One of the primary challenges of modern investigative work is managing overwhelming amounts of diverse data. Varied, disparate data sources like e-mail, calendar entries, telephone and cell phone records, instant messages, and financial transaction records can be nearly impossible for even the most diligent professionals to analyze within tight budgets and deadlines.
This was precisely the challenge facing the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption when it was appointed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in July 2013. Impaneled in the wake of a series of corruption scandals and charged with casting a critical light on the influence of money on New York State’s public officials, the Commission had an acute need to draw relevant trends and narratives out of a veritable ocean of campaign finance and lobbying data. We are pleased and honored that the Commission turned to K2 Intelligence to help them meet this challenge.
Over a period of months, our highly skilled professionals employed an enormously powerful data analytics tool called Palantir to conduct in-depth analyses on numerous data sets on a scale nearly unprecedented in public corruption investigations. Yesterday, the Commission issued a hard-hitting preliminary report in which K2 Intelligence’s work is prominently featured:
The Commission has engaged a leading investigative and risk analytics consulting firm, to integrate vast datasets using a unique and versatile data analytics tool originally developed for use in the counter-terrorism context. Since its inception, this analytics platform has been adapted for use by numerous government agencies in a wide variety of complex criminal, civil, and intelligence-gathering matters. Among other things, we have used this analytics platform to ingest and analyze Board of Elections campaign finance information; elected officials’ financial disclosure statements; lobbyist and client disclosures; legislative election results; legislative initiatives; publicly available biographical and professional data about elected officials mined from media, social media sites, and other databases; and proprietary research meticulously gathered by the Commission’s investigative staff. To date, we have used this analytics tool to focus in on and uncover connections and relationships that otherwise would have been difficult or impossible to discern, thereby allowing Commission staff to create dossiers on companies, organizations, and persons of interest to “connect the dots” and construct timelines and relationships maps.
Access the full report: The Commission to Investigate Public Corruption: Preliminary Report
It is no exaggeration to say that an investigation of this magnitude would not have been possible without the cutting-edge analytic tools in our arsenal and the biggest and best group of analysts in the business to use them. With this capability, K2 Intelligence leverages data analytics for the benefit of clients across a wide array of industries—banks, power/utility companies, law firms—assessing enterprise risk, enhancing compliance programs, and gaining advantage in litigation.
