A Private Forensic Accountant Used Accurint for Law Enforcement to Find Assets in a Civil Case

A 2021 expert report filed in federal court in the Southern District of Florida shows a private sector forensic accountant using LexisNexis Accurint for Law Enforcement as a primary research database — in a civil asset recovery proceeding with no law enforcement involvement.

The expert, Nelson Luis of Eisner Advisory Group LLC (EisnerAmper), was retained by Casa Express Corp, a private judgment creditor pursuing Venezuelan assets in Florida. His report lists Accurint for Law Enforcement first among the databases used to identify real estate holdings tied to OFAC-designated entities. Luis’s credentials are MBA, CFE, CFI, and CFAA — forensic accounting and fraud examination certifications. No law enforcement background is listed anywhere in his 25-page curriculum vitae.

The product name — Accurint for Law Enforcement — implies a restricted user base of sworn officers or government agencies. The report suggests otherwise. It does not reference any special access arrangement, government affiliation, or law enforcement partnership. The database appears to have been used as a standard commercial research tool for civil litigation.

Local police departments that contribute records to LexisNexis’s Public Safety Data Exchange do so under the understanding that the data supports law enforcement purposes. This filing raises the question of what access controls actually govern who can query that data once it enters the Accurint ecosystem.