Given the complexity of serious fraud investigations, and the significant number of individuals and entities ordinarily involved, an analytic procedure known as link network diagramming – commonly referred to as Link Analysis – ought to be used to facilitate the investigation and case structuring. Link Analysis is essentially a graphic method for integrating and displaying large amounts of data that is related to complicated criminal activities and civil wrongs. The construction of a Link Analysis diagram should enhance the integration and presentation of relevant evidence of information that is:

  1. connected to various financial accounts, individuals and entities,

  2. collected by and from different sources, and

  3. spread over a protracted period of time.

Essentially, the Link Analysis technique 1 is comprised of two sequential steps. The first step is the conversion of written material containing summaries of investigative findings into a graphic form called an association matrix. The second step is the conversion of the matrix into a diagram intended to facilitate our understanding of the relationships contained therein. The association matrix is essentially an interim step in producing graphic material to assist investigators, prosecutors and civil litigation counsel. The goal is the development of pictorial data which clearly shows the relationships between people, organizations and activities. It allows an analyst or a trier-of-fact ready access to the big picture in complex matters. Because the final diagram depicts relationships (or links) between people, organizations and activities, the generally accepted name for such pictorial data is a Link Analysis Diagram.

With respect to the application of the Link Analysis technique to a major inquiry, more than one Link Analysis Diagram may be required. The planning and construction of Link Analysis Diagrams are evolving processes, starting near the beginning of an investigation and continuing to its completion. The final Link Analysis Diagrams include all information revealed in document reviews, interviews, and summaries of other investigative activities that are material and pertinent. The analytic procedure that ought to be used for constructing the Link Analysis Diagrams should involve the following processes:

(a) A review and analysis of all information available that is relevant and material to the matter under consideration, including, inter alia, information from or about:

  1. all financial records associated with the matter;

  2. all available corporate records, memoranda, letters and emails;

  3. public records;

  4. interview reports;

  5. newspaper articles and other media coverage;

  6. informants and anonymous sources;

  7. background investigations;

  8. various third parties and entities;

  9. police and intelligence reports (if such information is available); and

  10. surveillance reports.

(b) A listing of the names of all individuals, organizations, as well as actual or suspected conspiratorial, facilitating or abetting activities materially connected with the principal target of the investigation;

(c) The construction and labelling of an association matrix, using electronic software designed for that purpose;

(d) The plotting of the associations within the matrix cells, while differentiating between certain and uncertain (known and suspected) information, and noting the source(s) of each association;

(e) Based on the information in the association matrix, the completion of the Link Analysis Diagrams. This process will make use of widely accepted symbols denoting, in part:

  1. certain associations,

  2. suspected associations,

  3. an individual,

  4. two individuals definitely associated,

  5. two individuals suspected to be associated,

  6. an organization,

  7. an individual belonging to an organization,

  8. an individual suspected to be a member of an organization,

  9. an individual belonging to two organizations,

  10. an individual belonging to more than two organizations, and

  11. an individual "hanging around" an organization, but not belonging to it.

Once developed, Link Analysis Diagrams provide a client's management team and litigation counsel with a helpful overview of a complex matter, and present it in a form which can be used effectively for purposes of conducting, in part, examinations of court presentations.

Footnote

1. Link Analysis was developed by U.S. law enforcement agencies to solve the problem presented by the need to integrate and present information collected from many sources, at various locations, spread over time. "Conventionally, this myriad of information was organized in an investigator's head, the power of his memory being the key element," according to a Link Analysis monograph prepared in 1985 by the Behavioural Science Division of the Department of The Treasury's Federal Law Enforcement Training Centre. "For the bulk of criminal investigations, this [conventional] approach was satisfactory." However, the historical results of "law enforcement's conventional techniques of integrating data have often been found ineffective when employed against "organized crime,"" as such enquiries involve many people and organizations and concern complex events occurring over long periods of time.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.