of property. He executes and delivers a deed Trust departments of banks keep complete and accurate records of their services and are therefore a valuable source of information about a target who receives funds from that department. Essential records and reports can be obtained from the trust officer who supervises the target's account. Because of a bank's fiduciary responsibility, these files usually contain an extensive history of a trust and the transactions affecting it. III. ANALYZING BROKERAGE ACCOUNTS One of the more common repositories of the profits from white-collar crime activities is a brokerage account, where securities can be purchased and held by the broker, in a street name or in the names of nominees. Analyzing a customer's monthly statement of transactions is no more complex than analyzing a bank statement. The analysis of the account can lead to the detection Of equal importance is the fact that an analysis of the endorsements contained on checks issued by the stockbroker to the target, upon the sale of securities by the target, can lead to the identification of other associates of the target not previously known. It can also lead to the identification of other bank accounts and other undisclosed assets, some of which may have been held in fictitious names. of hidden ownership of securities. An analysis of the broker's duplicate deposit records, on those occasions when the target purchases securities, can lead to the source of funds used by the target to make the purchases. The identification of the source of said funds may well lead to the detection of hidden business interests. In making an analysis of purchases and sales of securities by a target, all purchases and sale transactions should be checked against (1) the Schedule of Safe Deposit Box Entry Dates, (2) the Schedule of Questionable Bank Deposits, and (3) the Schedule of Questionable Bank Withdrawals, in a further effort to correlate all known financial transactions, thereby aiding significantly in establishing the target's modus operandi. An example of a customer's monthly statement is shown on pages 18 and 48 of Appendix D, The Investigation of WhiteCollar Crime, in "The Seventh Basic Investigative Technique." The following rules are applicable in analyzing a target's brokerage account monthly statement: 1. When a target purchases stock there would be entries in all of the following columns: 2. a. b. C. a. "Bought or Received" column; "Description" column, where the name of the "Price or Symbol" column, where the purchase "Debit" column, the amount of the purchase charged to the target's account. When a target sells stock there would be entries in all of the following columns: "Sold or Delivered" column; a. b. "Description" column, where the name of the security would be listed; c. "Price or Symbol" column, where the sales d. price per share would be listed; "Credit" column, the proceeds from the sales credited to the target's account. 1.4 When a target purchases stock he has the option of taking "delivery" of the certificates from the broker or leaving them in the broker's custody. An understanding of the above basic rules, in analyzing a customer's monthly statement, will enable criminal investigators to readily identify those transactions that reflect the payment of funds to the broker by a subject, as well as the payment of funds to a subject by the broker. As explained earlier, the funds used by the subject to pay for securities, and the disposition of funds received by the subject from the broker, may lead to the identification of other bank accounts and other undisclosed assets, as well as the names of associates previously unknown to the criminal investigator. If he takes delivery of the certificates the number of shares would be noted in the "Sold or Delivered" column and the date column would show the date of delivery. In addition there would be no entry in the "price or symbol" column. If there was a price in the "price or symbol" column, the entries would reflect a sale rather than a delivery. If there are no entries indicating "delivery" of the securities, they are, in fact, being held by the broker and the target is in what is commonly referred to as a "long" position. Usually the broker will list at the bottom of the target's December or January statement a summary of his "long" position, i.e., a listing of the number of shares of each stock being held for the target. IV. PUBLIC RECORDS There are a variety of types of information available to criminal investigators from state, county and city records that may be pertinent in the investigation of white-collar crime targets. Most of the records are readily available to criminal investigators, as well as to the public. Even though some of the records are restricted from the public, they are available to criminal investigators under appropriate authority. No attempt is being made in this paper to merely list the numerous types of records that are available. To do so would merely duplicate numerous publications that already contain this type of information. There are several types of information, however, that are particularly pertinent to the investigation of whitecollar crime targets, since they may lead to the detection of a target's hidden ownership of business interests and other property. They are as follows: A. Real Property Records Records of transfers of title to real property are maintained by all counties in all states, and are open to the public. While record-keeping systems may vary in some states, the basic systems are the same. Most counties refer to these records as "Grantor-Grantee" records. They contain, among other things, the description of property, dates of acquisition and sale, purchase and sale prices, identities of mortgagors and mortgagees, names of title insurance companies and other related information. Examination of these records should be routinely made by an investigator when a decision has been made to subject a target to a financial investigation. It should cover a period of years at least equal to those in which the target is suspected of being involved in white-collar crime activities, and for at least two years following the period of his known involvement. The importance of checking out at least two years following a target's known involvement in illegal activity cannot be over estimated. It is often during this period that a target may invest the proceeds from his prior illegal activities, at a time when he feels that it is relatively safe to do so. Real property records are not difficult to examine. In all instances assistance from personnel in the appropriate county courthouse offices is available. There is another basic county record that should be routinely examined in all white-collar crime investigations for all years in which a target is suspected of being involved in illegal activity, and again, for at least two years following the period of his known involvement. The record, which is commonly described as the Fictitious Names Index, can be of considerable assistance in detecting hidden ownership of businesses. While the format of the Fictitious Names index may vary in some states, it contains similar information. The actual owner of a business must file a certificate with the County Clerk's Office, certifying that he is the owner of the business, disclosing the location of the business, identifying the name under which the business is conducted, and describing the nature of the business activity. A similar certificate must be filed for partnerships and corporations, disclosing similar information outlined above, and disclosing the names of the co-partners and/or officers of the corporation. Any other county records related to possible business interests of targets should be examined, including applications for and issuance of business licenses. This type of record should be carefully examined to determine whether or not business licenses have been revoked and the reasons for the revocations, if any. The investigator should recognize that such public record information will frequently signal other events of investigative importance which occur simultaneously. For example, the dates of dissolution of a partnership may be a clue as to when business funds or assets were distributed, justifying a search of |