Our People

Rie
Hatano

Senior Director

Asia-Pacific | Singapore office

Headshot of Rie Hatano

Senior Director Rie Hatano of Nardello & Co.’s Singapore Office is the firm’s lead researcher for Japan investigations.

Rie has extensive experience and a stellar reputation for conducting intelligence-focused investigations for Japanese clients with overseas operations, as well as for multinational corporations investing in Japan. Her practice covers a broad range of investigations — including pre-transaction due diligence, internal investigations, and asset tracing, as well as sensitive investigations involving  political risk and organized crime. She commonly handles cross-border projects across the Asia Pacific region, supporting clients facing business, regulatory, or reputational challenges.

Prior to her current role, Rie worked at a consulting firm in Japan, where she specialized in open-source research and source enquiries. She is a Certified Fraud Examiner.

Representative matters

  • Led the investigation of multinational business partners of a European company. Through extensive open-source research, social media analysis, and discreet source inquiries, Rie identified undisclosed relationships among these partners. Additionally, she found links between certain partners and organized crime groups in Japan. Her findings helped the client terminate a relationship with high-risk partners.
  • On behalf of an energy company, Rie led an intelligence-gathering exercise into groups organized to oppose a project in Japan. Her objective was to understand the motivation of the involved parties, and determine whether they were being influenced by organized crime groups. Supplementing public domain information with discreet inquiries, Rie mapped a complex network of interest groups and politically connected individuals, providing the client with intelligence to support its negotiation strategies.
  • Led a pre-acquisition due diligence exercise into a Japanese retail company, its principals, and its affiliates in Hong Kong, Thailand, South Korea, and Indonesia.
  • Conducted an internal investigation of the Indian subsidiary of a Japanese manufacturer. Through analysis of supplier records and targeted research, Rie identified hidden ties between the subsidiary’s managing director and one of the suppliers.
  • Through detailed open source and dark web research, uncovered concealed assets owned by corporate executives in various jurisdictions, including Singapore and Malaysia.

Education

  • BA, Komazawa University

Certifications

  • Certified Fraud Examiner

Languages spoken

  • Japanese (Fluent)
  • English (Fluent)
  • Chinese Mandarin (Fluent)