Client Challenge
BDA routinely conducts pre-hire background checks for executive management team members. In this case, BDA was retained by a publicly traded pharmaceutical company to complete a thorough investigation on a possible company president. The company had just been rocked by scandal when a major newspaper reported one of its executives had engaged in recreational drug use and prostitutes.
The company needed to be certain there were no reputational risks for their new hire. The candidate had a spotless reputation with 25+ years in the field, headed several clinical trials and was named on patents.
Solution
Client was especially concerned with discretion because their previous situation made recruiting top talent more difficult, and their field was small and niche – they did not want to scare away this applicant and were far along in the recruitment process before coming to us. Because we could not conduct regular employment verifications and traditional interviews, we worked with an investigator with a professional background in a related field and had them contact targets under pretext. This investigator interviewed several people who provided glowing reviews and then because of their own experience in the field decided to interview people who worked in labs with the candidate.
Results
We found several past lab techs and researchers through advanced open-source searches and developed their direct contact information. Two of these sources disclosed a history of very significant unethical behavior while conducting clinical research – behavior that should it become public could cause reputational harm and compromise any future clinical trials.
We all see the news. Risk is everywhere. With times changing and incidents on the rise, who do you trust?
Our boutique investigative practice is widely considered a leader in the Intelligence Community serving individuals, families, and businesses in the New York tri-state and Miami areas for nearly 40 years.
