ABOUT THE FIRM

On Point employs a network of investigators, certified fraud examiners and forensic accountants who are located across the U.S. and overseas.

WHY CHOOSE ON POINT?

We are relentless in our pursuit of facts through fair, precise and thorough information gathering. We follow a code of conduct that dictates that we represent ourselves honestly and abide by the law. We listen to the needs of our clients, work to achieve your goals efficiently and provide you with progress reports on our work on a regular basis.

Team Members

Chris Szechenyi

President

Boston, MA

Chris Szechenyi

President

Boston, MA

Christopher Szechenyi has nineteen years of experience as a private investigator. As the president and founder of On Point, Chris has conducted a wide range of investigations into corporate securities fraud, qui tam and antitrust cases for law firms from coast to coast. His firm and he have investigated dozens of cases that have settled for more than $1 billion.

Before he became a licensed private investigator, he worked as the Director of Investigations of a boutique law firm in Boston where he conducted financial, accounting and fraud investigations. He is a former newspaper reporter, science writer and producer for 60 Minutes based in Paris, France, working primarily for Mike Wallace, on stories all over the world.

He taught journalism for ten years at Emerson College in Boston. Chris’ awards include two regional Emmys and a national award from Investigative Reporters and Editors. He earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism at Lehigh University and graduated cum laude from Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, CT.

Before he launched his career as a journalist and private investigator, Szechenyi originally studied the sciences with the goal of becoming an oceanographer. He worked as an intern in high school aboard a Woods Hole Oceanographic research ship in the Atlantic Ocean, and then he crossed the Indian Ocean for two months with Woods Hole researchers aboard another vessel, which was later used to discover the Titanic on the sea floor.

Szechenyi speaks French and has worked as an investigative reporter and producer in many countries around the world, including Argentina, Britain, Cambodia, France, Japan, Italy, the Philippines, South Africa and the former Yugoslavia.

Among hundreds of interviews that he has conducted during his career, three stand out: one with Correspondent Ed Bradly of Nelson Mandela, on the eve of his election as South Africa’s first black president; another with Abdullah bin Laden, one of Osama’s brothers, a week after 9/11; and another with John Connolly, after the corrupt FBI agent in Boston was accused of being an accomplice of Whitey Bulger, the Irish mobster convicted of multiple murders.

Allison Connolly

Director of Research

Boston, MA

Allison Connolly

Director of Research

Boston, MA

Allison Connolly joined On Point Investigations in 2013 as the firm's Director of Data and Research Management, assisting the firm's investigators with a wide variety of support. She helps identify potential witnesses for On Point’s class action cases, including securities fraud and antitrust cases. She works directly with On Point's President and Founder to maintain cases and to ensure all investigations move forward with successful results.

Traci Avery Pardoe

Director of Human Resources

Boston, MA

Traci Avery Pardoe

Director of Human Resources

Boston, MA

Traci Avery Pardoe joined On Point Investigations in February of 2019 as the firm’s Director of Human Resources, assisting the firm with the screening, on-boarding, and training process for new hires. She maintains On Point’s website and updates it as needed. She also assists the firm with a wide variety of services to support the work of the entire investigative team. She works closely with On Point's President and Founder to focus the firm in the right direction.

Elizabeth McCann

Director of Finance

Boston, MA

Elizabeth McCann

Director of Finance

Boston, MA

With a BA in Accounting and decades of experience with various technologies, Elizabeth joined On Point as its Finance Director in 2017. She handles all of On Point’s finances, accounting and client invoices. She has assisted clients both small and large, with tiny budgets and not-for-profits with budgets up to $45 million. She works closely with On Point’s president and each of the firm’s investigators to make sure all of its finances are accurate.

Mary Fesq

Senior Researcher

Alexandria, VA

Mary Fesq

Senior Researcher

Alexandria, VA

Mary Fesq joined On Point in 2013 as a senior member of its due diligence team. She has more than 30 years of experience in the investigative industry, specializing in sophisticated online database and publicly available resources on the national and international level. Among the cases she has investigated:

  • an environmental lawsuit in West Virginia on behalf of local activists, which resulted in a multinational chemical company agreeing to stop the practices in question on the first day of trial;
  • researched the international trail of certain antiquities from initial discovery through international drug smuggling routes to final sale, which resulted in the individual collector turning over the artifacts to the origin country;
  • investigated targets in a nationwide investigation of illegal cigarette sales from Native American tribal lands on behalf of a nationwide transportation company being sued by a state attorney general for transporting untaxed cigarettes;
  • conducted background due diligence of potential investors of professional sports teams to determine suitability for ownership;
  • investigated professional and personal backgrounds of proposed directors in several well publicized proxy battles and hostile takeovers;
  • and, conducted political opposition research for presidential and federal congressional campaigns, as well as state level races.

Mary previously worked for The Investigative Group International and The James Mintz Group. She attended Pomona College.

Stephanie Stanley

Senior Investigator

Los Angeles, CA

Stephanie Stanley

Senior Investigator

Los Angeles, CA

Based in Los Angeles, Stephanie Stanley has been working with On Point as a senior investigator since 2013 on complex securities fraud, whistleblower and antitrust cases. She produced witnesses for cases against Tesla, Facebook, Etsy, Barclays, Chipotle, Fiat Chrysler, Lumber Liquidators, DeVry, Insys, Rite Aid, and Kay Jewelers, among others. 

Prior to her work as a private investigator, Stephanie spent a decade as an award-winning investigative newspaper reporter. Stephanie holds a M.S. in journalism from Columbia University in New York. She is a licensed private investigator in California.

Lael Henterly

Senior Investigator

Seattle, WA

Lael Henterly

Senior Investigator

Seattle, WA

Based in Seattle, Lael Henterly joined On Point in 2015 as a senior investigator and has a special knack for getting people who are reluctant to share their stories and tell all for qui tam, securities fraud and antitrust cases. Lael has worked on cases involving mining, crypto-currencies, the pharmaceutical and banking industries. She probed opioid manufacturers and distributors and a securities fraud case involving the infamous pharma-bro Martin Shkreli.

Lael is a licensed private investigator in Washington state and has conducted interviews with hundreds of witnesses. Before she became an investigator, Lael worked as a journalist for various media outlets covering workers’ rights, criminal justice, immigration, and many other key issues. Her articles won both regional and national awards from the Society of Professional Journalists.

Lael earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Washington. She is an active member of the Washington Association of Legal Investigators and the Pacific Northwest Association of Investigators, where she has served as treasurer and public relations committee chair.

John Allman

Senior Investigator

Tampa Bay, FL

John Allman

Senior Investigator

Tampa Bay, FL

Based in Tampa, John W. Allman is a skilled interviewer and a meticulous researcher. He is adept at getting people to talk about sensitive issues that they might not otherwise discuss, and he has extensive experience analyzing complex financial documents and identifying hidden corporate and individual assets.

John joined On Point’s team in 2015 as a senior investigator. He investigated a multinational mining company that he proved was bribing public officials in Indonesia for land rights, using slush funds illicitly. He was part of On Point’s opioid team for a national class action against the drug producers and distributors.

Prior to joining On Point and working an independent investigator since 2009, John worked as an investigative journalist of more than 20 years. He is a licensed private investigator in Florida, who is skilled in producing in depth interviews with witnesses for federal false claims securities fraud cases and antitrust investigations.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Mass Communications from Emory & Henry College in Virginia.

Jeff Weintraub

Senior Investigator

New York, NY

Jeff Weintraub

Senior Investigator

New York, NY

Based in Westchester County north of New York City, Jeff Weintraub has served as a litigator and fraud investigator for over 30 years at firms including Thelan, Reid & Priest, Hunton & Williams and Milberg Weiss, and has performed investigations for OnPoint since 2018. Jeff’s primary emphasis has been in the area of complex securities fraud and accounting cases involving the pharmaceutical, tech and banking industries, whistleblower cases involving government contract and Medicare fraud, as well as in complex mass tort and product liability matters. Jeff holds a B.A. from Binghamton University, an M.F.A. from the University of Massachusetts and a J.D. from New York Law School.

Steve Bursey

Senior Investigator

Portland, Oregon

Steve Bursey

Senior Investigator

Portland, Oregon

Based near Portland, Steve Bursey joined On Point in 2021, after a distinguished career as an FBI agent in which he worked undercover on the ABSCAM political corruption case and on Operation Daisy, a fuel scam involving Russian and Italian organized crime as well as the Donnie Brasco mob infiltration operation.

He created the 17-member investigative team at Milberg Weiss and headed up investigations of Enron, Worldcom and Bernie Madoff.

He is a graduate of Tufts University and has a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering. He has investigated hundreds of whistleblower cases, antitrust and securities fraudcases, including those involving Tyco, Xerox and Lucent.

Celeste Katz Marston

Investigator

Boston, MA

Celeste Katz Marston

Investigator

Boston, MA

Based in Boston, Celeste Katz Marston joined On Point in 2020 to assist with the firm’s securities fraud investigations. She is part of the firm’s team investigating fraud by a major online reseller of luxury goods.

Celeste came to On Point with more than 20 years of experience as a reporter for metro newspapers, national magazines, and radio. She has been on staff at the New York Daily News, Newsweek, WBAI New York, Conde Nast, and The Providence Journal, among others. She also has served as a freelance writer, producer, and host for outlets including Hearst Magazines, SiriusXM, and The Boston Globe.

Celeste’s work has exposed government secrecy, questionable use of taxpayer and corporate dollars, and nepotism, and has led to public policy changes and calls for federal and local investigations. Celeste has reported from coast to coast on elections for president, the House and Senate, and other high offices. She has also covered crime, municipal finance and contracting and public education.

She holds a degree in International Relations from Brown University.

Andrew Becker

Investigator

Washington, DC

Andrew Becker

Investigator

Washington, DC

SALT LAKE CITY Andrew Becker joined On Point Investigations in 2021. Among other assignments, he has investigated a major pharmaceutical chain for violatons related to its opioid prescription practices. Andrew comes to On Point with more than 20 years' experience as an award-winning print and radio investigative journalist. He spent more than a decade covering border, homeland and national security issues, most recently for The Center for Investigative Reporting + Reveal in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has focused on waste, fraud and abuse, with stories ranging from corruption and the expanded use of drones along the U.S.-Mexico border to police militarization and the intersection of politics and policy related to immigration, terrorism and drug trafficking. His reporting has appeared in news outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, National Public Radio and PBS/FRONTLINE, been cited in U.S. Supreme Court and District Court briefs and highlighted by John Oliver on “Last Week Tonight.” He has a master’s degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.

Jeff McDonald

Investigator

Kansas City, MO

Jeff McDonald

Investigator

Kansas City, MO

Jeff J. McDonald is a licensed private investigator located in Kansas City who started working with On Point Investigations in 2017. He is adept at doing surveillance on the ground and in the air, using multiple drones.

For On Point Investigations, McDonald conducted surveillance of large agricultural companies to investigate whether they were meeting USDA requirements to label their products - eggs, chicken and beef – as free range and charge consumers for it.

He is a graduate of the University of Kansas with a degree in Personnel Administration (Psychology, Sociology, Business) He is a charter member of the Kansas Association of Licensed Investigators and attends biannual investigation conferences.

Megan Wallace

Investigator

Mexico City

Megan Wallace

Investigator

Mexico City

Based in Mexico City, Megan Wallace has worked as an investigator and strategic partner for On Point since 2017. Among others, Megan has worked on a case against a Columbian mining company allegedly involved in a bribery scheme related to its business dealings. Wallace began her career in Kroll Associates’ New York office, where she worked as director of field research and she also was an associate partner at GPW Ltd.

Megan is fluent in Spanish and English, regularly conducting interview-based cases in both languages. Wallace attended the honors college at the University of Michigan, where she majored in art history. She has additionally studied law, placing first in her first-year class and qualifying to practice in New York.

Ryan Jawetz

Investigator

Los Angeles

Ryan Jawetz

Investigator

Los Angeles

Based in Los Angeles, Ryan Jawetz is a licensed private investigator who joined On Point in 2021, bringing with him nearly a decade of experience. He is currently working on a nationwide consumer fraud case involving the auto industry.

He previously worked for the Public Defender Service in Washington, DC and numerous public interest law offices in the New Orleans area. His investigations career has included discovering evidence of actual innocence in high-profile death row cases, uncovering juror misconduct during the assault trial of a public official, and gathering mitigation support for clients sentenced to life in prison as juveniles.

Ryan graduated from Pomona College with a degree in philosophy and is a member of the National Defender Investigator Association and the California Defense Investigators Association.

Nicki Weisensee Egan

Investigator

Philadelphia, PA

Nicki Weisensee Egan

Investigator

Philadelphia, PA

Based outside Philadelphia, Nicki Egan joined On Point Investigations in 2020. Most recently, Nicki investigated a class-action lawsuit against a major international bank alleging the bank defrauded shareholders by making false and misleading statements before it agreed to pay a $150 million fine for compliance failures linked to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. She has a unique ability to get people to open up and a knack for bringing in even the most difficult interviews.

Nicki comes to On Point with more than 30 years' experience as an award-winning newspaper and magazine investigative journalist. During her career, she has exposed wrongdoing by the Pennsylvania State Police, freed innocent men from prison, and revealed loopholes in laws that resulted in those laws being changed. Most recently, she wrote CHASING COSBY, a book (and later a podcast) about the Bill Cosby drugging and sexual assault scandal, which is based on her reporting on the case dating back to 2005, when she was the first journalist in the world to dig into the allegations against him. Her second book, VICTIM F, which she co-authored with the subjects, comes out in June 2021.

She has a master’s degree in criminal justice from Temple University in Philadelphia and a journalism and political science degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Susan Young

Investigator

San Franciso

Susan Young

Investigator

San Franciso

Based outside of San Francisco, Susan Young joined On Point Investigations in 2021 as an investigator. She brings years of experience investigating the entertainment industry, environmental issues and a wide variety of industries. She began her career in newspapers, covering local government resulting in pieces revealing fraud and misuse of funds.

Susan took part in People magazine’s coverage of a deadly maritime disaster when fire consumed a dive boat, killing 34 people onboard including children. Susan spoke to dozens of the victims relatives and key investigators leading to the indictment of the captain for negligent manslaughter.

She has worked as a staff writer for newspapers including the San Diego Tribune and Oakland Tribune, was contributing editor for the business publication Success magazine and written for the Washington Post, Variety and People magazine as part of their breaking news and investigative team.

Susan earned her Bachelor of Science degree in political science and criminal justice administration at San Diego State University.

Alicia Mundy

Researcher

Washington, DC

Alicia Mundy

Researcher

Washington, DC

Since joining On Point in 2018, Alicia Mundy has worked on several security, healthcare- pharmaceutical and qui tam cases, including those involving a shareholder suit against a major tobacco company over its clinical drug trials; drug company kickbacks to patient payment assistance groups; and deceptive opioid marketing and prescription excesses.

During Alicia’s tenure with The Wall Street Journal, she broke stories on pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers involving their efforts to hide safety risks and critical data from federal regulators and investors.

Based in the Washington, D.C. area, Alicia is also the author of a book on the fen-phen diet drug scandal that revealed new information on the drug maker's prior knowledge of safety risks in its medication. Her stories and her book figured in Congressional investigations. 

Alicia Mundy has a B.S. from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.  She also earned an M.A. in International Relations through the London-based program of the University of Southern California.

David Holthaus

Researcher

Cincinnati, OH

David Holthaus

Researcher

Cincinnati, OH

David Holthaus joined the On Point team in 2019 as an investigator/researcher and has worked on a case involving a major pharmaceutical company suspected of breaking federal laws against kickbacks in the health care industry.

David is a journalist with more than 20 years of experience covering business and public affairs. Based in Cincinnati, he has uncovered corporate abuse of tax incentives, directed an investigation of a major bank fraud scandal and directed the coverage of Delta Air Lines, Fifth Third Bancorp, Macy's, Kroger and American Financial Group.

He holds a bachelor of arts degree in English from Kenyon College and a master of arts degree in journalism from Indiana University.

Tony Hopfinger

Researcher

Chicago, IL

Tony Hopfinger

Researcher

Chicago, IL

Based in Chicago, Tony Hopfinger joined On Point in 2017 as a researcher. Many of his cases have focused corporate malfeasance, from financial fraud to overt violations of government regulations.

In one class-action suit, he exposed an alleged powerplay in the executive management of a biotech startup that resulted in significant shareholder losses. In another case, he found milk produced by a corporate dairy wasn’t organic as the company claimed.

He holds a bachelor of arts in journalism from Marquette University.

Elizabeth Mulvey

Data Scientist

New York, NY

Elizabeth Mulvey

Data Scientist

New York, NY

Lizzie Mulvey is a data scientist with experience supporting engagements in journalism, healthcare, and financial services using a mixed methodology of statistical analysis and strategic consulting. Some of her most significant contributions include: exposing election disinformation for USA Today, helping ProPublica's build a database of doctors with high complication rates, and investigating tax evasion schemes for a federal agency. Ms. Mulvey is advanced in R, SQL, Python and SAS. She holds a dual master's degree in Data Science and Journalism from Columbia University and a bachelor's degree from Princeton University.

Alex Ruppenthal

Researcher

Chicago, IL

Alex Ruppenthal

Researcher

Chicago, IL

Based in Chicago, Alex Ruppenthal joined On Point in 2019 as a researcher and has worked on multiple securities fraud cases, including one against a tax preparation company accused of steering low-income consumers away from its free, federally-mandated filing service.

He has worked as a journalist covering local, state and federal levels of government for WTTW/PBS Chicago and GateHouse Media New England, and his work has also been published by Chicago magazine, ProPublica Illinois, WBEZ and other outlets. He won a first-place investigative journalism award from the New England Newspaper and Press Association for uncovering the lengthy history of misconduct by a Boston-area police detective. His journalism work also exposed brain-damaging pollutants threatening the health of Chicago residents and a gymnastics coach who was later charged with sexually abusing teenage gymnasts.
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