The call came in from the CEO of a private, production firm with more than USD 50 billion in assets under management and 1,500 global employees.
The firm had a robust wealth management book of business in Europe, currency operations in the Central Europe and an acute interest in a Russian opportunity that had just surfaced. “We would like to know a great deal more about the Russian parties they are proposing as partners.”
Infoprimus Global Security initiated a rigorous international investigation into two Russian subjects and a related Russian business entity. Undertaken in Russian and other languages, this inquiry was conducted partly through a search of public media records in Russia, Europe and the US but primarily through discreet inquiries with strategically placed sources in the Caucasus political community as well as its financial and oil industries.
These sources included government personnel formerly employed in former Soviet agencies such as the secret services or the Ministry of Interior and the subjects’ former colleagues in elite senior political and business circles as well as Russian journalists, political observers and media commentators. Factors examined included the subjects’ business, political, and social affiliations, professional histories, past deals and their counter parties and outcomes, arbitration proceedings, organizational interests and affiliations, and both personal and professional reputations.
Infoprimus did not identify these individuals as overtly or otherwise implicated in any illegal or unsavory deals with domestic or foreign investors. Instead, the investigators confirmed that the Russian partners were sophisticated political and industrial players who had held positions in the highest echelons of the Russian political and industrial establishments, including the Russia State Duma and several of its key committees. Reassured by the findings of this investigation’s detailed report, the financial services firm opened the door to further negotiations with these potential partners.