The Smoking Gun

Success or failure, even in the most complex multi-million dollar litigation, can turn on the discovery of a single key document or email.

The parties in this high-stakes case were a US distributor with a failed software implementation claiming hundreds of millions in business losses vs. an internationally renowned European software vendor.  The core question was, “Did the software vendor have knowledge of product defects which resulted in costly implementation problems prior to the sale?”

Capsicum technical staff traveled to Europe and recovered numerous emails relevant to the dispute.  The ‘smoking gun’ was a single tell-tale email written by the software vendor’s senior executive clearly establishing his knowledge of crucial software deficiencies just prior to its sale.

In light of this discovery, the software vendor settled almost immediately and the vendor’s law firm was sanctioned by the courts. The end result was the largest payout in a civil litigation against a software developer in U.S history.

Complying with an SEC financial fraud investigation

A large financial institution was being investigated by the SEC as a result of allegations by informants that centered on emails and financial records retained by the company. The company was required to preserve targeted data for the SEC investigators to examine. Some of the company’s targeted staff, having gotten wind of the forthcoming investigation, attempted to delete materials that were relevant to the matter.

The financial institution’s management and its outside law firm were cognizant of the ramifications of not providing the requested information to the SEC, even if it contained “Bad news” for the company. This was particularly true in light of the efforts of targeted company employees to delete data in defiance of company policy and directions.

Capsicum Group was called in to address the inability of the company to fully comply with the investigation. Capsicum technical staff, using forensic tools and techniques, was able to recover and recreate all the deleted emails and documents relevant to the investigation. This examination involved hundreds of data sources including backup tapes, file servers and PC hard drives.

The matter ended with the financial institution settling and paying fines for the wrongdoing of its employees. However, the results would have been far worse if the financial institution had not complied fully since some of the deleted emails and documents were already in the hands of the investigators. As we have seen in recent cases, the attempts to cover up and hide damaging material can cause companies far more trouble than what the matter itself would have brought.

Protecting the image of a well known Beauty

Celebrity images are all around us. Some images are authorized and some are unauthorized. We are all familiar with the excesses of some “paparazzi.” A famous Hollywood actress finds out that there are topless photos of her taken illicitly, sold without her knowledge or consent, published in print and allegedly put up on a website. The actress sues the entity that allegedly purchased the photos. During discovery the defendant claims that the photos were not in their possession and are not on their file server. The actress' attorneys independently can muster no proof that they were ever on the defendant’s website. Capsicum’s forensic staff is called in to examine the defendant’s file server.

Using forensic tools and techniques, our technical staff recovered thousands of deleted photos from the defendants hard drives and identified the star’s image during a review of the deleted files. In addition to the photos, we also recovered the scripts written by the defendant to delete the photos and to search for them after deletion.  Most revealing and damaging for the defendant was the fact that the deletion scripts and search scripts were written and executed two days after the defendant received a preservation letter from the court. Given irrefutable evidence of the online publisher’s wrongdoing, the case settled and the actress received a substantial settlement which was then donated to charity.

Recovering a family’s last memories of a loved one

A mother takes her small children on a long trip up to Maine to see their dying grandmother.  The mother knows that this will be the last time the children ever see grandma alive. The kids are prepared for this and understand the importance of this visit.

The family takes along a digital camera to record this joyful and tearful last reunion. The family takes many, many pictures of grandma and the kids, all knowing that these represented the last recorded memories of her.

During the trip back, the mother’s young son begins playing with the camera and inadvertently reformats the memory card. grandma passes on within days of this last reunion and the mother discovers, to her dismay, that the photos are “gone.” The mother tries in desperation to find someone who can provide a way for these photos to be recovered and eventually comes to us with the camera and the memory card. Capsicum staff, using our digital forensic tools and techniques, reads the memory card, restores the photos and recovers those lost last memories for the family.