Kroll

New York
800-675-3772, www.kroll.com
Among Kroll’s past assignments: conducting due diligence on prospective Ford auto dealers in China and exposing embezzlement at the top ranks of a major New York City charity. With 65 offices in 25 cities around the world, this risk-consulting company has offered intelligence services since its founding in 1972.

Control Risks
London
011-44-207-970-2100, www.crg.com
Control Risks, a full-service international risk consultancy, will trace assets, take care of pre-employment screening, and conduct corporate investigations. Global firms, especially in emerging markets, swear by the firm’s RiskMap, an annual business forecast with intelligence for 150 countries.

Fortress Global
New York
800-493-3678, www.fortressglobal.com
When Beirut’s Al-Medina bank collapsed and its chairman found himself out more than $1 billion, he called Fortress Global, founded by former head honchos at Interpol, the F.B.I., the C.I.A., and the Manhattan District Attorney’s office. The Fifth Avenue firm works with some of the world’s biggest hedge funds and banks.

Vance
Oakton, Virginia
703-592-1400, www.vanceglobal.com
With heavy-hitting clients in pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, and finance, Vance conducts due diligence investigations for international mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, and board appointments. Following its director’s resignation, the Massachusetts State Police crime lab tapped Vance to perform a review.

Investigative Services Agencies
Chicago
312-755-9700, www.investigative-agency.com
This publicly traded firm specializes in background checks, surveillance, fraud investigation, and risk assessment for Chicago offices of national companies, such as Citibank, but it doesn’t stop at the local level; president James Miller has helped the F.B.I. apprehend fugitives from its Most Wanted list.

Worldwide Intelligence Network
Los Angeles and New York
877-885-5220, www.wincor.com
Entertainment industry attorneys and insiders get their intel from Worldwide Intelligence Network, which conducts witness location and litigation support, corporate espionage, and investigations of fraud, embezzlement, and all manner of employee malfeasance.