I am Bill. E Branscum, a retired Private Investigator and former owner of Oracle International, an investigative agency that I established following my career as a Special Agent, US Department of the Treasury. Oracle International focuses primarily upon financial cases involving; securities issues, asset analyses, collections, corporate research and international scams and frauds.

As a federal agent, I initiated and conducted investigations involving violations of federal law, prepared case prosecution summaries and participated in successful criminal prosecutions and civil forfeiture actions in state and federal courts. Violations of Title 18 (general), Title 19 (smuggling), Title 21 (narcotics) and Title 31 (money laundering) have been the primary focus of most of my cases. I have also conducted investigations related to the unlawful exportation of critical technology (Exodus violations), the sexual exploitation of children and contract murder.

For several years, I was assigned to the FBI Organized Crime Strike Force in Miami. During my tenure there, I was involved in investigations targeting foreign and domestic "boiler rooms," where telemarketing con artists perpetrated international schemes to defraud. I received a Commendation from Director Sessions related to my contribution to an exceptionally complex organized crime case involving international gemological fraud and money laundering.

As stated on the Home Page, this web site is intended to provide a resource for Financial Crimes Investigators - those of you that I know and have worked with through our mutual list associations.

One of the things I hope to accomplish is to clarify the distinction between law enforcement and private investigation as it relates to our Clients who have been victimized by fraud, and persuade many of you to modify your investigative strategies accordingly. I want to discuss investigative strategies in depth, share insights that I feel are important, and encourage you to aggressively approach these cases confidant that you can assist your Clients in recovering invested funds that would otherwise be hopelessly lost.

I have also included an extensive Glossary delineating terminology that is either exclusive to the world of frauds, scams, finance and securities, or has a meaning in this context that is different than common usage.

Whatever your level of investigative knowledge, training and experience, you should not find the material on this web site "over your head." I put most of this presentation together anticipating that some of my audience may not know:

• the difference between “securities” investigations, and matters handled by security guards (think Assured International, Inc., Mobley’s Maricopa, etc.); and
  
• the difference between the legitimate protection of post-tax income from potential civil judgments (asset protection), and money laundering or tax evasion, which are criminal activities cognizable under the laws of the United States (think Pilot Connection Society, the Liberty Foundation, etc.); and
  
• what the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, International Chamber of Commerce and the Federal Reserve are, or understand that there is no connection between them and the plethora of Prime Bank investment frauds that claim to have their endorsement, association and approval; and
  
• the difference between legitimate multi-level marketing programs and “pyramid” schemes to defraud (think Galaxy Program, Advance Finance, Inc., Advance Finance Holding, Inc., The Infinity Group Company, etc.); and
  
• what a “Trust” is and why so many “Offshore Trusts” are not trusts at all (think Anderson's Ark & Associates, American Asset Protection, Prosper International League Limited, We the People, etc.); and
  
• never to invest in “secrets,” “loopholes,” “privileged groups” or “exclusive opportunities” – we all want to feel smart and special, but nobody should ever invest in anything they do not understand; and
  
• that scams may not be obvious – the fact that you grift isn’t readily apparent does not mean it isn’t there (think Bennet Funding); and
  
• that Satan lives in Church – con artists are almost invariably active in the church and church membership is one of the most common kinds of Affinity Fraud; and
  
• that a “boiler room” is not always a place that makes steam, and a “reload drill” is not necessarily something that occurs on a firing range; and
  
• that Pyramid Schemes are often presented as clubs, circles and communities (think, “International Community,” “Prosper Club,” “Gifting Circle,” etc.); and
  
• that the lengths to which promoters go to assure prospects that “it’s totally legal,” are inversely proportional to the likelihood that it is actually is; and
  
• that higher returns invariably mean higher risks in this real world we live in – “high yield, no risk” promises are bogus no matter what some scam artist advertises on the Internet.

I welcome your comments, questions and suggestions.