Control Risks

Control Risks started out as a professional security firm but is now regularly relied on for its range of expertise from business intelligence and forensic accounting investigations to compliance advice.

The firm

Initially launched in 1975, Control Risks capitalised on the growth of large western companies doing business in unfamiliar – and potentially risky – locations in the 1990s. Besides crisis management and incident response services, Control Risks is now equipped to handle all aspects of internal investigations with an impressive partner list comprising former law enforcement and intelligence officers, fraud examiners, forensic accountants, cybersecurity experts, business strategists and compliance professionals. In 2019, the firm was shortlisted for the GIR Award for Consultancy of the Year.

The firm by its own count employs approximately 3,000 staff in 36 offices across 26 countries, providing due diligence checks, supply chain research, forensic accounting and other bespoke investigation services for major companies and government agencies across the world.

Greg Esslinger, a senior partner and former FBI special agent, leads Control Risks’ compliance, forensics and investigations practice in the Americas – the firm’s largest team – from Washington, DC. Esslinger specialises in global corruption and complex financial fraud investigations and related due diligence. He has almost 20 years’ experience and has handled investigations in more than 40 countries.

Other DC-based partners to know include Michele Wiener, who leads the regulatory risk and investigations in the Americas, and Al Park, the firm’s global technology leader. 

Wiener regularly assists multinationals facing allegations of bribery and corruption, while Park oversees any kind of data collection and analysis for internal investigations and complex commercial disputes. 

In London, Jonathan Brown heads up the forensics practice across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. He is a trained accountant whose experience skews towards fraud and corrupt accounting issues. He has investigated an accounting fraud that led to losses in excess of £100 million, as well as bribery allegations against a British defence contractor operating in the Middle East.

Operations in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay are headed by senior partner Geert Aalbers, who manages complex investigations into fraud, corruption and other ethics breaches from São Paulo. Aalbers has worked in the region for over 20 years.

Andrew Macintosh is another name to know. He leads Control Risks’ forensics and technology solutions in the Asia Pacific region from the Singapore office. A former intelligence analyst with the New South Wales Crime Commission in Australia, Macintosh has led investigations on behalf of multinational companies across the region.

Partner Wayne Malgas heads up Control Risks’ fraud and business intelligence practice in Southern Africa from Johannesburg. He specialises in asset tracing and corruption reviews and was formerly the chief investigating officer at the now-disbanded Directorate of Special Investigations in South Africa.

Hong Kong-based senior partner Mavis Tan, who speaks four languages, including English, Mandarin and Cantonese, leads the firm’s forensics practice for greater China and north Asia, and has experience working on fraud, bribery and money laundering cases.

Also in Hong Kong is Jessica Pyman, a partner and head of business intelligence matters in the Asia-Pacific region. She leads dedicated teams located in Hong Kong, Shanghai, India, Singapore, South Korea and Sydney. Pyman has previously investigated historical money laundering allegations arising from an inheritance dispute within a prominent Korean family, among other matters.

Recent events

Control Risks has helped German engineering firm SAP with forensic and business intelligence support in an investigation into allegations of corruption at a subsidiary in South Africa. SAP in 2018 reportedly admitted to compliance breaches and indications of misconduct in public-sector deals.

In the recent past, Control Risks’ largest-ever consulting case saw it work alongside Hogan Lovells to investigate serious charges of bribery, fraud and bid-rigging at the state-owned Brazilian energy company, Eletrobras. Over 80 forensic accountants and cyber-investigators were hired from Brazil, Panama, the US, Australia, China and the UK to assess the claims, which saw investigators sift through 250 terabytes of email data alone. Eletrobras reached a settlement agreement with the SEC in 2018, under which the company paid a US$2.5 million penalty and did not have to admit the SEC’s findings.

Control Risks has also been relied on by the individuals appointed as the independent monitors to banks including Credit Suisse, Citigroup, and Deutsche Bank, as part of settlement agreements with the US Department of Justice.

Network

Control Risks operates from 36 offices across five continents.

Clients

Control Risks partners have been sought out by law firms including Morrison & Foerster, Hogan Lovells, Jenner & Block and Fieldfisher. It has known to have worked for Eletrobras and SAP.

Track record

Control Risks helped a US-based multinational engineering firm get to the bottom of corruption allegations within its Southeast Asia operations. The firm deployed security staff, e-discovery experts, forensic accountants and intelligence professionals to multiple locations in South East Asia to discreetly collect data and conduct forensic audits that exposed improper connections between senior managers and government officials. Control Risks then conducted risk assessments of the client’s global business and assisted with compliance programme remediation, resulting in a self-disclosure to the US Department of Justice, the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank.