How J2 Risk Advisors conducts investigations in just 15 minutes

Instant intelligence

J2 Risk Advisors’ work is multi-faceted. Investigations can be proactive, as in the case of conducting due diligence to detect risk in potential investments, or reactive, for example when investigating an individual’s financial assets for a lawsuit. It gathers security intel for corporations on potential threat actors and conducts commercial intelligence work on clients they are looking to do business with or are in competition with. It tested several different offerings in the selection process, and Thomson Reuters Risk & Fraud Solutions emerged as the clear winner. “Our work moves very fast, and 95% of the time, we’re leveraging a Thomson Reuters product,” says Tom Jaeb, Founder & Managing Investigator at J2 Risk Advisors. “Their suite of risk and fraud solutions are the foundation of almost any investigation.” Often, the information investigators have to go on is very limited: for example, they may only have a person’s name. They use the investigative resources to track down other critical information such as dates of birth, social security numbers, name variations, address or employment history, or affiliations that they need to ensure they are looking at the right person. Jaeb finds that identification piece very useful.

Users can jump easily from one data point to another within the system, so that an investigation can go in any direction seamlessly and quickly, while also being able to drill down into detailed depths, and then pull up customized reports. In one example, a client asked the company to investigate a potential security threat where a suspicious vehicle had appeared outside one of its offices. Armed with only the license plate number, investigators were able to identify the vehicle owner’s known associates, and then deploy Court Express to see if they had any criminal history. Jaeb says, “It’s just the full gamut. From having one piece of information, suddenly you can access a hundred data points to rely on during the investigation. It’s a cycle: the more information you get, the more you can ask for. From having just a license plate, we were able to get the full picture of the suspected threat in just 15 minutes. It was virtually instant. “For Jaeb, it’s critical that as much of the data provided as possible is in real time, so that it is as up to date and accurate as possible. “I’m confident I can tell my clients that there’s no way to get the information faster, and this is as real time as it gets. I trust that Thomson Reuters is always working on that to make it even more efficient,” he says. “They never stop adding new information and improving the system.”

A powerful combination

Thomson Reuters Risk & Fraud Solutions also includes critical tools to assist with the investment due diligence process. Jaeb explains that investors such as private equity firms and hedge funds typically have less information about prospects than lenders, so J2 Risk Advisors leverages the databases to gather the intelligence they need. Investigators use it to validate the information they have been given, vet out any false matches, and then pull comprehensive reports containing myriad details about principals, property ownership, management structure, and business links, which are not otherwise easy to find. Once they have created this profile, they can check for specific items of interest or expand the list of connections to look into. They can also go into Adverse Media Sanctions to do a global media sweep on companies and key individuals, deploy Real Time Incarceration and Arrests to check for arrest status, and utilize Court Express to dig into any potential criminal records, litigation, liens, judgments, or bankruptcies. Since all searches are customizable, they can tailor their use of the products to specific clients and cases, for instance, by digging deeper in specific locations and going back decades, searching different levels of the courts. “If we find something relevant, we can go back to Court Express and say, ‘Get us copies of these documents.’ And we may get documentation back that names other businesses or other related parties. So, it’s a cycle. Then we can go back into the investigative resources, identify those individuals or companies, and conduct additional investigation on them. So, from our perspective, it’s as holistic an approach as you can get from one data provider. Using all these products in tandem delivers powerful results, as they comb different data sources to capture comprehensive information about a subject. When you pull all these resources together, that’s where the real value comes from,” says Jaeb. “The marriage of all the different systems is critical because you need more than one tool.”

Wide-ranging benefits

With almost-instant download times and quick turnaround times for court document delivery from Court Express, J2 Risk Advisors can provide a full personal profile in three days instead of seven, which Jaeb describes as a huge competitive advantage. He adds, “The biggest benefit for us is that the systems do so much of the document retrieval for us. If I can save an hour on research, that’s an extra hour for more thorough analysis, making recommendations, client liaison, or new business work. Plus, those time savings make it super cost-efficient for clients.” Jaeb and his colleagues find the solutions intuitive and easy to use, and the billing system is simple and transparent, so it’s easy to provide quotes quickly to clients for particular types of work. They also value the customer support and regular product updates and enhancements Thomson Reuters provides. “The customer service is excellent,” he says. “I don’t look at this as a commodity, I see it as a partnership.” The company is now looking at ways to deliver a monetizable, ongoing monitoring service, so that clients are kept up to date whenever there is a change to an individual’s or business’ circumstances such as a new address, a new judgment, an arrest, or adverse media coverage. Such information could be invaluable, especially in the financial sector for compliance purposes. And it could help the firm retain and win more business, helping it go from strength to strength.

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