Flagship Specialty
Verifying American companies, executives, and partners — for the principals doing it from abroad.
International due diligence means independently verifying a US company, its owners and its executives before a contract is signed or capital moves: legal standing, beneficial ownership, US litigation and regulatory history, sanctions exposure and reputation. US companies have not reported beneficial ownership since FinCEN's March 2025 interim rule, made permanent in August 2026, so ownership has to be investigated. Fortaris is Michigan-licensed and works nationwide through licensed specialists.
How clients use us
Cross-border engagements move through a structured sequence, built around the foreign principal's jurisdictional needs and the standards their counsel expects.
Usually with the foreign principal and their counsel. We listen first, ask the questions a licensed investigator needs to ask, and identify whether the matter is one we can take and whether a US-side engagement is the right vehicle.
Structured around the foreign principal's jurisdictional needs. We can engage directly with the foreign principal, with foreign counsel, or with US counsel acting on their behalf — considering privilege, confidentiality, and any jurisdictional reporting requirements.
Partner-led, with leaders whose backgrounds include federal investigative service. Public records, investigative interviews, evidentiary documentation, beneficial-ownership analysis, and sanctions screening — calibrated to the scope.
A written deliverable in English, structured for foreign-counsel review and for the foreign principal's investment committee, board, or contract counterparty. Additional language support is coordinated where the matter requires it.
Testimony, deposition support, contract-negotiation support, or periodic re-screening of the counterparty as the matter requires.
Capabilities
Comprehensive corporate verification of American entities — corporate history, ownership and beneficial-ownership structure, registered-agent and good-standing verification across state secretaries of state, federal litigation history, regulatory history (SEC, FINRA, state regulators as applicable), tax-lien and judgment exposure, UCC filings, and reputational signals. Built to the standard foreign counsel and audit-committee reviewers require.
Independent vetting of American executives — for acquisition targets, joint-venture leadership, US distributor principals, and senior hires at US-operating foreign entities. Goes beyond a standard background check: litigation history, regulatory exposure, prior-firm separation circumstances, professional-licensing and credential verification, and reputational research. Particularly relevant before foreign capital is deployed under American executive leadership.
Verification of American distributors, suppliers, manufacturers, and B2B counterparties before international firms sign supply, distribution, or licensing agreements. Includes corporate verification, operational verification, financial-health signals, key-person background investigation, contract-performance history, and any reputational signals that bear on the relationship.
Investigation of fraud matters with a cross-border dimension — fraud committed against a foreign principal by a US-side counterparty, fraud committed against US operations by foreign-side actors, or schemes with assets, actors, or evidence on both sides of the border. Coordinated with foreign counsel and US counsel where applicable.
Pre-transactional intelligence for foreign-principal acquisitions of US targets, foreign investment in US PE and VC vehicles, and major capital deployments into US operations. Coverage includes the standard US-side investigative DD work — litigation, regulatory, financial-distress, reputational, beneficial ownership — calibrated to what foreign investment committees and counsel need to see.
Structured screening of American counterparties against US litigation databases, federal and state regulatory enforcement records, US sanctions lists (OFAC and related), denied-parties lists, and politically-exposed-person screening. Built for foreign principals who need US-side compliance comfort before deploying capital or signing contracts.
Identifying the actual individuals behind US corporate entities — particularly relevant for foreign principals dealing with US LLCs, holding structures, or counterparties whose listed ownership does not reflect economic reality. Under FinCEN's final rule, announced 11 August and effective 14 August 2026, US companies are permanently exempt from beneficial-ownership reporting under the Corporate Transparency Act, and FinCEN has said it will delete what US persons already reported. With no federal filing to fall back on, ownership is established investigatively: state corporate filings, litigation records that name principals, UCC financing statements, property records, and nominee-pattern analysis.
Reputational profiles on American counterparties — what the US trade press says, what regulators have said, what prior litigation has surfaced, and what the corporate intelligence community knows but has not published. Calibrated to the discretion foreign principals require.
For foreign principals about to sign a US contract or appoint a US executive — independent verification of what the US-side counterparty has asserted: revenue claims, headcount, regulatory licensure, professional credentials, prior-engagement history, and asserted certifications.
Where a foreign principal needs to locate assets in the United States — for judgment enforcement, fraud recovery, or due diligence — Fortaris combines investigative tracing work with US public-records analysis and judgment-enforcement support. Coordinated with US counsel for the recovery itself.
Why Fortaris
Built for
Sovereign funds, family offices, international PE firms, and individual high-net-worth principals deploying capital into American companies.
Distributors, suppliers, joint-venture partners, and US-side business partners entering supply, distribution, or licensing agreements.
Engagement under privilege, structured around the foreign counsel's protocols.
Pre-deployment diligence on US operations, executives, and counterparties.
Verification of US entities in the context of regulatory, enforcement, or oversight matters.
Independent intelligence inputs to oversight decisions.
Most US corporate intelligence and investigations firms position for American clients investigating outbound matters — US companies vetting their foreign counterparties, US private equity diligencing international targets, US counsel managing FCPA exposure abroad. The reverse flow — foreign investors verifying American companies — has historically been underserved. Foreign principals operating in or with the United States face a fragmented landscape: US public records that look familiar but follow different rules, a state-by-state licensure regime for investigative work, federal-level disclosure regimes that vary by industry, and legal-process standards unfamiliar to counsel trained outside US jurisdiction.
The federal beneficial-ownership registry was never public, and US companies are now permanently exempt from filing with it, so the question foreign principals most need answered — who actually owns the counterparty — has to be investigated. The work requires investigators licensed where the work is done, leaders with federal investigative experience, an understanding of what foreign counsel needs from a US engagement, and the discretion that cross-border matters require. Fortaris holds a Michigan license, works in other states through specialists licensed there, and built this practice for that work.
Frequently asked
The work typically combines four streams: (1) corporate verification and ownership tracing through US state secretaries of state, federal filings, and the records that name an entity's principals; (2) litigation and regulatory history through US court systems and regulator databases; (3) executive background investigation on the US-side principals; (4) reputational research and trade-press analysis. Each stream tells a piece of the story; a senior-led investigation integrates them into a defensible read. A Fortaris US Company Background Investigation engagement covers the standard scope.
For inbound capital, the typical scope includes corporate verification, beneficial-ownership investigation, US litigation and regulatory screening, US sanctions screening, executive background investigations on the US-side leadership, financial-distress signals, and reputational research. The deliverable is calibrated to what the foreign principal's investment committee, board, or counsel needs to see — not to a one-size US-domestic template.
Yes. Cross-border engagements are often managed through foreign counsel, or jointly with US counsel acting on the foreign principal's behalf. Engagement letters and deliverables are structured around the foreign counsel's protocols.
Fortaris holds a Michigan Private Investigator license (#3701207862) and works throughout the United States through a network of 200+ vetted specialists, appropriately licensed where the work requires it. Where an investigative component requires a state-specific license, it is carried out by a specialist licensed in that state, under Fortaris's oversight. For components outside the US, Fortaris coordinates with vetted in-country partners.
A focused management vet is typically scoped around 10 business days and a comprehensive M&A investigative due diligence engagement runs roughly three to six weeks, with expedited timelines available where the matter requires it. We scope to your signing date in the initial confidential conversation.
Deliverables are structured to be evidentiary — chain-of-custody preserved, sources documented, methodology stated. Whether the deliverable is admissible in a specific foreign jurisdiction depends on that jurisdiction's evidentiary rules. We work with foreign counsel to structure the engagement so that the work product supports the foreign principal's intended use.
Yes — US sanctions screening (OFAC and related lists), denied-parties screening, and politically-exposed-person screening are standard components of our cross-border due diligence engagements. Available as a standalone engagement or as part of a broader scope.
A foreign investor cannot rely on FinCEN's registry to see who owns a US company. FinCEN's final rule, announced 11 August and effective 14 August 2026, permanently exempts companies formed in the United States and US persons from beneficial-ownership information (BOI) reporting under the Corporate Transparency Act. Only companies formed abroad and registered to do business in a US state still report, and they do not report US-person owners. FinCEN has also said it will delete information US persons previously reported, and the registry was never open to the public. For a US counterparty, ownership has to be established by investigation. This is informational, not legal advice.
Yes. Fortaris engagement letters are structured around confidentiality. We do not publish client names, do not publicize matter wins, and restrict deliverables to the engaging principal and counsel.
Engagements are scoped on a project basis with pricing tied to scope, urgency, and the geographic complexity of the work. Initial scoping conversations are confidential and carry no obligation.
Yes — selectively, and subject to standard conflict and engagement checks. Inbound engagements from sovereign funds and foreign government agencies are reviewed at the principal level and structured to comply with all applicable US and foreign regulatory requirements.
Due diligence investigation services for acquisitions, investments and senior appointments, partner-led and confidential.
Explore practiceStrategic intelligence built for executive and investor decisions.
Explore practiceCorporate and white-collar investigations, led by senior investigators with federal and forensic backgrounds, including an ACFE Certified Fraud Examiner.
Explore practiceCross-Border Due Diligence
A practical, step-by-step framework for foreign investors, international counsel, and offshore counterparties to independently verify an American company, its ownership, and its risk exposure before signing or wiring funds.
ReadCross-Border Due Diligence
How an overseas investor, acquirer, or company independently verifies a U.S. target, partner, or counterparty — beneficial ownership, litigation, sanctions and CFIUS, and the on-the-ground reality — before committing capital across a border.
ReadRegulatory
The CTA was upheld in court, then narrowed by regulation to a fraction of its intended scope, a narrowing FinCEN made permanent in August 2026. Here is what the beneficial-ownership registry actually contains in 2026, what changed abroad at the same time, and why ownership now has to be established investigatively rather than looked up.
ReadCross-Border
How international fraud is investigated, stage by stage: the first hours, tracing value through shell companies, the legal routes to evidence held abroad, and the standard a foreign court will hold the record to.
ReadThe most useful cross-border due diligence engagements begin before the contract is signed, not after. Fortaris engagements begin with a confidential conversation about your matter, your counterparty, your jurisdictional posture, and the specific questions you need answered.
For sensitive matters, reach Kevin Cronin directly: (313) 612-4990
