For seven years, Andrew K. Levi was in the economic crimes section at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, where he investigated and prosecuted some of South Florida’s most high-profile fraud and white-collar cases, including the prosecution of banker Eduardo Masferrer (who was found guilty in 2006 of masterminding a $20 million bank fraud) and South Florida’s well-known court appointed receiver, Lewis B. Freeman (who was convicted in 2010 of a federal fraud charge that he embezzled at least $2.6 million from client trust accounts). He also served as lead counsel in the Mutual Benefits Corp. $1 billion securities fraud case.

Levi left the U.S. Attorney’s Office last year to head the new Miami office of the global investigative firm of Nardello & Co., which also has offices in London, New York, Milan, Washington D.C. and Hong Kong.

While the movie version of a private eye may seem glamorous, Levi discusses the type of cases and diligence required for a real-life investigator, which he calls “a natural extension” of his career.

Q. What’s the role of an investigator today in South Florida?

A. A modern day investigator has mastered a variety of tools — including interviewing, document review, forensic computer analysis and forensic accounting — to find the answers to his client’s questions. Given the global nature of the business and legal communities in South Florida, he is able to effectively coordinate cross-border investigations in any region of the world — from Latin America and Asia to Africa and the Middle East.

Q. What type of investigative work do you do?

As head of our Miami office, I’m responsible for handling everything from internal investigations, asset tracing, and due diligence to litigation support and anti-corruption related matters. My cases typically have a connection to South Florida or Latin America.

Q. What skills did you develop at the U.S. Attorney’s Office that have helped you in your investigations?

I learned how to design and implement strategies for complex investigations. I also learned how to successfully coordinate agents, accountants, analysts and computer specialists to get answers to difficult questions in the context of those investigations. The trial experience I gained at the U.S. Attorney’s Office guides everything I do because I tailor my investigations with an eye towards the trial and litigation needs of my clients.

Q. How does this type of investigative work differ from your work at the U.S. Attorney’s Office?

People are no longer required to provide me with information because of a subpoena or because they are visited by agents with badges. As a result, we have to be creative about where and how you gather information from people and public records.

Q. What’s the meaning behind the firm’s slogan, "We Find Out."

The success of an investigation comes down to using legal and ethical methods to gather reliable information that relates to the matter you’re investigating. It means we don’t “dump” data on our clients - we analyze and evaluate information and put it in its proper context. Simply stated it means we get the information you need and can use.

Q. How has technology aided your investigations?

Movies and TV shows might lead you to believe there’s some magic technology that is available to solve cases. In most cases, this is not how investigative work is really carried out. Technology is a tool to help you gather information and deliver it faster, but it actually takes a lot of time, patience and focus to find the information you need. You have to be careful about what type of technology you use and when you use it so you don’t create a problem for your client. The foundation of our business is brain power — old-fashioned reading and analysis.

Q. Do you need certain personality traits to be an investigator?

Being intellectually curious helps, but good investigators come from a variety of backgrounds, and have very different personalities. I think it also helps to be skeptical — to not accept things at first glance or on a superficial level.

Q. What type of clients hire you?

Those who want to limit their risks before doing a deal or conducting an internal investigation. Also, those who want a strategic edge in litigation. They include law firms, corporations, financial institutions and high-net worth individuals.

Q. What has been your strangest case?

We once had a wealthy client who developed a personal relationship with a business associate. As things became more serious, the client decided to check on the background of her new boyfriend. With some digging, we discovered the boyfriend’s entire life story was a lie. He made up his entire work and personal history. We also discovered that he neglected to mention that he was currently married with children. As you can imagine, it was a “dealbreaker,” both personally and professionally.

Q. Have you ever turned a case down — if so, what type of case was it?

There are cases we have to turn down for ethical reasons — usually involving a conflict of interest.

Q. How do your investigations help businesses?

We help businesses by gathering information that helps them make decisions. The type of information, and how our client uses our findings, varies on a case-by-case basis.

In the case of pre-transaction due diligence, we help businesses avoid costly mistakes that can cost them money or damage their reputation. This could mean identifying a problematic joint venture partner so that a business can cancel or restructure a planned deal, alerting a business to Foreign Corrupt Practices Act risks involved in an international transaction or educating a business about the problems of an agent being considered to represent the company’s interests in a foreign country.

With fraud investigations, we can help identify suspected fraud or conduct an investigation after fraud has been uncovered. Our work can help businesses reduce the damage of the fraud by identifying the extent of the problem, minimize future losses by identifying the procedures that led to the fraud — allowing the company to revise its policies and procedures or let shareholders and regulatory agencies know that an independent and thorough investigation has been conducted.

On litigation support matters ... this can involve a variety of tasks including finding misrepresentations or material omissions made by key witnesses in order to undermine their credibility, analyzing findings — including documentation obtained through discovery — to develop alternative theories to counter allegations made in a criminal complaint, gathering evidence of misdeeds against an adverse party or conducting detailed link analysis to show that certain parties are secretly working together.

Q. Are there limits on invading privacy when you’re an investigator?

Absolutely. There are both legal and ethical limitations on how information can be collected during an investigation. An investigator must be keenly aware of these limitations, which can vary from state to state and country to country. If he’s not, then he risks making his investigation the issue rather than the matter he is investigating.

Q. The Justice Department has been vigorously enforcing the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in its fight against foreign bribery. How has that impacted your industry?

What we’ve seen is that it affects companies at many different levels. It requires them to perform rigorous due diligence with people they’re doing business with or representing them in foreign countries. Companies now have to quickly and thoroughly investigate any situation that arises where there are allegations that somebody has engaged in any corrupt activity and companies have to defend themselves when actual charges are brought, either by the Justice Department or SEC.

We investigated a case where David Pinkerton at AIG (American International Group) was indicted by the Justice Department and as a result of our investigation, charges were dismissed against him.

Q. Is there now a heightened risk for fraud? What kind?

History has shown that there is always a risk of fraud and sometimes that risk is somewhere you would least expect it to be. That’s why it is so important to perform a thorough investigation of your investments, the people you do business with and the people you hire. You don’t want to be in a position of saying, “I wish I knew then what I know now.”

Q. Which fictional detective do you find most resembles the real thing? And which one would you most like to be?

For our line of work, we’re probably closer to the Sherlock Holmes model (an analytical problem solver) than Mike Hammer. I’m not sure who I resemble, but I’d like to be like (Walter Mosley’s detective) Easy Rawlins. He solves crimes with style, he’s cool under pressure, he has a sense of honor, and he always gets the girl.

Q. Sherlock Holmes used disguises to hide his identity. How do you stay under the radar during your investigations?

By being discreet. We recognize that our clients sometimes need us to conduct investigations in a way that doesn’t allow people to know that we are looking for information. By using public records and contacting sources that we already know and have worked with over a long period of time, we minimize the risk of letting the cat out of the bag.

Q: What was the last great book you read?

I’ve read too many great books to list here. My favorite is Summer of ‘49 by David Halberstam.

Q. How would you write your own biography in six words?

Inquisitive, analytical, loyal, tenacious, passionate and optimistic.

Q: Tell us one thing about yourself that would surprise your colleagues.

I have a wicked backhand in tennis.

Q: What is the best advice you ever got?

It came from my father – “Be passionate about your work.”