Thomson Reuters: Due-Diligence Investigator Says Tactics Shifting in Era of Instant Information and Changing Standards

With so much information online about virtually everyone in the business world available to anyone with a smart phone or computer, veteran Kroll investigator Betsy Blumenthal says she is often asked how she can still make a living performing due diligence on individuals. "They say to me, how do you survive in your business, given that there is so much more information than 20 years ago, and most of it is free," she said in an interview with Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence. "My reply is 'That's what's keeping us busy."

The explosion of information has been a transformative factor through the nearly three decades of her career as an investigator in Kroll's San Francisco office, which she heads. The science of due diligence has changed dramatically over that time, Blumenthal said, but the art remains the same. The phenomenon of fake news, which some see having distorted the outcome of the U.S. presidential election, has raised new concerns over the reliability of information.

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