Overview#
An SEC enforcement attorney reviews trading records from the six months preceding a major pharmaceutical merger announcement. Dozens of accounts showed unusual options activity in the weeks before the deal was public. The accounts belong to different individuals in different states, but network analysis reveals that six of them attended the same graduate programme, two worked at the same advisory firm, and one is the brother-in-law of an executive who was on the target company's board. The trading pattern, the network connections, and the timeline together tell a coherent story of insider trading. Finding that story in millions of trading records requires analytical depth that Argus White Collar Crime Intelligence provides.
The platform delivers corporate fraud investigation, securities enforcement, and public corruption detection capabilities for federal prosecutors, state attorneys general, corporate investigators, regulatory agencies, and forensic accountants. It is designed to detect, investigate, and prosecute complex financial crimes involving corporate malfeasance, securities violations, and government corruption.
Built on advanced natural language processing, financial anomaly detection, and network relationship analysis, Argus provides the investigative depth and evidentiary rigour required for modern white collar crime prosecution, from securities fraud and insider trading to public corruption, tax evasion, and healthcare fraud schemes.
Open Standards#
- OASIS STIX 2.1 / TAXII 2.1: Threat intelligence bundles are ingested, stored, and exported as STIX 2.1 Structured Threat Information Expression objects, and external feeds are polled via the TAXII 2.1 protocol, enabling interoperability with financial crime intelligence sharing networks.
- FollowTheMoney (FtM) data model: Sanctions and politically exposed persons (PEP) data from OpenSanctions is consumed in the FollowTheMoney newline-delimited JSON format, allowing structured mapping of entities, relationships, and identifiers across OFAC, UN Security Council, EU, and UK sanctions lists.
- SEC EDGAR (EDGAR API): US public company filings, including 10-K annual reports, 10-Q quarterly reports, and 8-K current reports, are retrieved directly from the SEC EDGAR data service for financial statement analysis and insider trading investigations.
- ISO 17442 Legal Entity Identifier (LEI): Legal entity resolution is performed against the GLEIF LEI registry, enabling unambiguous identification of corporate counterparties and ownership chain mapping across jurisdictions.
- Internet Message Format (RFC 5322) / MIME: Email evidence is parsed from PST, MSG, and EML files conforming to RFC 5322 and MIME standards, with metadata preservation to support evidentiary timelines in communication analysis.
- GraphQL: All investigative query and mutation operations are exposed through a typed GraphQL API, enabling structured, schema-validated access to financial anomaly, network relationship, and sanctions screening data.
- OAuth 2.0 (RFC 6749) / JSON Web Tokens (RFC 7519): All API access is authenticated and authorised via OAuth 2.0 bearer tokens issued as JWTs, ensuring that access to sensitive investigative data is scoped to authenticated, authorised users only.
Last Reviewed: 2026-02-23 Last Updated: 2026-04-14
Key Features#
Corporate Fraud Investigation#
Securities fraud detection employs document analysis and trading pattern recognition to identify accounting manipulation, investor deception, and revenue recognition fraud across public companies, private offerings, and cryptocurrency token sales. Specific detection capabilities cover channel stuffing, bill-and-hold schemes, fictitious revenue entries, and round-trip transactions.
Accounting fraud analysis processes financial statements at scale, comparing reported figures against expected patterns using statistical benchmarking and peer group analysis. Sudden changes in key ratios, management override patterns, and audit adjustment history all contribute to fraud risk scoring.
Public Corruption and Bribery Investigation#
Government corruption detection covers bribery, kickbacks, bid rigging, embezzlement, and abuse of public office across federal, state, and local government operations. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) violation investigation is supported through payment analysis connecting corporate disbursements to foreign government officials via intermediaries.
The platform maps beneficial ownership chains to identify shell companies used to move corrupt payments, cross-referencing against OpenSanctions data for PEP screening and sanctions checks.
Financial Document Analysis#
Advanced document processing and forensic accounting capabilities analyse bank statements, tax returns, financial statements, wire transfers, and other financial documentation central to white collar crime investigations. OCR and text extraction from scanned documents, PST/EML email processing with metadata preservation, and XBRL parsing of SEC filings all feed into unified investigative timelines.
Transaction pattern recognition identifies structuring, round-tripping, layering, and other financial concealment techniques across multi-year datasets.
Asset Tracing and Recovery#
Hidden asset discovery covers shell company network analysis, offshore account identification, nominee ownership structures, and complex multi-tier corporate hierarchies. Corporate structure mapping follows ownership chains across jurisdictions to identify ultimate beneficial owners and the assets they control.
Cryptocurrency tracing across 15+ blockchain networks connects digital asset flows to traditional financial accounts and real-world identities.
Email and Communication Analysis#
Natural language processing and communication pattern analysis extract fraud indicators, conspiracy evidence, and intent from email, messaging platforms, and internal communications. Linguistic marker detection flags language patterns associated with concealment, urgency, and awareness of wrongdoing. Communication analysis integrates with financial analysis to build corroborating evidence timelines.
Regulatory Compliance Investigation#
Regulatory violation detection covers Sarbanes-Oxley Act, FCPA, healthcare fraud statutes, government contract regulations, and other federal and state compliance requirements. SOX Section 302 certification analysis evaluates whether management certifications were knowingly false given underlying financial records.
Whistleblower Intelligence and Evidence Management#
Whistleblower programme support covers SEC whistleblower submissions, False Claims Act qui tam litigation, and IRS whistleblower claims. The platform maintains anonymity protections, documents the evidentiary value of disclosures, and tracks related enforcement actions across DOJ, CFTC, and state regulators. Anti-retaliation documentation preserves evidence if employers take adverse action against whistleblowers.
Use Cases#
Securities Fraud Investigation. Analyse trading records and financial filings to identify insider trading, accounting manipulation, and investor deception schemes. Build evidence packages with trading timeline analysis, network connection mapping, and document analysis.
Public Corruption Prosecution. Investigate bribery, kickbacks, and FCPA violations through payment flow analysis, beneficial ownership mapping, and communication analysis. Coordinate with DOJ and international partners for multi-jurisdictional enforcement.
Asset Recovery. Trace assets hidden through complex ownership structures for civil forfeiture, restitution, and judgment collection. Map the full scope of concealed assets across domestic and offshore structures.
Corporate Investigations. Support internal investigations and regulatory enquiries with comprehensive document analysis, financial anomaly detection, and employee network analysis. Generate evidence packages that meet the standards required for SEC, DOJ, or OIG referral.
Integration#
- Document processing: OCR extraction for scanned documents, PST/MSG/EML email parsing, XBRL financial statement processing, and Excel/CSV analytical data import
- Banking system imports from major core banking platforms for transaction data
- Connects with SEC EDGAR and regulatory filing systems for financial statement analysis
- Integrates with cryptocurrency blockchain analysis for digital asset tracing
- Links to corporate registry and beneficial ownership databases for entity research
- Works with OpenSanctions for PEP screening and sanctions checking
- Supports case management workflows for investigation and prosecution coordination
- Compatible with forensic accounting platforms for collaborative investigation