CATO & VEILINTELLIGENCE & INVESTIGATIONSDiscuss your matterThe Cato Brief / Insights
Practice notes, published commentary and representative cases. An informed look at evidence, decisions and the situations that require closer examination.
From Neel’s writing
A technology problem may also be a conflict between people, companies or governments. Understanding those interests changes the questions an investigator asks.
Why an organisation can be well prepared for disruption and still misunderstand the conflict it is facing.
Read the essay ↗What appears to be one payment, one account or one conversation can belong to a much larger picture.
Payment instructions, recipient accounts and communications give investigators different routes into the same event. Each needs to be preserved and examined in context.
Selected losses reported to the FBI’s IC3 in 2025, USD. Rounded figures; these are reported losses, not an estimate of all crime.
Source: FBI IC3, 2025 ↗In February 2026, Anthropic reported suspected capability-extraction campaigns involving approximately 24,000 fraudulent accounts and more than 16 million exchanges.
The investigative question extends beyond a single login: which accounts share infrastructure, payment methods, timing or organisational connections?
Source: Anthropic’s account, 23 February 2026 ↗A shared address may suggest a link. A witness may explain it. Original records may support—or contradict—that account. We keep those distinctions visible as the investigation develops.
Cato & Veil’s approach: preserve the source, test competing explanations and identify what remains unresolved.
Fraud, misconduct, leaks and counterparties: what a corporate investigation actually does, who should instruct it, and the questions that separate a useful firm from an expensive report.
Neel Chakrabarti / Practice note
What investigators can find, what they cannot lawfully obtain, and how the evidence is used to recover money owed or taken.
Neel Chakrabarti / Practice note
Whether the allegation is criminal, at work or in a family dispute, the early steps are similar: keep quiet in the right places, preserve everything and let the evidence do the work.
Neel Chakrabarti / Practice note
What to secure, who to tell and what not to do while the facts are still unclear, so the investigation that follows has something to work with.
Neel Chakrabarti / Practice note
The signs worth taking seriously, what to do before anyone checks, and how a sweep of a home, office, car or phone actually works.
Neel Chakrabarti / Practice note
Who to instruct for fraud, asset tracing, a cyber incident or a dispute, and the questions that tell you whether a firm can do the work.
Neel Chakrabarti / Practice note
What collaboration and talent movement can tell an investigator—and what requires different evidence.
Cato & Veil / Practice note
The person receiving the demand may not be the person first approached.
Cato & Veil / Practice note
Before assessing an account, examine the opportunity to observe.
Neel Chakrabarti / Observation essay
Understanding a client’s situation comes before proposing how to solve it.
Neel Chakrabarti / From practice
Start with what can be established, before deciding what to call it.
Cato & Veil / Practice note
The value of an enquiry is the decision it helps you make.
Cato & Veil / Practice note
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