Initial analysis by our Compliance Risk and Diligence team identified allegations of ties to organized crime in Bulgaria that were reported in several non-mainstream sources, including social media posts. Typically, we would conduct a reputational review involving human sources, but due to the need for extremely quick results, we conducted a public record review in Bulgaria and Israel with a social media risk focus. Our social media review consisted of an evaluation of the individual’s online social media presence, both on the surface and in the deep and dark unindexed web, identifying information not accessible via public records alone. While our standard scopes focus primarily on text-based searches, our technology-driven social media review analyzes images and video content, as well as social media written comments, flagging any controversial content.
Through our review of non-mainstream articles, we discovered that the subject had ties to an organized crime group that had misappropriated over EUR 100 million (~USD 110 million). The subject was allegedly linked to the organization’s leaders, two individuals from Israel. Our research focused on substantiating the allegations and identifying potential links to these individuals in official public records. Our team was able to complete the full report within five working days, and as a result the client was able to quickly decide not to hire this individual for a high-level position.
