Rupert Evill: Why Fraud Eats 5% of Revenue While Compliance Sleeps
Rupert Evill reveals why private equity anti-bribery checklists fail while internal corporate fraud quietly drains 1% to 5% of revenue.
Private Equity Ethics: Beyond ESG Box-Ticking
With Ross Butler is the founder, policy adviser, consultant · Sunday, September 13, 2026
Ross Butler sits down with Ethics Insight founder Rupert Evill to explore why standard ESG compliance and due diligence checklists fail private equity investors. Evill outlines how integrity risk, corporate culture, forward-looking due diligence, and operational anti-fraud mechanisms offer superior risk protection compared to bureaucratic box-ticking.
Key takeaways
- The UK Bribery Act averages roughly 0.7 prosecutions per year, yet corporate risk budgets remain fixated on bribery rather than widespread internal theft. Read more →
- Portfolio companies face conflicting LP requirements: one circular economy firm reported spending half its management bandwidth filling out disparate ESG spreadsheets and online portals for four separate investors rather than addressing operational risks. Read more →
- Standard private equity due diligence focuses backward on historical liabilities, ignoring the operational friction created by new capital. Read more →
- Fraud inside the UK renewable energy sector is projected to reach £30 billion by the end of this decade, exposing severe control failures in impact-labeled assets. Read more →
- Standard ESG checklists fail in private equity due diligence because they measure policy existence rather than actual operational behavior. Read more →
- Whistleblower tips have served as the primary fraud detection mechanism across corporate markets for 20 years, according to data from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE). Read more →
6 articles from this episode
Rupert Evill on Why ESG Compliance Became an AI Racket
Ethics Insight founder Rupert Evill explains how AI-generated ESG policies and compliance checklists disguise operational risk in private equity deals.
Why Retrospective Due Diligence Fails Growth Deals
Rupert Evill explains why injecting capital creates new integrity risks that retrospective due diligence checklists consistently miss.
Why Impact Investing Blind Spots Breed Fraud
Rupert Evill explains why defense and energy veterans uncover fraud in emerging markets faster than ESG checklists.
Rupert Evill: Why ESG Checklists Fail Private Equity
Ethics Insight founder Rupert Evill explains why generic ESG checklists fail in diligence and how to audit context, controls, and culture.
Why Whistleblower Channels Beat Compliance Checklists in PE
Rupert Evill explains how actionable tips cut corporate fraud losses by half and shorten scheme durations from 18 months to under a year.