Chief Executive Officer
For over 30 years, Bruce Graham has served first as a front line investigator, initially for Graham and Associates Detective Agency, formed in 1950 by Bruce’s father, Bob Graham, and then for its successor company, ETS Investigations LLC. In 1984, Bruce became COO of the firm. He possesses a BA in Criminal Justice and a Masters in Clinical Counseling. Prior to becoming a full time investigator, Bruce first worked as a registered investment adviser licensed to trade on all stock and commodity exchanges (first earning NASD Series 7 and 63 licenses, a Commodity Futures Trading Commission license, as well as an insurance producer’s license). Later after completing his graduate degree, Bruce followed his passion and transitioned to providing counseling to individuals, families and groups. Eventually, the family business required more of his time. He is now dedicated to helping the clients of ETS Investigations, LLC. With his background in financial services and clinical counseling, Bruce is uniquely qualified to ask key questions that help people clarify objectives and accomplish goals. He quickly grasps what is needed and offers solutions for both complex business investigations, as well as investigations into personal matters people are often reluctant to discuss with others.
Bruce has earned a reputation as a Trusted Advisor to attorneys, business executives, and individuals. He regularly collaborates with attorneys on how best to investigate cases to uncover key evidence and locate witnesses. He also coaches business owners on best practices to create and maintain a safe and productive workplace. Additionally, he counsels individuals on ways to effectively protect themselves, their loved ones and their assets in interpersonal disputes.
Representative investigations:
- A successful multi-year, class action price fixing matter that resulted in a favorable verdict for class members in excess of $50 million.
- A successful international trademark infringement investigation that resulted in the discovery of 84 businesses in Asia trading on some form of ETS’ client’s trade name. Cease and Desist letters were issued to enforce client’s rights and prevent dilution.
- A successful multi-week, interstate industrial surveillance that resulted in the offending company acknowledging it was non-compliant with terms of a prior settlement. Restitution was to ETS’ clients in excess of $2 million.
- A due diligence investigation that successfully uncovered prior fraud convictions and civil judgments against a target offering to raise millions of dollars in private equity funding for a fee. ETS’s findings resulted in our client saving the $75,000.00 fee it was about to tender to the target.
- Multiple personal injury investigations that successfully resulted in multi-million dollar settlements where ETS was hired to locate and elicit signed statements from key witnesses, in several cases these efforts to locate several years after the date of the occurrence.
- A successful pre-divorce background check of the 2nd husband of a 65 year-old woman. When they married, the husband had no assets. Upon divorce, he stood to receive 50% of the now considerable marital assets derived from the sale of the wife’s home, the entire value of her retirement accounts, and the subsequent appreciation of jointly-owned commercial property. ETS learned that prior to the marriage, the husband had been to prison and upon release assumed a fictitious identity, complete with a Social Security number. The marriage was declared null and void and the woman was able to retain 100% of the formerly defined “marital assets”.
- Director of Tactical Operations
David Ratkovich is an Illinois Licensed Private Detective and serves as the Director of Tactical Operations for ETS Investigations, LLC. David is an executive with over 20 years experience managing businesses. He is responsible for day-to-day investigations and operations of ETS. In this capacity, David manages a full range of ETS’ services, including internal and external corporate fraud investigations, complex due diligence investigations, global asset searches, litigation support, ethics and integrity compliance monitoring and audits, construction monitoring, and fraud detection and prevention for major metropolitan construction projects. David’s investigative and advisory expertise are frequently engaged by corporations and high net-worth individuals throughout the United States. He has led investigations into corporate and financial fraud, unfair competition, contraband and other practices.
Over the years, David has provided vital security assistance to a multitude of corporate and individual clients. He is a primary instructor for the Close Quarters Combat (CQC) – Defensive Tactics Training Program – a curriculum designed to train police, private detectives, security personnel, bodyguards, and first responders. As ETS’ Director, he oversees the day to day operations of all of our teams including some of the following:
Our PC and hard drive Digital Forensics Team includes certified forensic examiners, skilled at hard drive forensic imaging and analysis, expert witness for court testimony and e-discovery research. They use the latest in forensic software, techniques and formats to ensure compliance with litigation proceedings. Each examiner holds CCE (Certified Computer Examiner) and enCase certifications.
Our Cellphone Forensics Team includes certified cellphone forensic examiners, skilled at all types of cell phone forensic imaging and analysis, including recovery of deleted text messages and call logs, expert witness for court testimony and e-discovery research. They use the latest in forensic software, techniques and formats to ensure compliance with litigation proceedings. Each examiner holds cell phone forensic certifications.
ETS’ Process Serving Team understands how important fast, dependable and accurate process service can be to the successful outcome of a case. We have been providing professional service of subpoenas, summons and other legal documents for hundreds of law firms, government agencies and private individuals for more than a half a century. ETS understands that service requirements vary depending on the court of jurisdiction. Same day, rush, routine, and hard service operations are all available!
Surveillance Team: Whether your case involves workmans compensation fraud, marital infidelity or investigating employee misconduct, ETS assigns highly trained personnel, often retired or off duty law enforcement personnel, with years of investigative experience to conduct surveillance operations. Our proprietary GPS Tracking and Reporting System can help reduce costs to the client and reduce the likelyhood of the surveillance being discovered by the subject. ETS will email the location report for the subject to the client on a daily basis.
Contact ETS Investigations, LLC for a free consultation or to speak with our team of investigation and digital forensic specialists.
Phone: 847.886.2455
Fax: 847.466.7685
Email: info@etsinvestigate.com