SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sapient Investigations, Inc., a national corporate intelligence firm which focuses on business dispute investigations and executive background checks, has completed its acquisition of Searchers Investigating Company, Inc., which was founded by fabled Los Angeles gumshoe Lee Beck in 1966.
“Searchers was a groundbreaking firm in the business intelligence world. Lee was one of the first white collar private investigators in Los Angeles,” said David Cogan, Managing Director of Sapient, who has worked with Beck for over ten years. “The opportunity to acquire Searchers when Lee retired was a chance to be part of history.”
Beck made a name for himself in corporate, banking and legal circles through his work on a variety of high-profile cases.
In the late 1980s, Beck’s local reputation for developing actionable intelligence in financial investigations led to the FDIC’s Resolution Trust Corporation hiring Searchers to help untangle various elements of the savings and loan collapse, particularly in tracing funds and financial assets. “At one point I had 15 or more investigators working as many as 35 cases a day,” Beck said.
In the 1990s, Beck collaborated with musician and record label founder Herb Alpert at A&M Records to hunt down and break up an infamous gang of bootleggers known as ‘The Rubber Dubbers’ that illegally recorded some of the biggest musical acts of the era.
Beck said that when he decided to retire after 50 years in business intelligence he wanted his company to be absorbed by the right firm, and Sapient Investigations fit the bill. “It’s like turning over the ship you built to another captain,” Beck said. “You really do have an emotional investment and want to make sure she’s in good hands.”
Sapient Investigations, Inc. is a national corporate intelligence firm that provides business dispute and integrity services to attorneys, private equity firms, lenders and businesses. Formed in January 2010, Sapient Investigations specializes in executive background checks and litigation investigations.
