Ernst &Young Services AABS RAS FIDS Success Stories - Ernst & Young - Global

We offer clients detailed strategies to help manage and resolve the risks of business conflict that emerge across an organization. We have helped some of the world’s largest companies and law firms by providing consistent, high-quality services.

Fraud and Investigations

International investigation
We conducted an investigation into alleged misappropriation of funds during the United Nations’ Oil-for-Food program on behalf of the Republic of Iraq. We investigated allegations that included corruption, bribery and political influence, improper bidding procedures, inconsistent or failed delivery of purchased goods and improper oil pricing schemes.

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
We assisted a global financial institution in looking into the existence and extent of possible bribery payments by European and South American subsidiaries before the consummation of an acquisition. We performed a multi-country review of the subsidiaries’ operations, focusing on high-risk transactions and countries. The institution used the results of our work in the negotiation process.

Financial statement review
We were engaged by outside legal counsel to conduct an independent investigation into potential earnings management and accounting fraud. The work involved simultaneous activity over a four-month period in the US and in more than 30 countries in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. The company used our findings to restate its financial statements over a five-year period. Ernst & Young teams from the US, UK, France, Germany, Asia, and Latin America participated.

Dispute Services

Complex insurance claims
Six of the financial institutions most severely affected by the 11 September 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center engaged us to assist in the preparation of property, extra expense, and business interruption claims. We established cross-functional teams to coordinate with the various business units of these firms to identify all pertinent policies, complete claim notices, and establish firm-wide mechanisms for tracking expenses relevant to the claim process.

Purchase-price dispute
We assisted outside counsel and our client in preparing a large claim related to the purchase of a rail manufacturing company. Our assistance involved finding evidence for knowledge of the vendor on the date of purchase and supporting the client’s lawyers with evidence of that knowledge. We documented the evidence found for use in a trial in the International Chamber of Commerce Court of Arbitration.

Expert-witness testimony
We provided the expert analysis and testimony in two prominent cases involving large automotive manufacturers and their related rental car operations. The elements of the cases were complex and involved multiple issues such as franchise operations, company stores, encroachment, fleet valuations, financing, leasing, profit recognition and program or accounting issues.

Forensic Technology & Discovery Services

Electronic evidence
Our client, a major insurer, was the defendant in a large class-action dispute. We consolidated more than 35 million electronic records from over 100 back-up tapes into a single database, enabling us to analyze the trends and relationships within the data. By developing multiple database models, we successfully isolated and analyzed issues specific to the litigation, helping our client quantify potential exposure. Discussions with both the lawyers and the IT professionals allowed us to determine the potentially relevant electronic information, locate it, and develop a plan to preserve it. Upon completing the plan, we restored relevant electronic information from back-up media, de-duplicated the data, and performed key word sear ches.

Discovery services
Our client, a European multinational corporation, was faced with multiple overlapping data preservation requirements stemming from several US legal and regulatory issues. These issues included: an SEC investigation, several state regulatory investigations, and class action litigation. We developed and managed the electronic data preservation process for e-mail, electronic documents, and financial data. Further, we implemented the data preservation plan for multiple entities in over 50 countries. Our global team of professionals and scalable systems allowed us to efficiently manage the process of preserving information and, when necessary due to local laws and/or security concerns, to facilitate the review and analysis of that information locally.

Global evidence review
In supporting an internal investigation that involved allegations of vendor fraud and revenue recognition issues across operations in five countries, we collected data from each location involved. We then identified the people of interest, preserved all of the electronic data, processed it and loaded it into a centralized system that allowed for simultaneous review by investigators in the US, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul and Taipei. We were able to gather evidence so that the company could take action against those involved.