Forensic Investigations &
Human-led Intelligence

We take a holistic approach to the management of legal, regulatory, commercial and reputational risks. Our team has extensive experience in undertaking the full range of forensic investigations, including in relation to non-financial misconduct, financial wrongdoing and regulatory breaches.

We also understand the power of insight and leverage expertise in multi-domain human-led intelligence gathering and advanced digital forensic investigations tools to deliver better outcomes for our clients.

FORENSIC INVESTIGATIONS — NON-FINANCIAL MISCONDUCT, FINANCIAL, AND REGULATORY

Our forensic investigators are appointed by individuals, companies, national and supranational organisations, and governments to carry out independent investigations and fact-finding reviews, in a range of situations. This includes in relation to complex cross border civil disputes, to investigate known or suspected wrongdoing in a client organisation or in response to approaches from regulators or law enforcement prosecutors.

We investigate issues that might have civil, criminal or regulatory repercussions. This can involve suspicion of bribery, fraud, cartel activity, sanctions or money laundering breaches, or non-financial misconduct.

Our experience of acting for regulators and prosecuting bodies means we are ideally placed to advise on whether a report to the relevant authorities is required. Where this might lead to an external investigation, we work with our clients to reach the right resolution.

Our forensic investigations capabilities include:

  • Non-financial misconduct – Astraea undertakes conduct-related investigations in relation to complaints and disciplinary processes, whistleblowing reports and as part of wider fact-finding investigations. Issues investigated include allegations of bullying, harassment, sexual misconduct, abuse of office, and breaches of an organisations’ policies and procedures.

  • Reputational threat investigations – We conduct both proactive and reactive investigations into actions and events that threaten to damage the reputation of individuals and organisations. 

  • Fraud investigations – We undertake investigations into allegations or instances of known or suspected fraud (including asset misappropriation schemes; and financial statement fraud).

  • Bribery and corruption investigations – We carry out investigations into allegations or instances of (i) known or suspected conflicts of interest; (ii) purchasing/sales schemes; (iii) bid-rigging and invoice kickbacks; (iv) illegal gratuities; and (v) economic extortion.

  • Regulatory investigations – Astraea is instructed to undertake investigations on behalf of regulators. We also act for regulated businesses that are facing heightened regulatory scrutiny or intervention.  

  • Complex money laundering and sanction circumvention investigations – We have deep expertise in conducting complex money laundering and sanction circumvention investigations to uncover sophisticated schemes used to disguise the origins and movement of illegally obtained funds or to circumvent sanctions

HUMAN-LED INTELLIGENCE 

Astraea provides a range of human-led intelligence capabilities to support legal proceedings, gain strategic insights, and protect assets. 

Our human-led intelligence capabilities include: 

  • Litigation support: We gather and analyse multi-domain intelligence for use in legal proceedings. This includes locating individuals, tracing assets, and performing in-depth due diligence which is used in complex civil or cross-border enforcement proceedings. 

  • Strategic threat insight: the provision of human-led information gathering, analysis and ground-truth reporting:

    • Strategic intelligence: This involves gathering actionable information to support key business decisions and legal strategies. 

    • Ground-truth reporting: We help clients obtain real-time information from the ground to identify threats, mitigate risks and protect value. This allows organisations to make data-driven decisions to secure key assets and investments.  

    • Asset verification and situational appraisal: Astraea is able to conduct in-country situational assessments of risks, threats and vulnerabilities that may impact commercial value or the operational security of high priority assets, investments and commercial interests. 

    • Supply chain integrity due diligence: It has never been more important for businesses to have full line of sight across its supply chain. We help clients to  investigate, evaluate, and manage ethical, legal, and regulatory risks in an organisations’ supply chain.

  • Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance (ISR): We combine integrated intelligence and operational capabilities to collect and analyse information, conduct multi-domain surveillance, and carry out targeted monitoring of activities, resources and locations to support decision-making. 

  • Digital investigations: Astraea uses cutting-edge technologies, including data fusion and machine learning capabilities to conduct investigations across electronic domains and OSINT data feeds.