The practice works on fraud detection, asset tracing and litigation support.
More than ten investigative due diligence engagements since it opened, for private equity firms, listed companies and law firms.
We reconstruct fund movements that the financial statements do not show, cross-reading audit notes, regulatory filings, corporate registries and land registries in the original.
The work before this was business risk reporting. It covered the financial regulator, the exchange and the tax authority alongside the corporate sector, and it was built on financial statements and disclosure filings. Those stories led to criminal investigations, regulatory examinations, corrected filings and internal control reforms at the companies involved.
In 2019 an investigation into political and official ties at a large entertainment business, and the tax evasion behind it, was published. The reporting led into what became the Burning Sun scandal and drew substantial international coverage. It was awarded Journalist of the Month by the Journalists Association of Korea, the most prominent award in Korean journalism.
Other subjects from that period include an illegal multi-level marketing structure, nominee investments by a securities firm executive, indirect dealings by a controlling family at a major group, and share price manipulation following a no-capital acquisition. They led to fair-trade investigations, prosecutions, regulatory examinations and changes to the rules.
DEEPTAG combines the methods of investigative journalism with the forensic accounting techniques used in criminal investigations.
Accounting irregularities and signs of fund leakage, identified in the original records.
Establishing where the money ended up and building the basis for recovery.
Who actually holds control, and what has moved between the parties.
The amount in dispute, quantified against the records.
Sectors covered include manufacturing, construction and real estate development, securities, and retail and direct sales, across listed and private companies. Instructions come from law firms and in-house counsel, investment firms and company executives.
A regular column on corporate accounting and disclosure structures.
Each piece rebuilds, from public records alone, a check that is used in actual engagements. Published in Korean.
Cross-reading corporate registry, land registry and board minutes to establish indirect dealings by a controlling family.
The assumptions behind valuation opinions filed for mergers and demergers.
Patent databases read against the accounts to establish a royalty structure.
Audit notes and registry records cross-checked to establish the relationship.
What to read first in a Korean company's filings and audited accounts.
Fund leakage traced through provisions for doubtful accounts.