Tampa, Fla. – Carlton Fields Tampa Shareholder and Chair of the firm’s White Collar Crime and Government Investigations practice group, Kevin Napper, was quoted on i-Sight Blog. He shared interview tips for corporate fraud investigators:
“Investigators must always ask open-ended, non-accusatory questions to begin the interview. Let the interviewee get comfortable with the setting and the interviewer. Start general and get more specific as the interview unfolds.”
Napper added that once the investigator establishes rapport with the suspect, he should then “ask the who, what, when, where, how and why questions. Lock the interviewee in to his or her answer and get them to be specific.”
The blog post details steps from making the interview a conversation and establishing a baseline with the suspect, to protocol on asking the suspect the obvious questions and concluding the interview properly. Napper shared that interviews will most likely conclude with “anything else you would like to tell me about XYZ?” Asking this simple question last could shed light on additional information.
READ: Interviewing Tips for Corporate Fraud Investigations
