Archive for the 'Ethics' Category

Private Investigators Indicted for Pretext

Published
by
Richard McEachin
on December 21, 2007
in Dirty Tricks, Ethics, Fraud, Identity Fraud, Identity Theft, Privacy and Private Investigator
. 0 Comments

We wrote about this here in Ten Private Investigators Indicted on 7 Dec 07.

Wired Magazine has posted the Indictment of the accused who allegedly employed false pretenses to gain personal information. A related Wired article compares this type of pretexting to the HP mess.

The accused are from Washington, California, Oregon, Texas and New York:

Emilio Torrella, BNT Investigations, Washington State
Brandy Torella, BNT Investigations, Washington State
Steve Berwick, BNT Investigations, Washington State
Victoria Tade, C.I., Inc., California
Megan Ososke, P.I. and Information Services, Oregon
Robert Grieve, Robert Greive International, Texas
Ziad Sakhleh, Robert Greive International, Texas
Darci Templeton, sole proprietor, Texas
Patrick Bombino, AAA Allstate Investigations, New York
Esau Pinto, AAA Allstate Investigations, New York

The Indictment alleges that BNT supplied the improperly obtained personal information to the PI’s for a fee. BNT was not identified as a private investigation firm in the Indictment, but was identified as a company that sold its pretexting services to PI firms. Some of the PI firms even advertised for sale to other PI’s what they were obtaining from BNT.

Accusations #17 and #21 allege that BNT obtained medical information by pretext, much in the same way as was revealed by he Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Confidentiality of Health Records in Ontario, Canada, by Mr. Justice Horace Krever.

Ten Private Investigators Indicted

Published
by
Richard McEachin
on December 7, 2007
in Canada, Dirty Tricks, Ethics, Privacy and Private Investigator
. 1 Comment

Ten private investigators were indicted on December 5, 2007,in Seattle, WA, by the U.S. Attorney’s office.

The alleged defendants collected information via pretext from the I.R.S., Social Security Administration, various State Unemployment Insurance Departments, private financial institutions, banks, pharmacies and hospitals. The alleged defendants fraudulently posed as the individuals about who information was sought.

If this is true, they broke Rule #1.

Washington State requires a Private Investigator to be licensed. However, it seems that BNT Investigations and the three named individuals in Washington state might not have state-issued Private Investigator’s licences. I don’t know the licence status of the others.

This type of behaviour is not new. In Canada, this issue was, in part, dealt with during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Confidentiality of Health Records in Ontario, Canada, by Mr. Justice Horace Krever.

The Royal Commission heard from over 500 witnesses, including private investigation firms, insurance companies, hospitals, and others. During 1976 and 1977, the Royal Commission found evidence of hundreds of successful efforts to acquire health information from Ontario hospitals and doctors under pretext.

The Insurance Bureau of Canada admitted to the Royal Commission that its members had gathered medical information through “various sources” without the authorization of the patients.

Several investigation companies went out of business due to the Royal Commission exposing their activities.

Where there are clients willing to pay for this improper and unprofessional behaviour, there will be providers of such services.



							
 

		
 

	
		
		

			

				
Tort for Negligent Investigations


				

					Published 
by 
Richard McEachin
 
on November 15, 2007
 
in Canada, Courts, Ethics and Private Investigator
.
					1 Comment
					
									
 
			
 

			

				
The Supreme Court of Canada has recognised the tort for incompetent investigation. This area of law has been receiving more attention over the past decade and I expect we will see a case involving a Private Investigator over the next few years. Continue reading ‘Tort for Negligent Investigations’


							
 

		
 

	
		
		

			

				
Ethics, or Not


				

					Published 
by 
Richard McEachin
 
on April 22, 2007
 
in Ethics
.
					0 Comments
					
									
 
			
 

			

				
I don’t believe in ethics. Being ethical is too much work according to the seminar I went to — I’m too lazy for ‘ethics’.  I have 3 simple rules instead.


1.    Don’t do anything that you wouldn’t do on the steps in front of City Hall.


2.    Don’t do or say anything you wouldn’t want published in the Globe and Mail.


3.    Don’t do anything illegal because it’s too inconvenient to cover your tracks.


If you’re the type of person who would clout the Mayor on the nose at a City Hall news conference, then my rules (and all the ethics seminars in the the world) won’t help you.