Alabama
ALSecretary of State
Open-source intelligence is research built only from public records. It is how a case gets built before anyone files a complaint, and how we check the claims behind every episode. This page is our working toolkit for looking into businesses and people.
Whatever you are researching, the order matters. Each step produces names, addresses, and numbers that feed the next one.
Pull the state record: legal name, status, formation date, registered agent, and any officers. State searches
Is the firm or the person registered? Any disciplinary history? Regulators
Look for lawsuits, receiverships, bankruptcies, and enforcement actions. Courts
Every officer, agent, and address you found is a new search. Run them back through steps 1 to 3.
Say what the record shows, and no more. Ground rules
Businesses register with the state, not the federal government, so there is no single national registry. Each card opens that state's own public search. A record shows the legal name, status, formation date, and in most states the registered agent and filing history.
Alaska has no Secretary of State; business records sit with the Dept. of Commerce.
Corporations and LLCs are filed with the Corporation Commission. The older eCorp portal was replaced by Arizona Business Center in January 2026.
The name search is free. Detailed records, such as filing documents, carry a fee.
The CorpOnline portal may ask for a free Access DC login or a human-verification check.
Hawaii has no Secretary of State. The state moved to a new business portal in June 2026.
Business entities are registered with SDAT, not the Secretary of State.
Business entities are registered with LARA, not the Secretary of State. MiBusiness Registry replaced the older COFS system in 2025.
Business filings are held by the Treasury Dept., not the Secretary of State.
The Secretary of State charges $1.00 per search on SOSDirect. A free alternative is the Comptroller's taxable entity search, which covers most active businesses.
Business entities are registered with the Dept. of Commerce, not a Secretary of State.
Vermont launched a new online filing system in December 2024 on the same domain.
Business entities are registered with the State Corporation Commission, not the Secretary of the Commonwealth.
Business entities are registered with DFI, not the Secretary of State.
A company can be formed in one state and registered as a foreign entity in others. Delaware, Nevada, and Wyoming are common formation states for companies that operate elsewhere.
Where a state lets you search by registered agent or filing number, the same agent often appears on related entities.
Anyone can form a company. Status, filing history, and gaps between annual reports tell you more than the name does.
Several commercial sites imitate state registries. Every link on this page goes to a government portal.
After the business record, these are the next places to look. Choose a type below. Each tool is tagged with whether it is free or has a fee.
Before anyone takes your money, they usually need to be registered with someone. These databases show who is registered, what they have been disciplined for, and what they have told the government.
Search the text of SEC filings and exhibits since 2001. Try a person's name, a company's address, or a phrase from a pitch.
OpenLook up a company or person's filings: registration statements, periodic reports, private offering notices (Form D), and ownership forms.
OpenEmployment history, licenses, customer complaints, and disciplinary actions for brokers and brokerage firms.
OpenRegistration, disclosures, and disciplinary history for investment advisers and the people who work for them.
OpenFind the securities regulator in any state. States sometimes act on a scheme before federal agencies do.
OpenLicense and enforcement history for mortgage lenders, loan originators, and other state-licensed financial firms.
OpenRegistration and disciplinary history for futures, commodity, and forex firms and professionals.
OpenConfirm that a bank is real and FDIC insured, and see its history, branches, and any name changes.
OpenThe SEC's investor education site, with investor alerts on current scams and a way to check a financial professional.
OpenCourt records are where an allegation becomes a document. Complaints, receiver reports, bankruptcy schedules, and sentencing memoranda are the primary sources behind most episodes.
The official system for federal district, appeals, and bankruptcy court records. Fees apply, with some free allowances.
OpenSearch federal courts nationwide by party name to find which cases someone is in. Requires a PACER account.
OpenA free archive of federal dockets and documents already purchased from PACER by other users, plus court opinions.
OpenThe SEC's announcements of court actions it has brought. Many of the records linked in our scheme index come from here.
OpenA directory linking to every state's court system. Look for the "state court websites" list. Online docket access varies widely by state and county.
OpenPress releases on charges, pleas, and sentencings from the Justice Department and U.S. Attorney's Offices. Search by name or by scheme.
OpenFind where a federal inmate is held and the projected release date. Useful for checking what became of a sentence.
OpenCheck a name against the U.S. government's sanctions lists.
OpenSearch the federal exclusions list of people and firms barred from federal contracts and programs. Use the exclusions search.
OpenPonzi cases are won by tracing money. These records show what a person or company owns, what is pledged against it, and what it has registered.
Lenders file Uniform Commercial Code statements to claim an interest in a borrower's assets. Records are kept by each state, usually at the same office as business records. Use the state list on this page to find it.
OpenLook up a U.S. aircraft by tail number, owner name, or serial number to see the registered owner and address.
OpenSee who owns a brand name, when it was filed, and what it covers. Useful for checking a company's claims about its own products.
OpenSearch federal contracts, grants, and loans by recipient. Confirms whether a company really did the government work it claims.
OpenDeeds, mortgages, and liens are recorded at the county. Search for the county name plus "recorder of deeds" or "assessor". Many counties offer free online search by owner name.
In a bankruptcy or receivership, the schedules and the receiver's reports list assets, creditors, and sometimes where the money went. Find the case in PACER or CourtListener and look for those documents.
Everything here is a government or nonprofit record. We deliberately leave out commercial "people search" sites, which are error-prone and a defamation risk.
Federal political contributions by donor name, employer, and committee. Donations can show connections and how much a person claims to be worth.
OpenPolitical donations and lobbying, organized by person, company, and industry.
OpenConfirm that a charity is recognized by the IRS and see its filings. Fraudsters often hide behind charities and foundations.
OpenSearchable nonprofit tax returns, with officer pay, revenue, and related organizations.
OpenCheck whether someone holds a CPA license, across participating states.
OpenLook up health care providers by name. Helps confirm a claimed medical credential or practice.
OpenFind any state attorney general, whose office often publishes consumer fraud actions and settlements.
OpenPublic complaints about financial companies, with company responses. Patterns matter more than any single complaint.
OpenLawyers, doctors, accountants, real estate agents, and contractors are each licensed by a state board with a public lookup. Search for the state, the profession, and "license lookup".
Pitch decks vanish, websites get scrubbed, and profile photos turn out to belong to someone else. These tools help you see what a promoter used to say, and what they borrowed.
See earlier versions of a website. Compare old claims with new ones, find deleted team pages, and recover removed testimonials.
OpenCapture a page right now so it cannot be quietly changed. Do this before you start asking questions.
OpenLook up a domain's registration record, including when it was created. A "decades-old" firm with a domain registered last spring is worth a question.
OpenReverse image search to find where a photo appeared before. Often exposes stock photos used as "team members".
OpenA second reverse image search. Run both, because each one indexes different parts of the web.
OpenSave the page, take a screenshot showing the address bar and date, and note when you retrieved it. Archives can be incomplete, and your own record is what you can rely on.
Finding a record is the easy part. These guides cover how to read what you find, what regulators warn about, and how to describe it responsibly.
A complaint is the document that starts a case, and it is usually the best single account of how a scheme allegedly worked. Read it in this order. Every entry in the index of Ponzi schemes links to records like these.
Who is suing whom, which court, and the case number. Cases are titled "SEC v." followed by the defendants. Keep the case number, because it finds every other document in the case.
The first few paragraphs state the alleged scheme in plain terms. If you read nothing else, read this.
Defendants are accused of violating the law. Relief defendants are accused only of holding money connected to the scheme, often a spouse or a related company, without necessarily having broken the law themselves.
How the scheme allegedly worked, with dates, amounts, and quotes from the offering materials. Compare the promises with where the money went.
The laws allegedly violated. Securities fraud cases commonly cite Section 17(a) of the Securities Act, Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act with Rule 10b-5, and, for advisers, the Investment Advisers Act.
What the SEC asks the court to order: injunctions, return of ill-gotten gains (disgorgement), civil penalties, an asset freeze, or a receiver to take control of the business.
Everything in a complaint is an allegation until a court rules. Check the docket for a judgment or settlement before describing anyone as having done something.
None of these proves fraud on its own. Together, they are the pattern that appears again and again in the cases behind the show.
Any promise of high returns with little or no risk. Real investments carry risk, and higher returns carry more.
Smooth, consistent returns in good markets and bad. Real portfolios go up and down.
"Proprietary" or "too complex" is not an answer. If you cannot understand where the profit comes from, ask until you can.
The person selling, or the investment itself, cannot be found in the regulators' databases.
Limited spots, a closing window, or a bonus for deciding today.
Delays, new fees, or encouragement to "roll over" instead of withdrawing.
A pitch that moves through a church, a family network, or a shared background, and trades on trust.
No independent custodian holding the money and no outside auditor. The only proof of your balance comes from the person who gets paid.
Five checks that take about fifteen minutes and use the tools on this page. Do them before you send money.
Educational information, not financial or legal advice.
Records can mislead as easily as they inform. These four habits protect the people you write about, and you.
Two people can share a name, and a name can be a company's too. Match a second detail, such as a middle name, an address, or a birth year in a court record, before you connect a record to someone.
A complaint states allegations. A judgment states findings. A press release summarizes. Describe each for what it is, and use "alleges" until a court decides.
Records change and pages disappear. Keep the document, the address you found it at, and the date you retrieved it.
Everything here is a public record. Do not pose as someone else, guess passwords, or use leaked data. If the answer is behind a login that is not yours, it is not OSINT.
Compiled September 2026. State and agency portals change their addresses from time to time. If a link fails, let us know and we will fix it. Territories such as Puerto Rico are not yet listed.