Private due diligence is the verification of people, structures and capital in the interest of an owner and their family. How it differs from forensic investigation, counterparty screening and the work of a detective.
"Forensic" has become a familiar word in corporate life, and a counterparty check is now a routine service. The category of private due diligence, however, is rarely defined - even though it is exactly what owners of capital ask for when the matter concerns not their company but themselves. This article gives a definition and draws the line between three neighbouring services.
Private due diligence is the collection and verification of information about people, companies, structures and the origin of capital in the interest of a private individual or a family. The work draws on lawful sources - registries, court records, corporate history, open data, professional databases - and is carried out by analysts, lawyers and auditors. The client is a business owner, an heir, a family office or a family's trusted adviser. The subject is not a company's books but the circle and the decisions of a specific person.
The key word is "private". The service exists for decisions a person makes personally: whom to let into the house, whom to go into partnership with, whom to trust with the management of assets, which bank to approach and with which documents.
Forensic investigation looks inside a company. Its subject is embezzlement, inflated procurement, manipulated accounts, the conduct of management. The client is a shareholder or a board, the provider is an audit or law firm, and the result often becomes the basis of litigation. Forensics looks into the business. Private due diligence looks around the person.
A counterparty check is a standardised procedure before a transaction: registries, litigation, enforcement, financial statements. It is necessary, inexpensive and works well for routine deals. But it answers the question "does this company exist and does it have visible problems", not "who actually stands behind it and what should I expect from that person".
The work of a detective is surveillance, interviews, locating people. It is a separately licensed activity with its own limits. Private due diligence conducts no surveillance and makes no contact with the subject without the client's consent: it works with information, not with people.
In practice the service comes in five formats.
A profile of one person or one company in any jurisdiction - fixed scope and timing, the entry point to the practice.
A circle audit - family, household staff, advisers, close business contacts, the people around the heirs. An answer to the question of whom you trust and on what grounds.
A source of wealth dossier - a documented chain from the first transactions to the current assets, prepared to the requirements of a bank, a fund or a regulator.
A pre-investment investigation - real owners, history of conflicts, sanctions exposure, the reputation of partners.
A private retainer - monitoring of the circle and rapid checks on request for a family or a family office.
A few situations recur: hiring people with access to the home and children; entering a partnership with someone about whom you know only what they told you; opening an account or buying property abroad, where the bank will ask you to explain twenty years of capital; the engagement of an heir; handing the management of assets to an outside adviser; relocating the family to another country.
These situations share one feature: the decision is made once, and the consequences stay for a long time. That is why the check is commissioned before the decision, not after.
Not a list of links and not a database export, but a coherent document: who this person or structure is, what is confirmed by documents, what is not, where the public image diverges from the facts, which risks matter and which do not. The decision always remains with the client; the document's job is to give them the picture.
Three questions worth asking before signing. Where does the information come from, and does the provider work within the law of every jurisdiction involved? Who exactly will see the materials, and what happens to them after the project? Does the team have experience in the jurisdictions that matter - registries and court practice in the UAE, Cyprus and Russia work differently, and there is no such thing as a universal specialist.
Forensic Privé is the international private due diligence practice of the Obereg security company. We work worldwide, answer through secure channels and sign an NDA before the first question.
One paragraph in a secure channel is enough. We sign an NDA before the first question and respond within one working day.