Practice Area
Strategic intelligence built for executive and investor decisions.
Fortaris Capital Advisors delivers the independent read on companies, executives, counterparties, and market entrants that boards, investment committees, and senior counsel rely on before they commit. Every engagement is led by a Managing Director, supported by specialists drawn from federal investigative service and forensic accounting, and structured around the decision in front of you — not around a one-size process.
How clients use us
Corporate intelligence is the work that informs decisions before they are made. Our engagements typically fall into one of five patterns:
Surfacing the operational, financial, reputational, and regulatory facts that the deal team needs before signing.
Independent verification of senior hires, board appointees, and acquisition-target leadership.
Fact-based assessments of counterparties, joint-venture partners, distributors, and high-stakes vendors.
Structured intelligence packages for LP, board, and IC review on prospective investments.
Ongoing advisory for executives navigating contested markets, activist situations, or material disputes.
Engagements are scoped tightly, delivered confidentially, and held to evidentiary standards that hold up in front of regulators, counsel, and audit committees.
Capabilities
Pre-transactional intelligence for M&A, capital deployment, and senior hires. Coverage typically includes company history, litigation and regulatory records, financial-distress signals, reputational risk, beneficial-ownership analysis, key-person background investigations, and verification of asserted credentials. Built to the standard private-equity deal teams, family offices, and corporate development groups require.
Independent verification of senior hires, board appointees, and acquisition-target executives. Goes beyond a background check — incorporating litigation history, regulatory exposure, prior-firm separation circumstances, reputational signals, and credential verification. Used by family offices, PE firms, and corporate boards before high-trust appointments.
Fact-based assessments of counterparties, joint-venture partners, distributors, and high-stakes vendors. Useful when a relationship will carry material capital or reputational exposure and the standard commercial-rep package does not go deep enough.
Structured ownership-tracing engagements to identify the actual individuals behind a corporate entity. Critical for KYC, sanctions screening, FCPA-adjacent work, and transactions involving offshore structures.
Strategic intelligence on competitors, market entrants, and contested situations. Engagements range from focused profiles to ongoing advisory retainers for executives navigating activist campaigns or M&A defense.
Senior-level advisory for sustained engagements. Fortaris Managing Directors work directly with C-suite leadership, general counsel, and boards on intelligence-driven decisions over a defined engagement window — not transactional report delivery.
Why Fortaris
Built for
Pre-acquisition diligence, portfolio-company executive vetting, and ongoing PE-side support.
Principal-led vetting of investments, partners, and senior hires.
Board-pack intelligence, M&A due diligence, and executive appointment support.
Independent intelligence inputs to IC and board decisions.
Diligence engagements where the firm needs an independent investigative arm.
Cross-border diligence support for foreign principals assessing US targets.
Fortaris Corporate Intelligence is built for corporate, investor, legal, and family-office engagements. We do not market to or accept consumer matters, divorce work, low-budget private-investigator engagements, or any matter outside the corporate / institutional context. Engagements involving high-net-worth individuals are accepted on a case-by-case basis where the matter type is corporate-adjacent.
Frequently asked
A standard background check verifies education, employment, and criminal history from public records. Investigative due diligence goes substantially further — incorporating litigation history, regulatory exposure, financial-distress signals, beneficial ownership, reputational research, and analysis from former investigators who know what to look for and where.
Most corporate intelligence engagements are scoped between 10 business days (focused executive vet) and 6 weeks (comprehensive M&A due diligence). Expedited timelines are available where the matter requires it.
Yes. The majority of our corporate intelligence engagements are managed under privilege through outside or in-house counsel. We are accustomed to working within attorney-client privilege protocols and can structure deliverables accordingly.
Fortaris is licensed as a Private Investigator in Michigan (Florida license pending) and conducts corporate intelligence engagements throughout the United States via our federal investigative pedigree and 200+ specialist subcontractor network. For international components, see International / Cross-Border Due Diligence.
Engagements are scoped on a project or retainer basis depending on matter type. Initial scoping conversations are confidential and carry no obligation.
Related practice areas
Corporate and white-collar investigations, led by former federal investigators and credentialed fraud examiners.
Explore practiceEconomic-damages and financial-loss analysis, forensic accounting, and expert testimony for trial-bound matters.
Explore practice FlagshipVerifying American companies, executives, and partners — for the principals doing it from abroad.
Explore practiceFurther reading
Due Diligence
A definitive explainer on what investigative due diligence is, how it differs from a background check and from financial and legal review, and what a defensible work product looks like.
ReadDue Diligence
A sequenced framework for PE deal teams and corporate development to integrate OFAC sanctions screening, beneficial-ownership tracing, and reputational due diligence into the M&A timeline before findings become liabilities.
ReadCorporate intelligence is most valuable before a decision is made — not after. Fortaris engagements begin with a confidential conversation about your matter, your timeline, and the specific questions you need answered.
For sensitive matters, reach Kevin Cronin directly: (833) 343-2164
