VetDueDiligenceWhat you don't know about them
is already costing you.
Before a signature. Before a wire. Before the board meeting. We surface what counterparty counsel, background vendors, and LinkedIn searches cannot — because the information that matters most was designed to stay hidden.
"What will you find that a background check won't?"
Standard background checks confirm identity, surface public criminal records, and verify employment. They stop at the edge of what is publicly indexed.
We operate in the gap between public record and private truth.
Our investigators access federal court PACER systems, state-level civil dockets, UCC filings, and FINCEN advisories that background vendors never touch. We trace beneficial ownership through nominee directors, identify dormant litigation holds, and map the professional network of your counterparty — including who they've been adverse to, who they've sued under different entity names, and which deals quietly collapsed before closing.
- Federal civil and criminal docket review (all 94 U.S. districts)
- State-level adverse action and professional license history
- Corporate registry cross-referencing across 50+ jurisdictions
- Judgment lien and UCC search — personal and entity
- Regulatory enforcement action database (SEC, FINRA, CFTC, OCC)
of our engagements surface material findings not present in the client's prior background check.
"How do you find hidden litigation they didn't disclose?"
Sophisticated counterparties know what to omit from a rep and warranty schedule. Litigation under a prior entity name, a spouse's business, or a dissolved LLC rarely surfaces in standard diligence.
We follow the entity trail, not the person's self-reported history.
We build a complete entity map of every LLC, corporation, partnership, and trust your counterparty has controlled or been affiliated with — going back 15 years. Each entity is then independently searched across civil court systems. We identify pattern litigants, serial defendants in commercial disputes, and individuals who have used entity dissolution to escape judgments. We also review PACER for sealed matters and flag cases where the party list suggests undisclosed adverse relationships.
- Entity genealogy mapping — formation, dissolution, registered agent history
- Affiliated-party litigation search across all named entities
- Sealed matter flag review and docket activity analysis
- Judgment satisfaction and collection action tracing
- Arbitration award search (AAA, JAMS, FINRA arbitration history)
of undisclosed litigation we surface involves an entity the counterparty no longer formally controls but operationally directed.
"Can you map who actually owns the company we're acquiring?"
UBO disclosure requirements are inconsistently enforced. Beneficial ownership can be obscured through layered holding structures, nominee arrangements, and jurisdictions with opaque registry requirements.
We trace ownership to the natural person — regardless of how many layers intervene.
Our forensic accountants and former FinCEN analysts reconstruct beneficial ownership structures using corporate registry filings, property records, UCC filings, and open-source intelligence. We identify nominee directors, trace trust beneficiaries where public filings permit, and flag jurisdictions known for ownership opacity — Delaware series LLCs, Wyoming shell structures, Cayman SPVs, BVI holding companies. Where formal documentation is unavailable, we document the evidentiary basis for our assessment and assign a confidence rating.
- Multi-jurisdiction corporate registry extraction and cross-referencing
- Nominee director and registered agent pattern analysis
- Property record and deed transfer mapping to beneficial owners
- OFAC, FinCEN, and international sanctions list screening
- Open-source intelligence — regulatory filings, court exhibits, press records
of acquisition targets we investigated had at least one beneficial owner not disclosed in the seller's representation package.
Ready to know what they haven't disclosed?
"What about reputational risk in markets we don't know?"
A clean U.S. record tells you nothing about how a counterparty conducted business in Brazil, the UAE, or Southeast Asia. Reputational damage in foreign markets travels slowly — until it arrives.
We engage in-country sources where public records end.
For cross-border engagements, we deploy a network of former law enforcement liaisons, investigative journalists, and regional compliance professionals across 40+ countries. They access local-language court records, regulatory enforcement databases, and media archives that are invisible to U.S.-based search tools. We also assess anti-bribery and anti-corruption risk posture — identifying whether a counterparty's revenue in a given market is structurally dependent on relationships that would violate the FCPA or UK Bribery Act post-acquisition.
- Local-language media and court record review in target jurisdictions
- In-country source network — former law enforcement and regulatory officials
- FCPA and UK Bribery Act risk assessment for revenue-generating relationships
- Politically Exposed Person (PEP) screening and adverse media analysis
- Correspondent banking and trade finance red flag review
countries in which we have completed cross-border due diligence engagements in the last 24 months.
Request a Confidential Assessment
Every inquiry is received by a principal investigator — not a sales team. We respond within one business day with a scope outline and engagement letter. All communications are protected under attorney-client privilege when requested.
VetDueDiligence LLC
Licensed Investigative Firm · Est. 2011
VetDueDiligence LLC
The 12 Red Flags We Find
in Every Deal
- 01Entity names that match known judgment-evasion patterns
- 02Beneficial owners in opacity jurisdictions without disclosed business rationale
- 03Gaps in corporate history that coincide with litigation windows
- 04Regulatory enforcement actions disclosed only in footnotes
- 05Prior business partners who have filed for bankruptcy within 36 months
- 06Professional license revocations not reflected in a LinkedIn profile
The 12 Red Flags We Find in Every Deal
A practitioner's checklist compiled from 600+ completed engagements. Each flag is drawn from a real case — the kind of finding that, had it been discovered earlier, would have changed the deal or prevented a catastrophic hire. No marketing copy. No filler.
600+
Engagements
15 yrs
In Practice
40+
Countries