Working references drawn from live mandates, written for the people who carry the consequence of a bad appointment or a bad counterparty: boards, counsel, investors, brands and anyone attaching their name to a person or a partnership.
§ 01Published references
Enhanced due diligence checklist
The eight-stage checklist we work through on an enhanced due diligence file, from beneficial ownership resolution to source-of-wealth corroboration and findings grading.
C-suite and board hire risk framework
How to quantify the financial exposure of a senior appointment, what to examine before an offer, and where standard employment screening stops short.
§ 02Written for
Boards & nominating committees
Appointments where a missed signal becomes a governance failure. Our frameworks apply the same evidentiary standard to a director candidate as to a hostile counterparty.
A director candidate presents a clean executive record. Public filings in a second jurisdiction show a dissolved entity, an unresolved regulatory proceeding and a co-director already adverse to the company in litigation.
One withdrawn nomination avoids a proxy fight, an emergency board search and the disclosure cycle that follows a resignation under pressure.
General counsel
Counterparty, dispute and transaction support that survives scrutiny. Sourcing, provenance and confidence grading built to hold in front of a regulator or a courtroom.
In a contract dispute, the opposing principal's public record shows a repeat pattern of the same claim structure across three prior matters, with dispositions on file.
Leverage established before filing shortens the matter and reduces the discovery and outside-counsel spend a blind dispute would have consumed.
Investment committees
Pre-commitment clarity on principals, sponsors and counterparties. Beneficial ownership resolution, source-of-wealth corroboration and undisclosed exposure mapped before term sheets.
A sponsor's track record cites four exits. Public records corroborate two, contest one and show the fourth entity struck off with creditors outstanding.
A repriced or abandoned commitment protects the fund from a write-down and from the LP disclosure that follows one.
Influencer & finfluencer vetting
Before a brand, fund or platform attaches its name to a creator, we examine the public record behind the persona: litigation history, regulatory actions, undisclosed promotions, audience authenticity and prior endorsement fallout, drawn strictly from lawful open sources.
A finance creator with strong engagement has a prior regulatory action for undisclosed paid promotion and an audience profile inconsistent with the reported reach.
Campaign spend is redirected before launch, avoiding paid media against fabricated reach and the regulatory attention an undisclosed-promotion partner attracts.
Entertainment & production audits
Due diligence for production companies, studios and labels evaluating actors, artists, athletes and casino or gaming partnerships. Reputational exposure, contract disputes, associations and financial entanglements surfaced before a project, tour or venue deal is announced.
A touring partner's operating entity shows unpaid judgments from two prior tours and a venue relationship already in dispute.
Restructured terms or a different partner avoids a mid-production halt, where reshoot, insurance and idle-crew costs dwarf the diligence fee.
Social & reputational management
Open-source social media assessment and strategy for executives and brands. We map the public narrative around a principal, identify emerging reputational pressure, and support strategy grounded in what the record actually shows.
A principal's search results are dominated by a single stale allegation amplified by low-authority aggregators, while the corrective public record sits on page four.
Correcting the visible record early avoids the crisis-communications retainer and the deal friction that arrives once counterparties start searching.
Media & brand partnerships
Marketing and media partnerships carry counterparty risk like any transaction. We vet brand influencers, media partners and sponsorship vehicles for litigation, adverse media, fabricated metrics and undisclosed conflicts before campaigns go live.
A sponsorship vehicle presents audited-looking metrics; public filings show the entity formed weeks earlier with principals behind a prior collapsed media network.
Prepaid sponsorship exposure is avoided, along with the recovery litigation that follows a partner with no recoverable balance sheet.
Fractional asset co-ownership
High-value fractional arrangements, private jets, residences, yachts, create long-duration exposure to co-owners. We audit principals and operators behind fractional offerings so clients know who they share title, scheduling and liability with.
A fractional aircraft operator's maintenance and management entities are separately owned, with liens recorded against the operating company.
Escrow, indemnity and exit terms are renegotiated before purchase, avoiding a trapped position in an illiquid asset held with insolvent co-owners.
Business deal & partnership auditing
Independent audits of proposed partnerships, joint ventures and commercial deals. We examine the principals, the entities, the public claims and the gaps between them, delivering a graded findings file before signatures.
A joint-venture partner's claimed customer base and licence standing cannot be corroborated in any public source, and the signing entity is not the operating entity.
Conditions precedent and holdbacks are priced into the agreement, converting an unpriced liability into a negotiated term.
Cases are illustrative composites drawn from common engagement patterns, not client matters. These references describe our working method in the open. Engagement-specific scope, sourcing and findings remain confidential to the client file.