Case Study: Hollywood Actor's Estate

Busted: Investment Fraud

A very well-known actor's estate retained JB National Investigations to investigate possible Investment Fraud. This particular estate invests millions of dollars into small businesses and other entities throughout the country.

Our client had given a company a very substantial amount of money to grow their business. Our client expected a return on the investment but nothing was happening. They began to pressure the company for answers and was told that the company was 'out-of-business, had no employees and had closed and locked the doors. "We have no assets." In an effort to find pertinent information JB National Investigations completed a tier two background investigation on the company and its principals. Based on information found by JB National's database probes and field investigations, surveillance on the company's owner began. The owner led "JB National Investigators to an office with company vehicles, and employees coming and going. For a company that was no longer conducting business it was quite busy.

JB National investigators continued a covert investigation and discovered that the company was apparently very viable, doing business with an active payroll and a warehouse with stacks of inventory. Dozens of staff were on phones, meetings were taking place and employee rosters were posted. Large jobs were obviously being planned and implemented. In short, the company was up, running and seemed to be doing well.

After taking photos and obtaining other documentation at the scene, JB National investigators reported the results of the investigation to the client. In turn the client was able to fire the principal and negotiate a settlement with fees.

Case Study: Breach of Contract

Caught: Non-Compete Violation

JB National Investigations was retained by a water damage mitigation company to investigate a breach of contract and non-compete agreement that they thought had been violated by a former employee. One of JB National's principals immediately began a three tier background check.

JB National's client provided documentation alleging a former employee was in violation of his non-compete as well as employment contract he signed. One of JB National's principals immediately began a three-tier background check.

The initial investigation quickly recovered evidence that the subject was indeed conducting business in direct violation of the signed non-compete. The subject was openly advertising on the Internet; directly competing with his previous employer. The subject had multiple websites, web advertisements as well as a license that was obtained while in the employ of our client. After documenting all of the facts, surveillance was put in place.

After only 20 minutes JB National followed the subject to a home where obvious water damage occurred. The subject was observed obtaining a check for services as well as issuing what appeared to be an invoice and/or receipt.

In addition, JB National was able to observe the subject conducting business within a fire department headquarters. At the time the investigator didn't know what this could possibly mean. A phone call to the fire department revealed that the subject obtained a certificate allowing him to access a building that had caught on fire and thus obtained water damage.

JB National Investigations was able to provide enough evidence to allow Pak & Moring, PLC to pursue civil litigation for our client.

Case Study: Pirated Music Bust!

Suspected: Criminal Fraud

JB National Investigations was contacted by another PI Firm and asked to participate in a law enforcement sweep to recover pirated music CD's.

One of JB National's Investigators attended a briefing involving three licensed PI's, several support staff, and over 30 sworn law enforcement officers. Upon completion of the briefing, undercover police officers entered a swap meet and identified multiple individuals selling alleged pirated CD's.

Law Enforcement provided another briefing detailing how the take down would be conducted, and loaded a dozen police vehicles with officers and private investigators.

Upon arrival to the swap meet JB National was assigned to two officers to take down a booth containing over 1000 pirated CDs. Upon arrival the officers detained one individual. JB National verified that over 95% of the CDs contained in the booth were indeed pirated. The subject who admitted to owning the space was arrested for a class 3 felony and booked based on the expertise of JB National Investigations.

In all 23 felony arrests were made and one warrant was served on a locked container containing hundreds of pirated CDs and in total thousands of illegal copies of CDs were taken as evidence for prosecution. The success and magnitude of the operation drew every local news agency in the Phoenix are and was made possible due to the expertise of firms like JB National Investigations.