Vendor Due Diligence
Who is on the other side of your purchase order?
One unvetted supplier can drag your entire organization into a sanctions investigation.
Total supply chain and third-party penalties in the last 3 years
Enforcement Gazette
What inadequate supplier screening costs
Three companies. Three verdicts. All rooted in the same failure.
$1.06B
Ericsson · 2022
DOJ found Ericsson paid bribes through intermediaries in Iraq, Djibouti, China, Vietnam, and Indonesia to win telecom contracts.
What they missed: No one traced who controlled the intermediary companies receiving payments.
$1.1B
Glencore · 2022
Glencore bribed officials across seven countries using a network of third-party agents — none of whom were screened for debarment.
What they missed: Supplier screening stopped at the named company. The agents behind it were never checked.
$635M
British American Tobacco · 2023
BAT was sanctioned for facilitating exports through a North Korea-linked distribution network embedded in their supply chain.
What they missed: The distributor had a clean company name. The UBO had a sanctions designation.
"They all passed a basic name check."
Case study — live screen
Sanctions screening — ten lists, two hits
OFAC SDN and DGT France both flag Novex Industrial Supplies LLC. A single-list check — or a check that skips French national designations — would have cleared this vendor for onboarding.
2 matches found — OFAC SDN (US) and DGT France (FR). Jurisdiction coverage matters.
"Two matches. Two jurisdictions. A basic vendor check would have missed the French list."
Ownership trace
Who really controls this vendor?
The company name looks clean. Three corporate layers down, the ultimate beneficial owner is a different story entirely.
Novex Industrial Supplies LLC
Subject entity
Mid-East Trading Co
Cyprus · 70% stake
Eastern Holdings BVI
British Virgin Islands · 100%
V. Petrov
Ultimate Beneficial Owner
3 corporate layers traced. UBO identified: V. Petrov — flagged on the World Bank debarment list.
"The vendor looked legitimate. Three layers down, the UBO sits on a debarment list."
Real enforcement cases
The supply chain cases that changed compliance
Ericsson
DOJ / FCPA · 2022
Ericsson pleaded guilty to FCPA violations for bribing officials in Djibouti, China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Kuwait through third-party agents in the supply chain. The company had failed to conduct adequate due diligence on intermediaries used to win telecom contracts.
Glencore International
DOJ / CFTC · 2022
Glencore admitted to a decade-long bribery scheme involving commodity trading agents across Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia. Suppliers and trading partners received corrupt payments funneled through shell companies in high-risk jurisdictions.
British American Tobacco
OFAC / DOJ · 2023
BAT's subsidiary allowed a North Korean entity to participate in tobacco supply chains via a third-party partner in Singapore. The counterparty was ultimately controlled by an OFAC-designated entity. BAT's supplier screening failed to trace beneficial ownership.
Verdict
Decision: Reject. Under four minutes.
Sanctions hits, a debarment-listed UBO, and adverse media — all surfaced before the first purchase order. Your procurement team has the evidence, not a gut feeling.
Risk Summary
Novex Industrial Supplies LLC
Sanctions
2 matches — OFAC SDN, DGT France
PEP
Clear — no PEP matches
Adverse Media
1 hit — procurement fraud allegation
Ownership
UBO V. Petrov — World Bank debarment list
From procurement request to risk clearance
Submit supplier details
Enter the vendor's entity name, country, and any available identifiers — trade names, registration numbers, or director names.
AI agent runs vendor screening
Sanctions lists, PEP registries, adverse media, and corporate registries are checked simultaneously with automatic name transliteration.
Review due diligence findings
Results include match confidence scores, source citations, and reasoning chains so your team knows exactly what was flagged and why.
Approve, escalate, or reject
The platform recommends a risk tier — your procurement compliance team makes the final call with full evidence in hand.
Schedule periodic rescreen
Set a rescreen cadence to catch new sanctions designations, adverse media, or ownership changes after initial approval.
10+
Sanctions and debarment lists checked per supplier
ScreenVeritAI coverage
50+
Languages searched for adverse media on vendors
ScreenVeritAI multi-language engine
<5min
Average time to full supplier risk profile
ScreenVeritAI benchmarks
Supplier screening FAQ
What information do I need to screen a new supplier?
How long does a full supplier screening take?
Can I screen suppliers based in non-English-speaking countries?
Does the screening check for debarment and exclusion lists?
How does this differ from a vendor self-assessment questionnaire?
Can I screen my entire existing vendor roster at once?
Is the screening report sufficient for regulatory and procurement audits?
Can I integrate supplier screening into our procurement system?
Key terms
Regulatory sources
- 1.FATF Guidance on Correspondent Banking Services
Financial Action Task Force
- 2.US Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 9.4 — Debarment, Suspension, and Ineligibility
US General Services Administration
- 3.EU Directive 2014/24/EU on Public Procurement — Exclusion Grounds (Article 57)
Official Journal of the European Union
- 4.UK Bribery Act 2010 — Failure to Prevent Bribery (Section 7)
UK Government Legislation
- 5.OFAC Guidance on Compliance Commitments — Supply Chain Sanctions Risk
US Department of the Treasury
Related workflows
Screen a New Customer
KYC onboarding screening for new clients and counterparties.
Partner Due Diligence
Deep screening for M&A, JV, and business partnerships.
Batch Portfolio Rescreening
Rescreen your entire vendor roster or customer base in hours.
API Integration
Embed screening into your procurement system via API.