Taking Account-Ability

How I Got the Idea

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Stephen Griffin never planned on getting into the crime-solving business-especially not in his 50s. Yet the founder and CEO of upstart forensic accounting firm Alley101 currently finds himself assisting multiple federal agencies in fraud-related investigations.

It all started back in 2017, when Griffin, a former CPA, made an investment in Legacy Global Sports, a Boston-based conglomerate that ran youth sports leagues in more than 10 countries.

From the start, Griffin couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. Ever the accountant, he spent the year after his investment digging into the company's financials, an investigation that would lead to Griffin's fellow board members installing him as CEO in November 2018. And that's not even the juiciest part of the story.

Griffin spent much of 2019 working to rescue Legacy. But his efforts were soon overshadowed when, in October of that year, the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security executed a search warrant at the offices of Global Premier Soccer, Legacy's soccer subsidiary, which had become the subject of a visa fraud investigation.