Confirming what you know and finding what you don't
If ever there was a candidate for the Due Diligence Hall of Shame, this is it. Thanks to investigator Brian Willingham, who posts really good stuff on Twitter, I came across a recent NY Times article that describes the fraud and the outcome, and they’re both shameful. I’ll start with the outcome, and then I’ll […]
Writing about due diligence mishaps is a tricky proposition. It’s easy for me to second guess why someone goes through with a partnership or investment, even with obvious warning signs. Usually, the news sources provide few details, and it doesn’t seem fair to judge after the deal goes bad. And then there are the cases […]
In due diligence, investigators look for different types of warning signs, often categorized as red flags or yellow flags. I’ve already talked about red flags, issues that turn up in the background check which, on their own, could jeopardize the investment or partnership. In this post, I’ll cover yellow flags – warning signs that individually may […]
Running a due diligence background checks is a great way find out if if someone is not as honest as they appear – before you agree to do business. To do this, investigators look at past and current behavior to help predict the likelihood of future fraudulent activity. It’s the “once a crook, always a […]
Recent news about student journalists investigating their new principal’s credentials – and her subsequent resignation – earns this Kansas school board a place in the Due Diligence Hall of Shame. According to reports, these students started doing some research and quickly found “some things that just didn’t quite add up.” They then published their article, […]
I didn’t need to look long or far for the next entry onto the Due Diligence Hall of Shame. Right there, on the front page of my local newspaper, the Denver Post, I found this article about a $30 million Ponzi-like investment scam. Apparently several clients, including Broncos quarterback Mark Sanchez, Rockies pitcher Roy Oswalt, […]
I’ve been collecting articles that illustrate some of the best reasons for conducting due diligence and some of the best examples of due diligence mistakes. It’s time to share these with you, starting with the missteps by Walgreens executives when vetting Theranos, prior to their soon-to-be doomed partnership . As reported by the Wall Street Journal, […]