Complete Guide to Entity Intelligence
Uncover corporate structures, beneficial ownership, and hidden relationships with AI-powered entity research.
1. Introduction
Entity Intelligence is an AI-powered corporate research tool that aggregates and analyzes information about companies, their officers, subsidiaries, and ownership structures. In today's complex business environment, understanding who you're dealing with—and who stands behind them—is essential for due diligence, litigation strategy, and risk assessment.
Our system pulls data from SEC filings, state corporate registries, UCC filings, litigation databases, and public records to build comprehensive entity profiles. The AI identifies corporate relationships, flags potential red flags, and surfaces connections that manual research would take days to uncover.
2. The Problem It Solves
Corporate structures are deliberately complex. Shell companies, holding entities, and multi-layered ownership obscure true beneficial ownership. Attorneys conducting due diligence must piece together information from dozens of sources—state SOS filings, SEC EDGAR, UCC records, court databases—often finding outdated or conflicting information.
The consequences of incomplete entity research are severe: fraudulent transfer exposure, undisclosed liens, undiscoverable assets, and relationships to sanctioned parties. Traditional research requires hours of manual searching across disconnected databases, with no guarantee of comprehensive coverage. Sophisticated parties exploit this complexity to hide assets and avoid liability.
3. How It Works
Enter any company name, individual, or identifying information (EIN, state filing number, registered agent address). Our AI queries multiple data sources simultaneously, cross-references results, and builds a comprehensive entity profile showing corporate structure, officers/directors, registered agents, and filing history.
The system uses entity resolution algorithms to connect related entities even when names vary or are deliberately obscured. It identifies: (1) Parent-subsidiary relationships, (2) Common officer/director networks, (3) Shared registered agent clusters, (4) Historical name changes and mergers, (5) Litigation and lien exposure. Results are visualized in interactive organizational charts.
4. Getting Started
Launch Entity Intelligence from the Practice Hub and enter your search subject. You can search by exact company name, partial name with wildcards, officer/director name, or identifying numbers. Select the scope: single entity profile, related entity network, or comprehensive due diligence package.
For individual searches, the system locates all entities where the person serves as officer, director, registered agent, or disclosed owner. For company searches, it maps the full corporate family including parents, subsidiaries, and affiliates. Enable "Deep Search" for M&A due diligence to include historical filings and dissolved entities.
5. Best Practices
Start with broad searches, then narrow. A search for "ABC Holdings" will surface all variations (ABC Holdings LLC, ABC Holdings Inc., ABC Holdings of Delaware). Use the officer network feature to find related entities that share common management—these often reveal the true corporate family structure.
Pay special attention to registered agent clusters. When multiple seemingly unrelated companies share the same registered agent address, they're often connected. Flag entities with frequent name changes or state-to-state migrations—these can indicate asset protection planning or judgment avoidance. Always verify current status; dissolved entities may have successor liability implications.
6. Use Cases by Practice Area
M&A/Corporate: Pre-transaction due diligence to identify subsidiaries, verify corporate authority, check for undisclosed liens, and confirm representations in purchase agreements. The tool surfaces entities the seller may have "forgotten" to disclose.
Litigation: Identify all entities related to a judgment debtor for collection. Find alter ego candidates for veil-piercing claims. Discover assets held in affiliated entities. Creditors' Rights: Trace asset movements between related entities for fraudulent transfer analysis. Identify UCC filings and priority disputes. Map corporate structures prior to bankruptcy filing.
7. Jurisdiction-Specific Guidance
Entity Intelligence covers all 50 state corporate registries with real-time data access. Delaware, Nevada, and Wyoming—popular formation jurisdictions—receive enhanced coverage including historical filing analysis. The system flags jurisdiction-shopping patterns (e.g., Delaware formation with Nevada redomiciliation).
For international matters, the tool integrates with UK Companies House, Canadian corporate registries, and Cayman/BVI databases where publicly available. Beneficial ownership requirements vary by jurisdiction; the system indicates which jurisdictions require public disclosure versus those with privacy protections. BOI reporting requirements under FinCEN are flagged for covered entities.
8. ROI & Efficiency Metrics
Comprehensive entity research that previously took 4-6 hours of manual searching completes in under 10 minutes. M&A teams report catching undisclosed subsidiaries and liens in approximately 35% of transactions—issues that would have become post-closing disputes. The flat-fee model eliminates per-search charges that discourage thorough investigation.
For collection practice, improved asset discovery translates directly to higher recovery rates. Litigators using Entity Intelligence report stronger alter ego arguments and more successful fraudulent transfer claims. The visual corporate charts are client-ready exhibits that clearly demonstrate complex ownership structures to judges and juries.
9. Integration & Comparison
Entity Intelligence integrates with other OpusLaw tools to enhance your workflow. Link entity profiles to litigation searches via Legal Search to find all cases involving the target and its affiliates. Export corporate charts to Brief Builder for use in court filings. Feed entity data into Contract Analyzer for counterparty verification.
Compared to services like D&B, LexisNexis Corporate Affiliations, or manual state registry searches, OpusLaw provides superior entity resolution—connecting related companies even when deliberate obfuscation exists. The AI-powered relationship mapping exceeds what static database queries can achieve, and unlimited searches encourage comprehensive investigation.
10. FAQ
How current is the corporate registry data? State SOS data syncs daily for most jurisdictions, with Delaware and Nevada updating in near real-time. SEC EDGAR filings are available within hours of publication. UCC filings update on a rolling 24-48 hour cycle.
Can I search by registered agent address? Yes—this is a powerful technique for uncovering related entities. Enter any address to find all companies registered there. Does the tool cover non-US entities? We provide direct coverage for UK, Canadian, and select offshore jurisdictions. For other countries, the system searches US filings (SEC, state registries) for foreign entity registrations and references.