Digital Forensics Exposes Multi-Million Dollar Inheritance Fraud
Spotlight on Greg Freemyer
Enjoy the first in a series of video interviews with the experts at S2|DATA! In this video, Greg Freemyer, Director of R&D at S2|DATA, tells a great story of how he helped crack a multi-million dollar legal case that had been going on for over two years.
What started as a simple technical support request – a paralegal unable to print two pages from a PDF – quickly evolved into one of S2|DATA’s most dramatic fraud discoveries.
Greg Freemyer, Director of Research and Development at S2|DATA, received an unusual call about a 300-page legal document containing a letter of testamentary intent. This critical two-page document was at the center of a years-long legal battle between siblings over their father’s multi-million dollar estate. The letter explained why one sibling should inherit the entire estate while the other received nothing.
Turning Complexity Into Capability
When Greg examined the problematic PDF in Adobe Acrobat Pro, he made a startling discovery. After moving the Bates stamp and confidentiality markings, he clicked on the letter itself. Instead of selecting the entire page as expected, only a small rectangle containing the signature appeared. With a simple mouse movement, the signature separated from the rest of the document.
“We’ve got two or more documents here that have been glued together,” Greg realized immediately. Further investigation revealed three separate source documents had been scanned, trimmed, and assembled like a digital jigsaw puzzle to create what appeared to be a single document.
Swift Resolution
During the initial background call with the attorneys, Greg interrupted within seconds: “I don’t need to know the background of this case. This is a fraudulent document.” Through a screen share demonstration, he showed how the document could be pulled apart into its component pieces.
The S2|DATA team quickly prepared a notarized affidavit documenting the findings. When presented to the judge the following Tuesday, the multi-year litigation involving teams of lawyers on both sides abruptly changed course.
As Greg noted, his forensic work wasn’t just “the nail in the coffin.” It was “the coffin” itself, completely dismantling what had been a complex, expensive legal dispute through expert digital forensics analysis.
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