Forensic and Fraud Investigations PLLC

03/17/2026

Fraud costs all of us.

Renata Walton, the owner of a tax preparation business in Tennessee, pleaded guilty to orchestrating a

02/16/2026

Suspect fraud in your business?

Unexplained losses, irregular transactions, or missing funds can quietly damage your company from the inside.

Our forensic accounting services help you:
✔ Identify financial irregularities
✔ Investigate internal fraud
✔ Analyze complex transactions
✔ Provide litigation support

Don’t ignore the warning signs. Early action can protect your business and your reputation.
Contact us for a confidential consultation.

02/11/2026

Meet Bill Acuff. With over 30 years of experience in public accounting, Bill specializes in forensic investigations and fraud audits. His work includes using data analytics software to support litigation, conduct internal audits, assess fraud risk, and deliver fraud awareness training.

02/04/2026

Social engineering has been named the top fraud genre of 2025, consistently ranking as the most prevalent and damaging form of fraud. Staying informed about the latest scam tactics is essential to protecting yourself.

Visit our Fraud in the News page for insights other emerging fraud issues.

https://forensicandfraud.com/social-engineering-top-fraud-genre-of-2025/

11/09/2025

“Our future role will involve more collaboration with organizational leadership to predict and mitigate risks before they result in losses,” Marasco said. “We’ll also see a greater emphasis on proactive fraud prevention and internal control design, making forensic skills valuable outside of traditional investigative scenarios.”

The global forensic accounting market is set to hit $42.6B by 2033, fueled by fraud risks, AI adoption, digital finance, and growing corporate oversight.

11/05/2025

Corruption:

Corruption schemes includes kickbacks, conflicts of interest, bribes and money laundering. These schemes require someone both inside the organization and outside, usually a vendor.

Generally, these schemes manifest themselves in higher prices of goods and services for the organization. Having a right to audit clause in vendor contracts allows the company to review accounting records of the vendor to determine whether fraud has occurred or there are other contractual issues.

The use of data analytics is one of the best ways to detect potential corruption schemes and we can develop tests and other procedures which will help you in the detection and prevention of these schemes.

09/21/2025

Ponzi Schemes

A Ponzi scheme is an illegal business practice where new investors’ money is paid to and described as income to earlier investors, but is actually a distribution of capital. A basic investment scam raises money and disappears but the Ponzi scheme stays in business by circulating investor funds with little or no legitimate investments.

Our forensic accountants “follow the money.” We reconstruct the scheme tracing the movement of funds into and out of bank accounts preparing cash flow analyses to identify the sources and use of funds to help in the recovery. We identify and investigate related parties and companies, including possible shell companies.

Ponzi schemes are the oldest and most common type of investment fraud, because they can take any shape and be run by anyone.

09/20/2025

Divorce and Family Law

Seldom do both spouses have equal knowledge of marital finances and many times the money spouse capitalizes on this advantage by planning a divorce by having time to hide money or dissipate assets to achieve a more favorable settlement. This can be accomplished in many ways, including the use of a closely-held business.

Closely-held businesses frequently pay for family or personal expenses and can employ schemes using a controlled vendor, ghost employee or other ways to disguise the profitability and proper valuation of the business.

Common red flags of marital fraud include:

• Secretive about finances and controlling with money

• Income declines with onset of marital difficulties but expenses do not

• Multiple entity business investments and related party transactions

• Refusal to produce certain documents, falsely dated documents and/or deleted files

• Intentional confusion about money trails