams to collapse. Industry figures report a rise in fraud litigation, asset-tracing and insolvency work. Headline-worthy mega-frauds, such as those perpetrated by Bernie Madoff and Allen Stanford, remind potential clients of the need for security.
因此，经济衰退对于公司内部调查者而言也不尽是坏事。困难的时候往往会让坑蒙诡计无处可藏，从而暴露违法行径。行业数据显示诈骗类诉讼，资产追踪和破产呈上升趋势。报刊头条充斥各类巨额诈骗新闻，比如那些受伯纳德•麦道夫（Bernie Madoff）和艾伦•斯坦福（Allen Stanford）欺诈案影响的公司，提醒潜在客户们安全的必要性。
Big jobs can occur anywhere. Kroll recently conducted a forensic audit of the failed Kabul Bank, from which nearly $1 billion was allegedly embezzled, for Afghanistan’s central bank. The client base is growing, too. Hedge funds and private-equity firms crave intelligence. In China, where accounts are unreliable, they vet acquisition targets by hiring sleuths to interview ex-employees. Post-Madoff, pension funds are doing more homework on their investments, often with outside help, says Ken Springer of Corporate Resolutions, an investigations and consulting firm.
大单子任何地方都会有。Kroll公司最近实施了一起破产的喀布尔银行法院审计调查，据称此案涉及10亿美元被阿富汗中央银行盗用。客户基础也更加牢固。对冲基金和私募基金公司需要情报。在中国，账目是靠不住的，他们审查收购目标是通过聘请侦探走访该公司的前雇员。后麦道夫时代，一家名为公司决议（Corporate Resolutions）的调查咨询公司总裁，肯•斯普林格（Ken Springer）表示，养老基金在投资过程中正在做更多的“功课”，常常需要外界帮助。
You know my methods. Apply them
你知道我的方式。运用他们。
A curious development is the growth of what might be called “self due diligence”. Entrepreneurs from parts of the world where corruption is rife, such as eastern Europe and Africa, are increasingly hiring reputable corporate-intelligence firms to investigate them—sometimes with full access to their business records. If the investigator gives them a clean bill of health, they can wave it at banks, regulators or potential business partners who might doubt them. The head of one investigations firm says such work accounts for up to a third of its London office’s revenues.
一个奇怪的发展趋势是，一项大约被称为“自我尽职调查”业务的增长。世界上部分贿赂盛行之地（如东欧和非洲）的企业家，聘请越来越多的知名情报公司调查他们，有时甚至允许调查他们的商业档案。如果调查者给他们出具一份无违法行为的证明书作为调查结果，他们就可以拿给那些可能怀疑他们的银行，监管机构和潜在的商业伙伴看。一家调查机构的老总说，这类工作的收入占到了伦敦办事处收入的三分之一。
Investigators have capitalised on the recent surge in cyberattacks and cyberspying. Some report an annual doubling of revenue in digital forensics. The least exciting digital work is possibly the most lucrative: electronic “discovery”, or the recovery and processing of e-documents to support litigation. Parties to big cases have to pass vast amounts of data to each other, especially in America. To cut costs, companies may hire a firm with smart technology to whittle down the e-material before the lawyers start expensively perusing it. This is done using programs that filter out e-mails and other documents that are irrelevant or privileged—though this “robotic” work needs to be supplemented with human judgment, says Vincent D’Eramo of Capstone Advisory.
调查者为最近风行的网络攻击和网络间谍下足资本。一些报告显示数字取证收入每年增加一倍。最没劲的数字工作却可能是最有利可图的：电子“发现”，或通过恢复和处理电子文档获得支撑诉讼的资料。一些大案子的当事人不得不相互传送大量的数据，尤其是在美国。因为律师处理资料的费用较高，为了削减成本，这些公司可能会聘请一家颇有技术实力的公司帮助其缩减电子资料。通常利用程序过滤不相关的或免检的电子邮件和文件来实现。然而，这类“机器人”工作还需要人为判断加以完善。顶点咨询公司（Capstone Advisory）文森特•埃拉莫（Vincent D’Eramo）表示。
Data! Data! Data!
数据为王！
In 2012 Kroll announced plans to double the size of its R&D team in e-discovery and data recovery over the next five years. Mr Hartley says the headcount in his division, the firm’s investigative core, grew by 15% in 2011. The number of Certified Fraud Examiners (CFEs) in the world has grown by 72% since 2007, to 37,400. (One of them, Harry Markopolos, gave the profession street credibility by spotting the Madoff fraud long before regulators.)
在2012年，Kroll宣布计划在下一个五年之内，将电子发现和数据恢复的研发团队规模扩大一倍。哈特利先生说道，他所在的公司最核心部门的总人数，在2011年增加了15%。注册舞弊检查师（CFEs）的数量自2007年以来增加了72%，达到37400人。（作为其中的一员，哈里•马科波洛斯（Harry Markopolos）早在调查机构介入麦道夫欺诈案之前就盯上了该案，并因此在坊间声誉鹊起）。
Kathy Lavinder, a headhunter, reckons the war for talent has driven up salaries for sleuths and security consultants by 20-25% since 2010. Members of “incident response” teams, who are expected to hop on a plane at a moment’s notice and are thus prone to burnout, have begun to ask for and receive guarantees of occasional time away from the daily grind for training courses, says Ms Lavinder.
猎头经理人，Kathy Lavinder估计自2010年以来，对人才的争夺把侦探和安全顾问的薪水抬高了20-25%。“事件响应”团队的成员，是一些即便在飞机上一收到通知就立即行动的主儿，因此有职业倦怠倾向，已开始要求并得到不定时免于日常培训课程的保障。Lavinder女士表示。
The choice of employer has expanded as new firms enter the business, disrupting the established order. Physical-security companies, such as Securitas, Allied Barton and Andrews International, are trying to move further into investigations as a way to boost margins, which are thin in the guard business. The big accounting firms, led by Deloitte, are hiring more cybersleuths—though much of their work is internal: ie, scrutinising clients of other parts of the group. Some investigative firms, including Kroll, have counter-attacked by pushing into accountancy.
随着新的公司加入这一行业，老板们的选择范围也扩大了，并逐渐打破已建立的秩序。物理安全公司，例如，Securitas, Allied Barton and Andrews International正在尝试进入调查领域，开辟出一条生财之路，他们在安保领域较为薄弱。由德勤牵头的大型会计公司，正在招聘网络侦探（他们大多数工作在国内），例如，仔细核查集团其他部分的客户。有些调查公司，包括Kroll已开始还击，将自己的业务推入会计界。
Law firms have long been big clients of the gumshoes, but they too are looking to do more investigations in-house. To this end, some are striking deals with investigative companies: in August, for instance, Pepper Hamilton, an American law firm, acquired a highly regarded boutique led by Louis Freeh, a former FBI director.
法律事务所历来是这些调查公司的大客户，但他们也在尝试做更多的内部调查。为此，有些事务所陷入与调查公司的斗争：例如，8月份，一家名为Pepper Hamilton的美国律师事务所，因获得一位名为Louis Freeh 的前FBI局长高度重视，而声名远播。
Most corporate investigators are privately held and publish little financial information. Kroll, probably the biggest, has had ups and downs. Its zenith was its sale in 2004 to Marsh & McLennan, an insurance broker, for a tidy $1.9 billion. By 2010, when Kroll was sold on to Altegrity, a security group, its valuation had tumbled by 40%. One slip-up between those two deals was to take on Allen Stanford as a client.
大多数公司调查者非上市公司，因此公布的财务信息有限。Kroll公司可能是最大的，经历了高潮低谷，2004年对保险经纪人Marsh & McLennan服务销售19亿美元，创下制高点。在2010年，Kroll为一家证券集团Altegrity提供服务时，服务价格跌了40%。在两次交易的一个共同错误即是接纳艾伦•斯坦福（Allen Stanford）为客户。
The firm is still admired by its rivals, whose upper ranks are stuffed with former Kroll people. But these days many consider the best in the business to be FTI Consulting, which also happens to be the only publicly traded firm of any size. Its forensic and litigation consulting division had revenues of $177m and a profit margin of 17% in the first six months of 2012.
该公司仍然令竞争对手们羡慕，其高层人员大部分曾供职于Kroll。但这些天来，许多人认为行业中做得最好要数FTI咨询公司，而这也恰好是不计规模的唯一上市公司。法庭和诉讼咨询部分收入为1亿770万美元，在2012年的前6个月的利润率为17％。
After dozens of small acquisitions, FTI now employs 3,800 people. Its boss, Jack Dunn, has poached some of Kroll’s best snoops. FTI won much of the work of piecing together Mr Madoff’s money trail; ten years ago the Madoff trustee would probably have given the lion’s share to Kroll. FTI also gets a lot of work as a “corporate monitor”, checking whether firms that have promised to mend their ways as part of a legal settlement keep their word. The industry loves these assignments: they typically last a couple of years, providing a recurring revenue stream.
经过几十桩小型收购，FTI现有雇员3800人。公司老板杰克•邓恩（Jack Dunn）挖走了Kroll公司部分优秀的侦探。FTI在许多调查案中的成功实施也因而发现了麦道夫先生金钱诈骗案的蛛丝马迹。10年前，麦道夫的受托人可能会将大部分调查业务交给Kroll公司.FTI作为“公司监管者”也会承接大量的业务，核实公司是否信守诺言按照法律和解改过自新。业务人士喜欢这些任务：他们通常会持续两三年，这将提供经常性的收入来源。
Another threat to the old order comes from K2 Intelligence, backed by Mr Kroll and run by his son, Jeremy. This was set up in 2009, when a non-compete clause with his old firm expired. These days Mr Kroll senior, now 71, is more focused on Kroll Bond Ratings, an attempt to disrupt the credit-ratings oligopoly.
对老资历调查公司额外的威胁来自K2情报公司。该公司由Kroll先生及其儿子吉米（Jeremy）掌管运营。成立于2009年，因为当时与老公司的一份竞业禁止条款已经终止。Kroll先生如今已经71岁，步入暮年，他关心更多的是Kroll的债权评级，这是一种打断信用评级寡头垄断的一种尝试。
K2 has started to make a mark, conducting the investigation into alleged bribery that forced Alcoa, an American aluminium firm, into a $447m settlement with Alba, a Bahraini one. Convinced that the future belongs to those with the technological savvy to “tell the story” by interpreting vast quantities of data, Jeremy Kroll has joined forces with Palantir, a security-software firm with past links to PayPal. Palantir and K2 have been crunching through 18 terabytes of transactions, e-mails and phone records in the hope of connecting dots to support the Madoff trustee’s litigation against investors who took more out of the Ponzi scheme than they put in. One program draws visual webs that show the length, destination and other features of phone calls made by Mr Madoff and his staff, and then looks for patterns.
K2已经开始扬名立万，在执行的一起行贿调查案中，迫使一家美国铝业公司Alcoa与一家巴林岛的铝业公司达成一项4亿4千700万美元的和解。吉米•卡罗尔（Jeremy Kroll）相信，未来属于那些能通过分析海量数据“取证”的技术实力型公司，因此跟一家曾与Paypal合作过的安全软件公司Palantir进行联姻。Palantir和K2一直在分析一项有18兆数据的交易。包括电子邮件和电话记录，以期在麦道夫委托人诉讼案中找出有利证据为那些卷入庞氏骗局的投资者们取回更多。一种方案是通过绘制出一张表明麦道夫先生及其手下之间通话长度，目的地等特征的视觉网，然后再按图索骥。
A fast-growing business where technology will be crucial is fighting money-laundering. Banks are under pressure to weed out suspicious transactions, but they are drowning in data. They are willing to throw a lot of money at the problem because the damage if they mess up can be enormous. Witness the $1.9 billion in fines that HSBC recently paid to settle allegations that it had abetted money-laundering by clients in Mexico and elsewhere.
一项对技术要求较高的快速增长业务是反洗钱。银行迫于压力对可疑的交易一概铲除，但他们面对大量的数据也束手无策。他们愿意花大价钱解决这一问题，因为一旦出现差错将损失惨重。有例为证，汇丰银行最近为摆平一项指控花了19亿美元，该指控显示涉嫌被墨西哥等地的客户唆使参与洗钱。
Mr Springer of Corporate Resolutions describes several recent assignments that turned into a game of technological one-upmanship with suspected wrongdoers. In one, his team eventually got the better of an IT employee at a non-profit who was suspected of fraud, by sneaking a black box into his office at night, using former National Security Agency experts to crack the administrator code and then blind-copying themselves into his e-mails. In many cases, the key is to combine digital expertise with traditional investigative techniques, argues Mr Mintz. Part of the job will continue to be “tracking down the disgruntled former secretary or book-keeper who knows where the bodies are buried, and knowing how to coax information from them,” he says.
“公司决议”公司的斯普林格先生透露说最近承接的几项任务都演变成与违法分子靠技术决高下的游戏。其中一个，他的团队最终打败了一名涉嫌诈骗的IT雇员，通过在夜里将一个黑盒子潜入他办公室，使用前国家安全局的专家破解了管理员密码，然后秘密抄送到他的电子邮箱。在多数情况下，关键是利用数字专业知识结合传统调查手段，明茨先生表示，部分工作需要继续跟踪心怀怨怼的前任秘书或簿记员，这些人知根知底，知道如何从他们身上套出信息。
The dog that barked at the right time
把握住了机遇的侦探公司
Jeffrey Katz, a former Kroll man who heads London-based Bishop International, which began life investigating claims in the Lloyds insurance market, sees new opportunities popping up all the time. His firm has been carving niches in intellectual property, from anti-counterfeiting (such as gathering evidence on how a particular faker operates) to buying trademarks on behalf of big companies before they launch a new brand. This must be done quietly, so as not to arouse suspicion and drive up prices. Bishop did a good job for Apple with names similar to “iPad”.
杰弗里卡茨（Jeffrey Katz），曾供职于Kroll公司，现在掌管着伦敦成立一家名为毕夏普国际（Bishop International）的公司，在调查劳埃德保险市场的索赔案中逐步发展起来，并持续把握住了每次出现的机遇。他的公司特意打造一个展厅摆放知识产权，从反伪造（例如收集证据展现一个制假者如何造假的过程）到代表大公司购买商标（在大公司发布新品牌之前）。这些事情必须低调进行，以免引起怀疑而抬高价格。毕夏普为苹果公司做个很漂亮的一单，类似“iPad”名称纠纷案。
But the industry faces challenges, too. Large clients are looking to build their own investigative capabilities, especially in cyber-security, says Michael DuBose of Kroll, who used to run the US Department of Justice’s computer-crime division. This could cut demand for outside help. Barriers to entry in digital forensics have fallen. Competition is intense. Some big assignments are decided in beauty contests with 15 or more participants.
然而，这个行业也面临着竞争。大客户正在寻求培养他们自己的调查能力，尤其是虚拟安全方面，Kroll公司的Michael DuBose如是说，此人曾负责美国司法部计算机犯罪科。这将减少对外界需求。数字取证的门槛已经降低。竞争越发加剧。要想拿到有些大单子，往往需要面对如同选美比赛中15个或更多的竞争对手。
And even as the industry profits by helping clients cope with red tape, it can expect tougher rules itself. Private investigators in Britain face possible regulation in the wake of the News Corporation phone-hacking scandal. In America, the SEC and Congress may tighten rules on investigators and “knowledge brokers” that work for hedge funds, some of them suspected of abetting insider trading. Corporate detective work is anything but elementary.
正如这个行业的盈利是建立在帮助客户筛选信息的基础上，行业本身预计会面临更严格的规则。随着新闻公司电话监听丑闻的爆出，伦敦的私家侦探可能面临政策规范。在美国，证交会和国会可能会严格规范调查机构行业规则以及为对冲基金工作的“知识经纪人”，他们中有些人涉嫌教唆内部交易。公司侦探这份工作水深着呢。
The bloodhounds of capitalism资本主义的侦探
It is a good time to be a corporate investigator做一名公司侦探正当时
Jan 5th 2013 | NEW YORK | from the print edition
2013.01.05| 纽约 |印刷版
SHERLOCK HOLMES once remarked that: “It is my business to know what other people don’t know.” These days, detective work is a huge business. Thanks to globalisation, there is a lot that companies would like to know but don’t, such as: is our prospective partner in Jakarta a crook?
夏洛克福尔摩斯曾说过：“了解他人不知道的是我的分内之事”。现如今，侦探工作可谓前景广阔。由于全球化，很多公司都面临大量他们想了解却又清楚的事，例如：在雅加达，我们那位潜在合作伙伴是一个骗子吗？
Corporate detectives sniff out the facts, analyse them, share them with clients and pocket fat fees. Yet, oddly for a multi-billion-dollar industry devoted to discovering the truth, little is known about private investigators. So your correspondent took up his magnifying glass and set off in pursuit of the bloodhounds of capitalism.
公司侦探找出真相，并加以分析，再提供给客户，并赚得盆满钵满。然而，奇怪的是对于这样一个致力于揭示真相、数十亿美元的产业，却鲜有人了解私人侦探。因此本人拿起了放大镜，出发追寻这些资本主义的侦探。
The best-known is Kroll, founded by Jules Kroll, a former assistant district attorney, in 1972. Along with a dozen or so rivals, it can undertake assignments anywhere in the world, at short notice, deploying teams of former cops and prosecutors, computer whizzes, accountants, investigative journalists and others. These firms are the big dogs of private detection. The industry has, ahem, a long tail of thousands of smaller ones. The precise number is unknown since the business is unregulated in some countries.
最出名的是创建于1972年的Kroll公司，创始人朱尔斯克罗尔（Jules Kroll）曾是一名律师助理。Kroll公司可以承接世界上任何地方的任务，并有大约十多家竞争对手，一旦接到任务，就会派出一个由前探员，检察官，电脑高手，会计师，调查记者等组成的队伍。这些公司无疑是私人侦查领域的巨头。额…这个行业里更多的是数以千计的小公司。因为在一些国家这个行业有待规范，所以这类公司的具体数量也就不得而知。
There is plenty of work to go round. Assignments linked to mergers and acquisitions have dwindled along with the number of deals, but other areas are expanding. One big source of work is the growing complexity of business regulation. Multinationals can never be sure that some employee, somewhere has not violated America’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or some other anti-bribery law. Corporate compliance departments often bring gumshoes in to assist their own investigations.
这需要大量的准备工作。与兼并收购有关的任务已经减少了交易数量，但有些领域正在扩大。一个较大的工作量增加来源于越来越复杂化的商务规则。跨国企业永远都不知道在某个地方，某些员工是否违反了美国反海外行贿法，或其他反贿赂法。公司的监察部门常常设置暗哨来帮助他们调查。
An increase in whistleblowing has created more work. So has the push by Western firms into emerging markets (see Schumpeter). “It’s a business we win in America but serve in Asia, driven by the export of Western ethics,” says Tom Hartley, head of Kroll Advisory Solutions. “We’ve seen double-digit growth in each of the past four years.”
检举揭发案的增加创造了更多的工作。西方公司打入新兴市场也创造了更多就业岗位（参见Schumpeter）。德安华商业风险管理咨询有限公司（Kroll Advisory Solutions）的老总，汤姆哈特利（Tom Hartley）说道：“这是一项让我们赢在美国，服务于亚洲，出口西方伦理价值观的需要，在过去的每四年中，我们看到了两位数的增长”。
Another growth business is “due diligence” work, such as running background checks on a client’s potential hires or business partners. Last year Mintz Group, a medium-sized firm based in New York, conducted more than 20,000 checks, up 40% on 2010. “We tell clients to invest globally but investigate locally,” says Jim Mintz, the firm’s boss. Some clients ask for checks on everyone they deal with, even chauffeurs. Sleuths are also hired to probe the provenance of money. Amid a global crackdown on tax evasion, companies have grown warier of doing deals with dodgers.
另一项增长的业务是“尽职调查”，例如对某位客户的潜在雇员或商业伙伴进行连续背景考核。去年，位于纽约的一家中等规模的公司，明茨集团（Mintz Group）实施了超过20,000次考核，这一数据较2010年上升40%。该公司老板吉姆明茨（Jim Mintz）说“我们告诉客户进行全球性投资，本土性调查”， 一些客户要求核实与他们有交易的每一个人，甚至是司机。侦探们也有接到要求调查资金来源的活儿。面对全球严打偷税漏税，各个公司与漏税者们交易起来也越发小心谨慎。
Even downturns are not all bad for corporate gumshoes. Hard times often expose wrongdoing by causing scams to collapse. Industry figures report a rise in fraud litigation, asset-tracing and insolvency work. Headline-worthy mega-frauds, such as those perpetrated by Bernie Madoff and Allen Stanford, remind potential clients of the need for security.
因此，经济衰退对于公司内部调查者而言也不尽是坏事。困难的时候往往会让坑蒙诡计无处可藏，从而暴露违法行径。行业数据显示诈骗类诉讼，资产追踪和破产呈上升趋势。报刊头条充斥各类巨额诈骗新闻，比如那些受伯纳德•麦道夫（Bernie Madoff）和艾伦•斯坦福（Allen Stanford）欺诈案影响的公司，提醒潜在客户们安全的必要性。
Big jobs can occur anywhere. Kroll recently conducted a forensic audit of the failed Kabul Bank, from which nearly $1 billion was allegedly embezzled, for Afghanistan’s central bank. The client base is growing, too. Hedge funds and private-equity firms crave intelligence. In China, where accounts are unreliable, they vet acquisition targets by hiring sleuths to interview ex-employees. Post-Madoff, pension funds are doing more homework on their investments, often with outside help, says Ken Springer of Corporate Resolutions, an investigations and consulting firm.
大单子任何地方都会有。Kroll公司最近实施了一起破产的喀布尔银行法院审计调查，据称此案涉及10亿美元被阿富汗中央银行盗用。客户基础也更加牢固。对冲基金和私募基金公司需要情报。在中国，账目是靠不住的，他们审查收购目标是通过聘请侦探走访该公司的前雇员。后麦道夫时代，一家名为公司决议（Corporate Resolutions）的调查咨询公司总裁，肯•斯普林格（Ken Springer）表示，养老基金在投资过程中正在做更多的“功课”，常常需要外界帮助。
You know my methods. Apply them
你知道我的方式。运用他们。
A curious development is the growth of what might be called “self due diligence”. Entrepreneurs from parts of the world where corruption is rife, such as eastern Europe and Africa, are increasingly hiring reputable corporate-intelligence firms to investigate them—sometimes with full access to their business records. If the investigator gives them a clean bill of health, they can wave it at banks, regulators or potential business partners who might doubt them. The head of one investigations firm says such work accounts for up to a third of its London office’s revenues.
一个奇怪的发展趋势是，一项大约被称为“自我尽职调查”业务的增长。世界上部分贿赂盛行之地（如东欧和非洲）的企业家，聘请越来越多的知名情报公司调查他们，有时甚至允许调查他们的商业档案。如果调查者给他们出具一份无违法行为的证明书作为调查结果，他们就可以拿给那些可能怀疑他们的银行，监管机构和潜在的商业伙伴看。一家调查机构的老总说，这类工作的收入占到了伦敦办事处收入的三分之一。
Investigators have capitalised on the recent surge in cyberattacks and cyberspying. Some report an annual doubling of revenue in digital forensics. The least exciting digital work is possibly the most lucrative: electronic “discovery”, or the recovery and processing of e-documents to support litigation. Parties to big cases have to pass vast amounts of data to each other, especially in America. To cut costs, companies may hire a firm with smart technology to whittle down the e-material before the lawyers start expensively perusing it. This is done using programs that filter out e-mails and other documents that are irrelevant or privileged—though this “robotic” work needs to be supplemented with human judgment, says Vincent D’Eramo of Capstone Advisory.
调查者为最近风行的网络攻击和网络间谍下足资本。一些报告显示数字取证收入每年增加一倍。最没劲的数字工作却可能是最有利可图的：电子“发现”，或通过恢复和处理电子文档获得支撑诉讼的资料。一些大案子的当事人不得不相互传送大量的数据，尤其是在美国。因为律师处理资料的费用较高，为了削减成本，这些公司可能会聘请一家颇有技术实力的公司帮助其缩减电子资料。通常利用程序过滤不相关的或免检的电子邮件和文件来实现。然而，这类“机器人”工作还需要人为判断加以完善。顶点咨询公司（Capstone Advisory）文森特•埃拉莫（Vincent D’Eramo）表示。
Data! Data! Data!
数据为王！
In 2012 Kroll announced plans to double the size of its R&D team in e-discovery and data recovery over the next five years. Mr Hartley says the headcount in his division, the firm’s investigative core, grew by 15% in 2011. The number of Certified Fraud Examiners (CFEs) in the world has grown by 72% since 2007, to 37,400. (One of them, Harry Markopolos, gave the profession street credibility by spotting the Madoff fraud long before regulators.)
在2012年，Kroll宣布计划在下一个五年之内，将电子发现和数据恢复的研发团队规模扩大一倍。哈特利先生说道，他所在的公司最核心部门的总人数，在2011年增加了15%。注册舞弊检查师（CFEs）的数量自2007年以来增加了72%，达到37400人。（作为其中的一员，哈里•马科波洛斯（Harry Markopolos）早在调查机构介入麦道夫欺诈案之前就盯上了该案，并因此在坊间声誉鹊起）。
Kathy Lavinder, a headhunter, reckons the war for talent has driven up salaries for sleuths and security consultants by 20-25% since 2010. Members of “incident response” teams, who are expected to hop on a plane at a moment’s notice and are thus prone to burnout, have begun to ask for and receive guarantees of occasional time away from the daily grind for training courses, says Ms Lavinder.
猎头经理人，Kathy Lavinder估计自2010年以来，对人才的争夺把侦探和安全顾问的薪水抬高了20-25%。“事件响应”团队的成员，是一些即便在飞机上一收到通知就立即行动的主儿，因此有职业倦怠倾向，已开始要求并得到不定时免于日常培训课程的保障。Lavinder女士表示。
The choice of employer has expanded as new firms enter the business, disrupting the established order. Physical-security companies, such as Securitas, Allied Barton and Andrews International, are trying to move further into investigations as a way to boost margins, which are thin in the guard business. The big accounting firms, led by Deloitte, are hiring more cybersleuths—though much of their work is internal: ie, scrutinising clients of other parts of the group. Some investigative firms, including Kroll, have counter-attacked by pushing into accountancy.
随着新的公司加入这一行业，老板们的选择范围也扩大了，并逐渐打破已建立的秩序。物理安全公司，例如，Securitas, Allied Barton and Andrews International正在尝试进入调查领域，开辟出一条生财之路，他们在安保领域较为薄弱。由德勤牵头的大型会计公司，正在招聘网络侦探（他们大多数工作在国内），例如，仔细核查集团其他部分的客户。有些调查公司，包括Kroll已开始还击，将自己的业务推入会计界。
Law firms have long been big clients of the gumshoes, but they too are looking to do more investigations in-house. To this end, some are striking deals with investigative companies: in August, for instance, Pepper Hamilton, an American law firm, acquired a highly regarded boutique led by Louis Freeh, a former FBI director.
法律事务所历来是这些调查公司的大客户，但他们也在尝试做更多的内部调查。为此，有些事务所陷入与调查公司的斗争：例如，8月份，一家名为Pepper Hamilton的美国律师事务所，因获得一位名为Louis Freeh 的前FBI局长高度重视，而声名远播。
Most corporate investigators are privately held and publish little financial information. Kroll, probably the biggest, has had ups and downs. Its zenith was its sale in 2004 to Marsh & McLennan, an insurance broker, for a tidy $1.9 billion. By 2010, when Kroll was sold on to Altegrity, a security group, its valuation had tumbled by 40%. One slip-up between those two deals was to take on Allen Stanford as a client.
大多数公司调查者非上市公司，因此公布的财务信息有限。Kroll公司可能是最大的，经历了高潮低谷，2004年对保险经纪人Marsh & McLennan服务销售19亿美元，创下制高点。在2010年，Kroll为一家证券集团Altegrity提供服务时，服务价格跌了40%。在两次交易的一个共同错误即是接纳艾伦•斯坦福（Allen Stanford）为客户。
The firm is still admired by its rivals, whose upper ranks are stuffed with former Kroll people. But these days many consider the best in the business to be FTI Consulting, which also happens to be the only publicly traded firm of any size. Its forensic and litigation consulting division had revenues of $177m and a profit margin of 17% in the first six months of 2012.
该公司仍然令竞争对手们羡慕，其高层人员大部分曾供职于Kroll。但这些天来，许多人认为行业中做得最好要数FTI咨询公司，而这也恰好是不计规模的唯一上市公司。法庭和诉讼咨询部分收入为1亿770万美元，在2012年的前6个月的利润率为17％。
After dozens of small acquisitions, FTI now employs 3,800 people. Its boss, Jack Dunn, has poached some of Kroll’s best snoops. FTI won much of the work of piecing together Mr Madoff’s money trail; ten years ago the Madoff trustee would probably have given the lion’s share to Kroll. FTI also gets a lot of work as a “corporate monitor”, checking whether firms that have promised to mend their ways as part of a legal settlement keep their word. The industry loves these assignments: they typically last a couple of years, providing a recurring revenue stream.
经过几十桩小型收购，FTI现有雇员3800人。公司老板杰克•邓恩（Jack Dunn）挖走了Kroll公司部分优秀的侦探。FTI在许多调查案中的成功实施也因而发现了麦道夫先生金钱诈骗案的蛛丝马迹。10年前，麦道夫的受托人可能会将大部分调查业务交给Kroll公司.FTI作为“公司监管者”也会承接大量的业务，核实公司是否信守诺言按照法律和解改过自新。业务人士喜欢这些任务：他们通常会持续两三年，这将提供经常性的收入来源。
Another threat to the old order comes from K2 Intelligence, backed by Mr Kroll and run by his son, Jeremy. This was set up in 2009, when a non-compete clause with his old firm expired. These days Mr Kroll senior, now 71, is more focused on Kroll Bond Ratings, an attempt to disrupt the credit-ratings oligopoly.
对老资历调查公司额外的威胁来自K2情报公司。该公司由Kroll先生及其儿子吉米（Jeremy）掌管运营。成立于2009年，因为当时与老公司的一份竞业禁止条款已经终止。Kroll先生如今已经71岁，步入暮年，他关心更多的是Kroll的债权评级，这是一种打断信用评级寡头垄断的一种尝试。
K2 has started to make a mark, conducting the investigation into alleged bribery that forced Alcoa, an American aluminium firm, into a $447m settlement with Alba, a Bahraini one. Convinced that the future belongs to those with the technological savvy to “tell the story” by interpreting vast quantities of data, Jeremy Kroll has joined forces with Palantir, a security-software firm with past links to PayPal. Palantir and K2 have been crunching through 18 terabytes of transactions, e-mails and phone records in the hope of connecting dots to support the Madoff trustee’s litigation against investors who took more out of the Ponzi scheme than they put in. One program draws visual webs that show the length, destination and other features of phone calls made by Mr Madoff and his staff, and then looks for patterns.
K2已经开始扬名立万，在执行的一起行贿调查案中，迫使一家美国铝业公司Alcoa与一家巴林岛的铝业公司达成一项4亿4千700万美元的和解。吉米•卡罗尔（Jeremy Kroll）相信，未来属于那些能通过分析海量数据“取证”的技术实力型公司，因此跟一家曾与Paypal合作过的安全软件公司Palantir进行联姻。Palantir和K2一直在分析一项有18兆数据的交易。包括电子邮件和电话记录，以期在麦道夫委托人诉讼案中找出有利证据为那些卷入庞氏骗局的投资者们取回更多。一种方案是通过绘制出一张表明麦道夫先生及其手下之间通话长度，目的地等特征的视觉网，然后再按图索骥。
A fast-growing business where technology will be crucial is fighting money-laundering. Banks are under pressure to weed out suspicious transactions, but they are drowning in data. They are willing to throw a lot of money at the problem because the damage if they mess up can be enormous. Witness the $1.9 billion in fines that HSBC recently paid to settle allegations that it had abetted money-laundering by clients in Mexico and elsewhere.
一项对技术要求较高的快速增长业务是反洗钱。银行迫于压力对可疑的交易一概铲除，但他们面对大量的数据也束手无策。他们愿意花大价钱解决这一问题，因为一旦出现差错将损失惨重。有例为证，汇丰银行最近为摆平一项指控花了19亿美元，该指控显示涉嫌被墨西哥等地的客户唆使参与洗钱。
Mr Springer of Corporate Resolutions describes several recent assignments that turned into a game of technological one-upmanship with suspected wrongdoers. In one, his team eventually got the better of an IT employee at a non-profit who was suspected of fraud, by sneaking a black box into his office at night, using former National Security Agency experts to crack the administrator code and then blind-copying themselves into his e-mails. In many cases, the key is to combine digital expertise with traditional investigative techniques, argues Mr Mintz. Part of the job will continue to be “tracking down the disgruntled former secretary or book-keeper who knows where the bodies are buried, and knowing how to coax information from them,” he says.
“公司决议”公司的斯普林格先生透露说最近承接的几项任务都演变成与违法分子靠技术决高下的游戏。其中一个，他的团队最终打败了一名涉嫌诈骗的IT雇员，通过在夜里将一个黑盒子潜入他办公室，使用前国家安全局的专家破解了管理员密码，然后秘密抄送到他的电子邮箱。在多数情况下，关键是利用数字专业知识结合传统调查手段，明茨先生表示，部分工作需要继续跟踪心怀怨怼的前任秘书或簿记员，这些人知根知底，知道如何从他们身上套出信息。
The dog that barked at the right time
把握住了机遇的侦探公司
Jeffrey Katz, a former Kroll man who heads London-based Bishop International, which began life investigating claims in the Lloyds insurance market, sees new opportunities popping up all the time. His firm has been carving niches in intellectual property, from anti-counterfeiting (such as gathering evidence on how a particular faker operates) to buying trademarks on behalf of big companies before they launch a new brand. This must be done quietly, so as not to arouse suspicion and drive up prices. Bishop did a good job for Apple with names similar to “iPad”.
杰弗里卡茨（Jeffrey Katz），曾供职于Kroll公司，现在掌管着伦敦成立一家名为毕夏普国际（Bishop International）的公司，在调查劳埃德保险市场的索赔案中逐步发展起来，并持续把握住了每次出现的机遇。他的公司特意打造一个展厅摆放知识产权，从反伪造（例如收集证据展现一个制假者如何造假的过程）到代表大公司购买商标（在大公司发布新品牌之前）。这些事情必须低调进行，以免引起怀疑而抬高价格。毕夏普为苹果公司做个很漂亮的一单，类似“iPad”名称纠纷案。
But the industry faces challenges, too. Large clients are looking to build their own investigative capabilities, especially in cyber-security, says Michael DuBose of Kroll, who used to run the US Department of Justice’s computer-crime division. This could cut demand for outside help. Barriers to entry in digital forensics have fallen. Competition is intense. Some big assignments are decided in beauty contests with 15 or more participants.
然而，这个行业也面临着竞争。大客户正在寻求培养他们自己的调查能力，尤其是虚拟安全方面，Kroll公司的Michael DuBose如是说，此人曾负责美国司法部计算机犯罪科。这将减少对外界需求。数字取证的门槛已经降低。竞争越发加剧。要想拿到有些大单子，往往需要面对如同选美比赛中15个或更多的竞争对手。
And even as the industry profits by helping clients cope with red tape, it can expect tougher rules itself. Private investigators in Britain face possible regulation in the wake of the News Corporation phone-hacking scandal. In America, the SEC and Congress may tighten rules on investigators and “knowledge brokers” that work for hedge funds, some of them suspected of abetting insider trading. Corporate detective work is anything but elementary.
正如这个行业的盈利是建立在帮助客户筛选信息的基础上，行业本身预计会面临更严格的规则。随着新闻公司电话监听丑闻的爆出，伦敦的私家侦探可能面临政策规范。在美国，证交会和国会可能会严格规范调查机构行业规则以及为对冲基金工作的“知识经纪人”，他们中有些人涉嫌教唆内部交易。公司侦探这份工作水深着呢。
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