Is It Worth It for Parents To Take Out Loans To Send Your Kids to Private School? L Burke Files – comments on going into debt for your child’s primary and secondary education were picked up by Yahoo Finance.   … Read More

Buying a new car? Maybe wait for the chip shortage to end first L. Burke Files was quoted in an article on the EV chip shortage and the very real troubles that means for many of the start-up EV vehicle makers. Link … Read More

How much does it cost to buy your kid’s way into the best private universities? L. Burke Files was quoted in an article in Ladders “How much does it cost to buy your kid’s way into the best private … Read More

Personal Security Measures Business Owners Need to Know When Traveling L. Burke Files, President of FE&E Inc was quoted in this article – NE GUARD on July 2, 2021. Security Measures You Need to Implement … Read More

How to Spot Counterfeit Money L. Burke Files was quoted in Money-US News – July 21,2021   Click here to Link to full article PDF of article: How to Spot Counterfeit Money | Personal Finance | US … Read More

The Seven Steps to Personal Safety How to Avoid, Deal-With, or Survive the Aftermath of Violence and Terrorism in the New Millennium By Richard Bruce Isaacs, M.A., CPP & Tim Powers 7 steps to Personal Safety … Read More

How To Financially Weather a Divorce in Midlife (or Later) L. Burke Files was interviewed by GoBankingRates.com on how to financially prepare for a divorce. Read the full article here:  … Read More

IFC Review, The Great Homogenisation What if the OECD and FATF got what they wanted, international tax Homogenisation? https://www.ifcreview.com/articles/2021/january/the-great-homogenisation/ – link to article IFC … Read More

From Farm To Face – Food Safety I was quoted in a HK FinTech news site on food satiety and the use or not use of blockchain as a tool to trace food from farm to face. … Read More

Due Diligence is required on Charities, Foundations and NGOs. IFC Review. https://www.ifcreview.com/articles/2020/october/our-noble-deeds-and-a-wee-bit-of-due-diligence-on-charities-foundations-and-ngo  – link to … Read More

Hayek Global College How to deal with corruption in your business with Burke Flies – Profit Talks #01 An interview with myself on addressing corruption. … Read More

Shock-Covid winners and losers Pre-Covid to Post-Covid economies and weathering the Shock-Covid reality. An article on the winners and losers by myself in IFC Review. … Read More

FinTech Article in IFC Review By L. Burke Files https://www.ifcreview.com/articles/2020/august/fintech-offers-multinational-innovation/ By L. Burke Files FinTech-Offers-Multinational-Innovation – PDF … Read More

Sustainability and Hedge Funds This is my look into the concept of sustainability requirements for investors and my findings. Beware of Pigs in Frog Suits. … Read More

How To Deal With Know It Alls I was one of the contributing authors to a segment on How To Deal With Know It Alls on UpJourney https://upjourney.com/how-to-deal-with-know-it-alls – Link to article How to Deal With … Read More

Alternative Fund Due Diligence, by L. Burke Files https://www.ifcreview.com/articles/2020/april/alternative-investment-fund-due-diligence-better-safe-than-sorry/ – Link to article Alternative Investment Fund Due … Read More

Workpuls Interviews L. Burke Files https://www.workpuls.com/blog/interview-burke-files – Link to interview transcript and video FEE Inc. Interview – Business in the time of Coronavirus – PDF Version of … Read More

Foreign Policy – US banks and Deutsche Banks Mr. Files was quoted in Foreign Policy on the relationship between US Banks and Deutsche Bank. Foreign Policy – Link to article Foreign-Policy-Feb-2020 – PDF … Read More

IFC Review – The 5th EU AML Directive An article in the IFC Review 2020 on the impact of the 5th EU AML Directive IFC-Review-5th-EU-AML-Directive – PDF Version … Read More

Business Security Audit and Review Business Security Audit and Review is my 6th book with co-authors Gamal Newry, CIRM, CCM and Ibrahim Yeku, CCEP-I, CAMS, LLM titled Business Security Audit and Review directed at … Read More

Fortune, L. Burke Files, President IDDO Quoted As the OECD tries to close corporate tax loopholes more emerge. The Sisyphean task is doomed to fail – again. The sharp people are not at the OECD but in law firms, … Read More

Cryptocurrency and Flight Capital In this article, I am quoted discussing some views on cryptocurrency price drivers including political instability and flight capital. … Read More

Banking Risks, Red Flags, and A.I. This is a simple discussion on the severe risks associated with having a relationship with only one bank. … Read More

Advanced Money Laundering – Nassau Bahamas 28-29 March 2019   The event was hosted in conjunction with Preventative Measures and we received a very nice mention on The Bahamas Tribune. There were over 60 … Read More

Deutsche Bank and Trump in Newsweek The President of the IDDO, Mr. Files, was quoted in Newsweek on the issues with Danske Bank and Donald Trump’s relationship with the bank. … Read More

IDDO Director Gary W. Craig at AMAA Summer Conference Gary W. Craig moderated a panel presentation at the Alliance for Merger & Acquisition Advisors (AM&AA) Summer Conference in Chicago last month. Gary, … Read More

It is an overlooked fact that businesses who take the time to prepare for the eventual sale and prepare themselves through sale side due diligence will sell faster, and command a higher price. … Read More

Manners matter, even in the simplest of things. … Read More

The Sins of Ann Twomey The point of the story is really what happens when leadership lacks transparency and become an oligarchy with no accountability.  A very sad tale for the union members of the HPAE in NJ. … Read More

Again our very own L. Burke Files is quoted in Free Malaysia Today on the 1MDB Scandal. http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2016/08/15/falcon-bank-under-radar-over-usd681-million-donation/  – Link to … Read More

NY Post / Swiss Bank Linked to Malaysia Scandal I have a nice small quote in a big story. http://nypost.com/2016/08/13/swiss-private-bank-linked-to-malaysia-scandal/ – Link to article Swiss private bank linked to … Read More

Playing with Ebola I had a nice quote in a amazing story of how the Mob continues to operate and bring mischief everywhere is goes – this time with the help of the UN and a $200 billion dollar bait. Authored … Read More

Customer Due Diligence Requirements for Financial Institutions It can be said to be no big thing, unless you are now subject to the rules. The new inclusion of investment advisors, financial planners, pension … Read More

Our very own L Burke Files was quoted today in the Sarawak Report.   He was commenting on the lack of due diligence exhibited by Goldman Sachs in the hiring and or retention of Timothy Leissner the lead broker for … Read More

Mr. Files letter to the Editor of the Financial Times The Financial Times was kind enough to publish a letter to the editor on crimes and cash and the elimination of the  €500 note. … Read More

Beyond The Lease – Podcast In this podcast L. Burke Files explores aspects and considerations to look at and consider before signing a commercial lease agreement. [audio … Read More

What is it worth? Most people don’t realize they have a need for an appraisal. The need for the appraisal is usually an event, such as insurance, loss, or value for division or liquidation, and you have sadly … Read More

Our very own Burke Files was quoted today in the Washington post discussing international finances, banking, and money laundering. The article begs the question about the direction of international tax policies and … Read More

DUE DILIGENCE, APPLICATION AND CHALLENGES IN WEST AFRICA I have decided to consider West Africa in its entirety in the above mentioned theme, but will narrow down to Ghana, my homeland. I also appreciate the fact … Read More

L. Burke Files in All Andorra Mr. Files was asked a series of questions on the impact of the Banca Privada de Andorra scandal as well as what is in the future for Andorra as an OFC.  As he say Andorra is not … Read More

Due Diligence and  The $50.00 background check. You have seen them on the web, you get offers them in the email.  Quick easy solutions for your hiring needs.  Enterprise solutions and pricing … Read More

Due Diligence: NGOs and Charities Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and charities have slowly evolved, under the radar, to become significant channels for laundering money. The veneer of decency used to hide … Read More

Due Diligence and the Future of Financial Institutions I have spent the last two months traveling around Europe, the Middle East and Africa looking at trends in finance. I have been looking at the economies shaping … Read More

Business Environment We run a scenario for the DDP class that is as follows: You are buying a Fixed Base Operation in Puerto Rico. What are all of the factors you need to take into consideration when you as a … Read More

What You Need To Do After the OPM Breach The breach of security at the UP Office of Personal Management is not bad, it is worse than you ever could know – and then a bit more. 14 million SF 86 Forms and … Read More

Dress Run though a list of any of the top 500 pictures of executive protection people on the web under images and you will see nearly the same thing – knuckleheads in black suits that do not fit, trying to look … Read More

FATF Guidelines on Virtual Currencies The FATF has published a paper on Guidance for Virtual Currencies. http://www.fatf-gafi.org/media/fatf/documents/reports/Guidance-RBA-Virtual-Currencies.pdf According to the … Read More

Greece Without Banks From Anastasios Avranas, CEO International Association o f Financial Management. With the majority of the world holding its breath around the “Greek” issue here’s a list of notes why we … Read More

UK Beneficial Ownership We have been sharing with our readers for 5 years that a time will come when beneficial ownership – back to human beings, will be required. The UK has taken the first step in that direct … Read More

Secure Mobile – True Encrypted Communication Voice interception is not an if, it is a where and when. If you think otherwise – your thinking is very faulty. So you say your calls are not interesting enough to … Read More

African Due Diligence Last month, I saw an advert for a firm who said ‘They know Africa’ and that they could help with any research in Africa. This sort of puffery for anyone who has spent time in Africa is … Read More

Disinformation, by Lt General Ion Mihai Pacepa and Professor Ronald J. Rychlak. ISBN 978-193648860-5 Pacepa was the former Chief of Romanian Intelligence who defected to the West. In this book a chilling … Read More

GONGO – Government Owned NGOs. Money laundering is shifting from little nits deposited into accounts to larger and larger sums moving under the colors of governments. The biggest offenders have been Government … Read More

Banned Apps Not only do manufactures ban apps, so do countries. More countries run by heavier despotic rules are banning social networking applications. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn are just a few of many social … Read More

Travel and Illness Last year I covered 174,500 miles and went around the globe not once but twice. I hate to say this but gut disruption will always be part of the game of travel. Different foods, different times … Read More

Nairobi Post Attack Just 15 days after the attack on the school Nairobi was on an even higher alert. We encountered a random check by the police, as well as many road diversions. The diversions were created to make … Read More

Defense Against Executive Recruiters Executive Recruiters are an essential part of businesses looking to find the right person for the right job at the right time. While this is fine if you are hiring, it is not so … Read More

Color of Information We just finished working on a case, which astounded not only our experts but the experts on the other side. The matter here in not specifically important, but it is generally important. In … Read More

Due Diligence – Studies Show… We have just finished a series of three very difficult cases. The common theme in each case involved either a “survey” on trade dress issues or scientific studies supporting … Read More

Due Diligence: M&A Sans Investment Bankers As a CEO you go to an investment banker and you say, “gee I think I am going to acquire a company for US$N per share. Do you think it is a good idea?” What are the … Read More

Due Diligence: Here a Regulator, There a Regulator, Everywhere a Regulator How did we come to this? How did we come to this oppressive weight of regulations and regulators? I did some high end sleuthing and plied … Read More

Carbon Credit Due Diligence Carbon credits were created as a tool intended to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. All parties to the Kyoto Protocol receive these carbon credits, which are redirected to final … Read More

CI and M&A It is a fact of life that many companies prefer to steal their ideas for products as opposed to license them. Every manager is looking for their edge. Add to that the massive intelligence gathering … Read More

Transporting High Value Items We see it in the movies and it happens in real life. The transport trucks arrives the paperwork is in order, the truck has all the right markings and the cargo is loaded. Guess what? … Read More

Big Data on Fraud Whether it be security fraud, insurance fraud, billing fraud, or even unemployment fraud, big data and our ability to crunch big data is an important tool. As so much is not automated anymore, we … Read More

Selling Your Business At one time or another all of us who own our own business will need to sell the business. So what does the small operator need to do to sell a business? Well, it’s a lot like selling you home. … Read More

DOJ Warning of FCPA Legacy Liability The Department of Justice – Opinion Procedure Release 14-02 (the “Opinion”)[1] The Opinion stands for the proposition that the DOJ will not penalize a company subject to the … Read More

eBonds In Bloomberg I read about this idea for a new Hybrid security: it’s called an eBond. It would pay credit default into the corporate debt make even some of the worst debt – AA – investment grade, tier … Read More

Due Diligence on USA’s Recognition of Cuba and the Impact on CARICOM Due diligence is about asking questions until you get the answers you need. It is a quest for information upon which to make choices. Many of … Read More

Banks Required To Rely Less on Ratings Agencies Since 2010, the ECB has been trying to break banks reliance upon credit rating agencies. In 2011 Jean-Claude Trichet ranted and raved against the influence of … Read More

Spying On Start Ups If you want to get an idea of what a competitor is doing, start with their web page and internet presence. Check the pages for the code and look for the key words being used by the pages. Look … Read More

The Use and Abuse of Drones They are here and like any weapon, they can be used by you and against you. The old Dirty Harry movie, the “Dead Pool”, has Dirty Harry chased by an RC car that was going to explode. … Read More

Green Cars Are Not That Green I was asked by one of my daughters “How much better is an electric vehicle over a gas engine? Dad what is your favorite green car?” A good question for a young lady leaning to … Read More

Background Checks The IDDO – The International Due Diligence Organization was launched last month and almost immediately had several people requesting a spot to speak at our launch event in San Mateo this … Read More

178 Billion in Fines 2014 has set a record for fines. According to an article in the Bank Rate 2014 has been the most expensive year on records for fines levied against banks and financial instructions around the … Read More

New Rental Cars I recently rented several different cars in several US cities and I came to the sound conclusion – I detest them – I detest them all. Speaking of a sound conclusion; how do you get one of these … Read More

Due Diligence For Asset Recovery Due diligence investigations into the assets of a fraud feasor is delicate work. Even proposing to do some research into a potential fraud feasor to see what can be done to recover … Read More

Economic Citizenship – Do Your Due Diligence By Burke Files, President, FEE Inc, United States Citizenship is a privilege granted by birth, heritage, or earned over time. Economic citizenship is a privilege … Read More

Due Diligence Failures The most dramatic example of a failure to date has been the BNP Paribas debacle. The due diligence was good but management overloads what they were told. So how does due diligence work in … Read More

OPSEC Best Practice By John McCarthy, CCP and OPSEC President When conducting OPSEC assessments and surveys for Department of Defense (DoD) and other Government acquisition programs include Supply Chain Risk … Read More

Censored! Censorship, as Mark Twain said, “…is telling a man he can’t have a steak because a baby can’t chew it.” I got my first taste of censorship when I was younger, when my parents started to argue over … Read More

Effective Mobile Security in the Post-Snowden Era The revelation in October 2013 that the US National Security had monitored the mobile phone calls of Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel started alarm bells ringing … Read More

Appropriate Due Diligence Could this be the “Miss Manners” edition on due diligence? No – never! But it is about what is appropriate given the circumstances and time. We cannot get all of the information in … Read More

Over Reporting A new hot topic is AML and SAR over reporting. Bankers and financial managers are both so spooked about not filing SAR’s and have such little knowledge of their clients that as soon as something … Read More

Check Them Out! Background Checks, Step-by-Step, by William Hermann Follow this link to the amazon page: … Read More

Due Diligence In The MENA The topic is as fascinating as it is complicated, not just complex. I am sure; at least for me that is why I find the work fascinating. The first step is to understand the nature of the … Read More

The Ultimate Risk I have been traveling a great deal and advising some companies on due diligence processes to better ferret out unknown risks. In particular, I have been thinking about how to anticipate several … Read More

Understanding Your Competitor’s Slackers The best way to understand a company is to look at the company from the point of view of those who wish to subvert the company. Exterior subversion can come in the form of … Read More

Scare at T2C Paris After a short stay in Paris, all my stays are too Shortt. I began the day with packing and getting ready for an afternoon flight to Belgrade on Etihad, the airline that is either loved or hated. … Read More

FinCEN wants Natural Persons The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), has proposing rules under the Bank Secrecy Act to clarify and strengthen customer due diligence requirements for: (i) banks; (ii) … Read More

FATCA and the Inadvertently Regulated FATCA is a bad law at the wrong place at the wrong time and it will not be repealed. Not even the Republican Majority in the House and Senate can do it. FATCA was enacted as … Read More

Laundering Money with a Hedge Fund Today most retail banks have become very good and I do mean very good at spotting money laundering. They have been doing it for some time and most have got the hang of spotting … Read More

Goodbye Columbus by Phillip Roth Goodbye Columbus was the feature story in a collection of short stories published by Phillip Roth when he was 26, and he has now just celebrated his 80th birthday. I have read the … Read More

Evernote It takes a bit to get used to but the idea a script or a plan or a report can be reviewed by the entire team that is working on the items can have their input and edits without having to ship, share, track … Read More

Financial Service Firms, Boom Goes The Balance Sheet There have been a series of recent acquisitions of second and third tier financial services firms. The firms have included different types of firms such as … Read More

Risks In Recovery Actions This item could also be called – when due diligence meets asset recovery. In every case, large or small, there are certain foundational events, constraints, and inputs that shape the … Read More

Using a Competitor’s Regulatory Breaches It is a truth that people can be very honest in a dishonest way. Governments are on a mission to find breach of sanctions, money laundering laws, insider trading, and … Read More

Storm Survival I was reminded this month when a Category 3 Hurricane struck Cabo San Lucas in Mexico that weather and geology can offer up some devastating and surprising circumstances. Weather, in theory, can be … Read More

Wireless Security Systems Can Be Hacked There has been a recent flurry of articles on wireless computers and computer security but it has come to light, with very little surprise that wireless security systems can … Read More

Payments From Questionable Clients I remember a comment from an old Russian General about doing business. He said, “I was not trained in modern management with motivational inducements, or in modern financial … Read More