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Principles of Investigative Documentation, Second Edition, Out Now!

Principles of Investigative Documentation, Second Edition, came out yesterday. A collaboration between Philip Becnel, Alexandra Becnel, and former-Dinolt-investigator-turned-attorney Scott Krischke, the book details how to document an investigation using what Philip originally coined as the “Five Principles of Investigative Documentation.” The authors reworked the Second Edition into a pseudo-memoir in Philip’s ...

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He promised ‘Uber for private investigators.’ It was a scam.

Following a guilty plea for wire and securities fraud by Danny Boice, the founder of Trustify, the now-defunct “Uber for private investigators,” The Washington Post quoted our founder, Philip Becnel.  ‘I knew it was a scam,’ said Philip Becnel, a partner at a D.C. private investigations firm and early Trustify critic. ‘I knew that there ...

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Philip Becnel featured on Newsy

Our Managing Partner, Philip Becnel, was featured on the Dream Jobs segment of the “The Why” on Newsy. During the interview, he talked about how he became a private investigator in D.C. and about different types of surveillance. ...

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Investigating healthcare choices

As private investigators, we’ve helped attorneys evaluate potential healthcare fraud claims against nursing homes, hospitals, physicians and other providers over the years. The vast majority of this research involves examining information already made public by state and federal agencies. But this information isn’t just for legal and healthcare professionals. It’s made ...

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Do the principles of private investigator ethics hold up in the Trump era?

Only Philip Becnel could write such a stimulating article about investigative ethics. In his Pursuit Magazine feature, called “Re-examining Private Investigator Ethics in a Divided Political Era,” our managing partner divulged a never-before-reported piece of news relevant to the Trump/Russia investigation and provided a tantalizing forecast into his new novel, ...

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Philip Becnel quoted by Snopes

Managing Partner Philip Becnel was quotes in a Snopes article concerning a lawsuit filed by Rod Wheeler over a since-debunked Fox News story. The original story alleged that murdered Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich might have been responsible for hacking of DNC emails before the 2016 presidential election, despite ...

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Franklin Frye Died in Custody After Serving 45 Years Over a $20 Necklace

When Jim McElhatton left The Washington Times to join Dinolt Becnel & Wells Investigative Group as an investigator in early 2015, he pledged to keep his hand in journalism by writing an occasional freelance article on important topics that interest him. Last summer he published “Invisible Tape,” about a man convicted ...

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Property management magazine publishes our case studies

Philip Becnel and Joe Belfiore published an article, titled “Turning Around Crime-Plagued Properties,” in The Property Professional, a bimonthly magazine published by the National Property Management Association. “For the multi-family owner or manager, resolving a pest infestation is almost a professional rite of passage,” begins the article’s summary. “But when the pests ...

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Accolades for “When Your Lover is a Liar”

Philip Becnel’s July 2015 article, “When Your Lover is a Liar,” was ranked one of the “Top 10 Pursuit Magazine Stories of 2015.” According to the magazine, a self-described “online community of professional sleuths,” their stories were ranked by using an algorithm based upon reader participation (e.g., clicks, comments, shares). Philip’s ...

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Philip Becnel published an article in the Legal Investigator

Philip Becnel published a modified excerpt of his book, Principles of Investigative Documentation, in the Fall 2015 edition of the Legal Investigator, a publication of the National Association of Legal Investigators. In the article, Philip outlined what he coined the “Five Principles of Investigative Documentation,” which include taking notes, keeping ...

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Philip Becnel published an article in Law.com.

Philip Becnel, our managing partner, published an article in Law.com called, “Can Investigations be Uber-ized?” The article is a critique of start-up Trustify, which offers investigations for cheap through an app interface. Philip is a regular contributor to Law.com. Here is an excerpt from the article: As it happened, the whole exercise ...

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Philip Becnel in Campus Security Report

Partner Philip Becnel published an article in Campus Security Report, in which he recommends steps that college administrators can do to minimize the harm caused by occasional false accusations of sexual assault. The article is called, “Take 3 steps to create a fair process to investigate sexual assault.” ...

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Philip Becnel predicts an increase in number of cases involving crypto-currencies.

Philip Becnel published an article in Law.com about digital currencies and illicit marketplaces on the so-called Dark Web. Here is an excerpt of Philip’s article: Crypto-currency uses cryptography to control its distribution, as opposed to a government or a bank. They are simply unique pieces of encrypted software that have been designated ...

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