Informants & whistleblowers

Criminals are sometimes the best people to use to catch other criminals. However, CFEs should follow the important rules when using and managing informants, whistleblowers and cooperating defendants to avoid sabotaging their cases.

This article is excerpted and adapted from “Faces of Fraud: Cases and Lessons from a Life Fighting Fraudsters,” by Martin T. Biegelman, published by John Wiley & Sons Inc. © 2013 used with permission.

No one knows the faces of fraud better than those people intimately involved in misconduct, whether as willing participants or eyewitnesses to wrongdoing. Experience teaches us that fraud is often uncovered and reported by people with inside knowledge, including employees, vendors and customers. The longtime administrative assistant or bookkeeper who has been with the company for ages may know where all the “bodies are buried,” and if given the opportunity will provide valuable information to an all-too-willing-to-listen federal agent, prosecutor or news reporter....