Marcus Holloway
VP of Business Development
Marcus Holloway comes from a family with deep roots in maritime security, representing the second generation to build a career protecting people and property. He retired in 2021 after more than 25 years with a coastal sheriff's department, where he rose to the rank of lieutenant in the marine enforcement division. Over his tenure, Marcus worked a wide range of assignments that included harbor patrol, dive recovery operations, and a stint as a field training officer responsible for developing newer deputies.
In his final decade of service, Marcus commanded a regional maritime smuggling interdiction unit and later helped stand up a joint task force focused on dockside cargo theft and port corruption, working alongside federal partners and customs officials to dismantle organized trafficking networks operating along the waterfront. His assignments frequently demanded long-term surveillance, confidential informant management, and coordinated takedowns across overlapping agency lines.
Marcus also handled sensitive internal affairs matters and high-profile fraud cases, work that sharpened his eye for documentation, interview technique, and building cases that hold up under scrutiny. That same rigor now anchors his approach to private sector investigations.
Since stepping away from public service in 2021, Marcus has applied his background to corporate due diligence and insurance fraud work, with a growing specialty in supply chain and asset protection investigations. At Encyphir, he draws on that experience to lead business development, showing clients how disciplined, professional investigations can safeguard their operations, their bottom line, and their reputation.
Articles by Marcus Holloway
How to Choose the Right Corporate Investigation Firm for Your Business Needs
When your business faces a serious threat, whether it's suspected internal fraud, a data breach, executive misconduct, or a high-stakes acquisition…
How to Handle a Corporate Extortion Attempt: A Strategic Response Guide
Corporate extortion is one of the most destabilizing threats a business can face. Whether it arrives as a ransom demand tied to stolen data, a threat…
Payroll Fraud Schemes: How Certified Fraud Examiners Catch the Culprits
Payroll fraud is one of the most persistent and costly forms of occupational fraud facing businesses today. According to the Association of Certified…
When Internal HR Investigations Fall Short: The Case for Outside Investigators
When a serious allegation lands on an HR leader's desk, whether it involves harassment, financial misconduct, discrimination, or executive wrongdoing…
Money Laundering Red Flags Every Business Should Recognize
Money laundering is no longer a problem reserved for banks and global financial institutions. Today, criminal networks routinely exploit small and mid…
Corporate Espionage: Real-World Cases and How Companies Fight Back
Corporate Espionage: Real-World Cases and How Companies Fight Back Corporate espionage is no longer the stuff of spy novels. It is a daily threat…
Ghost Employee Fraud: How It Works and How CFEs Catch It
Every payroll cycle, billions of dollars flow out of organizations to employees who do not exist. They have no desk, no badge, no productivity metrics…
Invoice Fraud: How to Spot It and Stop It
Invoice fraud has quietly become one of the most damaging financial threats facing businesses today. Unlike dramatic cybersecurity breaches that make…
Certified Fraud Examination vs. Financial Investigation: What's the Difference?
When a business suspects financial wrongdoing, leadership often finds itself navigating a confusing landscape of professional services. Should you…
How to Conduct a Cognitive Interview: A Practical Guide for Investigators
Memory is one of the most fragile yet valuable forms of evidence in any investigation. Whether you are responding to workplace misconduct…
How Private Investigators Access Public Court Records to Uncover Critical Information
Public court records are one of the most powerful resources available to private investigators, yet most businesses barely scratch the surface of what…
How to Pick the Right Private Investigator for Your Business
Hiring a private investigator for your business is not a decision to take lightly. Whether you are dealing with suspected employee misconduct, a…
Mergers and Acquisitions Due Diligence: What Every Buyer Must Investigate
Mergers and acquisitions are some of the highest-stakes decisions a company will ever make. Whether you're acquiring a competitor, merging with a…
Business Ownership and Shell Company Investigations
Business ownership investigation matters across almost every insurance context. That includes underwriting due diligence, workers' comp premium audits…
Hidden Assets: Trusts, Offshore, and Cryptocurrency
Straightforward asset searches find straightforward assets. For subjects who actively hide assets to evade judgment, shield from subrogation, or…
Understanding Corporate Investigations: When and Why Your Business Needs One
Corporate investigations protect your business from internal and external threats. You may face suspected employee misconduct, fraud, intellectual…
The Competitive Intelligence Tech Stack: Tools, Roles, and How to Staff a CI Function
Competitive intelligence has professionalized significantly in the last decade. There is a recognized body of practice (the SCIP Code of Ethics, a…
Battlecards and Win/Loss Analysis: Turning Competitive Intelligence Into Revenue
Competitive intelligence that doesn't reach the people closing deals has no commercial return. Two methods reliably move intelligence into revenue…
Competitive Intelligence for M&A, Due Diligence, and Supply Chain Decisions
Most corporate transactions are priced on what the target says about itself, validated by financial and legal diligence. That work is necessary, and…
Financial Intelligence and M&A Tracking: Reading the Money Signals
Money moves before strategy does. By the time a competitor announces a new product, a market entry, or an acquisition, the financial fingerprints of…
Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE): What They Do and Why It Matters
The Certified Fraud Examiner credential is the most widely recognized professional designation in fraud investigation. The Association of Certified…
Identity Theft and Corporate Fraud: What Businesses Need to Know
Identity theft is not just a consumer problem. Businesses are also targeted through corporate identity fraud. The consequences can include fraudulent…
How to Spot Financial Fraud: Signs, Red Flags, and What to Do
Financial fraud rarely announces itself. It operates in the gaps between what people expect and what they look at. The best fraud prevention is…
Money Laundering: How It Works and How Forensic Accountants Investigate It
Money laundering is the process of making criminally obtained funds appear to come from a legitimate source. It is not a standalone crime. It…
Building a Competitor Monitoring Program That Executives Will Actually Read
Most competitor monitoring programs produce a lot of output that nobody reads. A weekly digest lands in a shared inbox. A dashboard accumulates…
Wire Fraud and Bank Fraud: What They Are and How They're Prosecuted
Wire fraud and bank fraud are among the most commonly charged federal financial crimes in the United States. They are broad statutes that apply to a…
Financial Due Diligence: What It Is and Why It Matters Before Any Deal
Financial due diligence is the investigative process of independently verifying a business's financial position, performance, and risks before a…
Asset Searches: How to Find Hidden Assets in Legal and Financial Disputes
When money is owed and not being paid, a professional asset search can change the outcome. The same is true when a legal dispute involves assets that…
Fraud Prevention for Businesses: Internal Controls That Actually Work
Fraud is not a problem that organizations solve once and move on from. It requires ongoing attention, updated controls, and a culture that takes…
White Collar Crime: Types, Examples, and How Investigations Work
White collar crime covers a broad range of financially motivated, non-violent offenses. These crimes are typically committed by people in positions of…
Embezzlement: What It Is, Legal Penalties, and What Happens When Caught
Embezzlement is the most costly form of employee theft. It is also among the most prosecuted white-collar crimes in the United States. Unlike burglary…
Ethical and Legal Competitive Intelligence: Where the Line Actually Is
The most common question we get about competitive intelligence is some version of, "Is that legal?" The second most common question is, "Is that…
Employee Theft: How to Detect, Investigate, and Prevent It
Employee theft is the most common form of occupational fraud, and it is also the most underreported. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners…
What Is Forensic Accounting? A Complete Guide
Forensic accounting sits at the intersection of accounting, auditing, and investigation. It applies financial expertise to legal questions, producing…
Competitive Intelligence: A Complete Guide for Business Leaders
Competitive intelligence is the disciplined practice of gathering, verifying, and analyzing information about competitors, markets, customers, and the…
Reputational Risk: How to Identify and Manage It Before It Becomes a Crisis
Reputational risk is the potential for damage to an organization's standing with customers, investors, employees, regulators, and the public. It is…
Financial Crime: Types, Examples, and Penalties
Financial crime covers a wide range of offenses involving dishonesty in financial contexts. The category includes: crimes committed by individuals…
How to Conduct an Internal Investigation: A Step-by-Step Guide
Internal investigations start when an organization needs to look into alleged misconduct, compliance violations, fraud, harassment, or other workplace…
Enterprise Risk Management: A Framework for Executives
Enterprise risk management (ERM) is a systematic approach to identifying, assessing, and managing the full range of risks that could affect an…
Money Laundering: How Businesses Become Unwitting Participants
Most businesses involved in money laundering did not intend to be. They were used. Their accounts, their transactions, and their legitimacy as…
Corporate Investigations: How They Work and What to Expect
Corporate investigations are formal inquiries into alleged misconduct, fraud, compliance violations, or other matters of organizational concern…
How to Report Business Fraud: Options and What to Expect
Reporting business fraud means navigating multiple channels. Each has different procedures, protections, and likely outcomes. You may be a fraud…
Financial Due Diligence: Detecting Fraud Before It Costs You
Financial due diligence is usually understood as a quality-of-earnings exercise before acquisitions and investments. But it is also one of the most…
White-Collar Crime: Definition, Examples, and How Investigations Work
White-collar crime refers to non-violent financial crimes committed by people in positions of trust, usually in professional or business settings…
Employee Fraud: Types, Warning Signs, and How to Investigate
Employee fraud costs organizations more each year than external fraud and cybercrime combined. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners estimates…
Corporate Governance: What It Is and Why It Matters
Corporate governance is the system of rules, practices, and processes by which a company is directed and controlled. It structures the relationships…
Compliance Risk Assessment: How to Build a Framework
A compliance risk assessment is the systematic process of identifying, evaluating, and prioritizing the legal and regulatory risks facing an…
Executive Background Screening: What to Look For
Executive background screening is among the highest-value investments an organization can make in risk management. Placing an unqualified or dishonest…
Supply Chain Risk Management: Protecting Your Business
Supply chain risk has moved from a niche operational concern to a boardroom priority. Recent disruptions, tighter regulatory scrutiny, and growing…
Sanctions Screening and PEP Checks: A Compliance Guide
Sanctions screening and politically exposed person (PEP) checks are two fundamental parts of any serious compliance program. Together, they help…
Reputational Risk: Definition, Examples, and How to Manage It
Reputational risk is the potential for harm to an organization's standing with customers, investors, employees, regulators, and the public. It results…
Investment Due Diligence: How to Evaluate Fund Managers
Investing with a fund manager is a relationship built on trust. Trust built on anything other than verified information is a liability. Investment due…
Pre-Acquisition Due Diligence: What Buyers Need to Know
Pre-acquisition due diligence is the buyer's systematic investigation of a target company before closing a transaction. It serves two purposes…
Vendor Due Diligence: A Step-by-Step Guide
Vendor due diligence is the process of evaluating third-party suppliers, service providers, and business partners before entering a relationship and…
Online Reputation Management: What It Is and Why Businesses Should Care
Online reputation management (ORM) is the practice of monitoring, influencing, and maintaining how an individual or organization is perceived through…
Third-Party Due Diligence: A Complete Guide
Third-party due diligence is the process of investigating the individuals and entities your organization does business with before entering into a…
Forensic Accounting in Litigation: How It Supports Attorneys and Cases
Forensic accounting sits at the intersection of accounting, investigation, and law. In litigation, forensic accountants do work that neither standard…
Vendor Due Diligence: What Law Firms Need to Know
Law firms handle extraordinarily sensitive information. That includes privileged client communications, litigation strategy, personal information…
Due Diligence in Mergers and Acquisitions: A Legal Guide
Due diligence in M&A is the buyer's systematic investigation of the target company before the deal closes. The purpose is to verify what the seller…
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