The short answer
To check a US company, MarketPrior resolves it against SEC EDGAR and US state business-entity registries, then screens it against the 4 global sanctions lists (OFAC SDN list, EU Consolidated Financial Sanctions, UN Security Council Consolidated List, UK Sanctions List), a PEP screen, global news and web signals. In total 56 catalogued sources apply to US companies: 29 specific to United States and 27 global. Every finding links to the record it came from, and gaps are shown rather than filled in.
At a glance
- US sources
- 29
- Sources that apply in total
- 56 (incl. global)
- Company register
- SEC EDGAR and US state business-entity registries
- Officers & directors
- From a national source
- Financial figures
- From a national source
- Sales triggers
- 6 (3 US-specific)
How do you check a company in United States?
The US has no single national company register: companies incorporate in a state, and each state keeps its own records. Companies that file with the SEC are identified by a Central Index Key (CIK) on EDGAR, and federal contractors by a Unique Entity ID (UEI).
In MarketPrior, a US company is first resolved to the right legal entity — using its national identifier and, where it has one, its LEI — so that every later lookup is about the same company. The report then combines what the US sources publish with global sanctions, PEP, news and web signals, and every finding is cited to its record.
Which US sources does MarketPrior read?
| Source | Provides | Updates | Licence |
|---|---|---|---|
| CourtListener / RECAP (US federal + state dockets) | enforcement & court actions | continuous | Free Law Project — public court records, attribution requested |
| SEC Litigation Releases | enforcement & court actions | daily | US Government work — public domain |
| SEC Administrative Proceedings | enforcement & court actions | daily | US Government work — public domain |
| SEC newsroom press releases | enforcement & court actions | daily | US Government work — public domain |
| US DOJ press releases API | enforcement & court actions | daily | US Government work — public domain |
| US FTC press releases (RSS) | enforcement & court actions | daily | US Government work — public domain |
| US FTC cases and proceedings | enforcement & court actions | weekly | US Government work — public domain |
| US CFTC press releases | enforcement & court actions | daily | US Government work — public domain |
| US CFPB enforcement actions | enforcement & court actions | weekly | US Government work — public domain |
| Arizona AG consumer settlements | enforcement & court actions | monthly | US state public record |
| California Civil Rights Department actions | enforcement & court actions | weekly | US state public record |
| NHTSA defect investigations + recalls | enforcement & court actions | daily | US Government work — public domain |
| OSHA inspections (DOL enforcement API v4) | enforcement & court actions | daily | US Government work — public domain |
| SAM.gov exclusions (US federal debarment) | sanctions / warning-list hits | daily | US Government work — public domain |
| SEC EDGAR full-text search + filings | financial figures, company profile | real-time | US Government work — public domain |
| SEC XBRL company facts | financial figures | per filing | US Government work — public domain |
| SEC Schedule 13D/13G (>5% holders) | ownership links, beneficial owners | per filing | US Government work — public domain |
| SEC Form 3/4/5 insiders | officers & directors, business contacts | per filing | US Government work — public domain |
| SEC Form D (private offerings) | funding rounds, investor links, officers & directors | daily | US Government work — public domain |
| Earnings call transcripts (Alpha Vantage, 8-K fallback) | market data | quarterly | Alpha Vantage ToS (free tier) |
| US state business-entity registries (Socrata open data) | company profile | daily/weekly | CO/CT public domain; NY OPEN-NY terms (verify) |
| USPTO Open Data Portal (patents; ex-PatentsView) | patents | weekly | US Government work — public domain |
| USPTO ODP patents by applicant (company-scoped) | patents | weekly | US Government work — public domain |
| USASpending.gov federal awards | traction signals, company profile | daily | US Government work — public domain |
| SAM.gov Entity API (UEI → website) | company websites | daily | US Government work — public domain |
| SEC submissions JSON (website, officers) | company websites, business contacts | per filing | US Government work — public domain |
| USASpending recipient profiles (UEI/DUNS identity) | company websites | daily | US Government work — public domain |
| SEC EDGAR daily index (Form D trigger) | trigger events | daily | US Government work — public domain |
| USASpending new awards (trigger) | trigger events | daily | US Government work — public domain |
What else applies to every US company?
Some of the most important checks are not national. These global sources are applied to every US company:
- Sanctions: OFAC SDN list, EU Consolidated Financial Sanctions, UN Security Council Consolidated List, UK Sanctions List — with every hit tiered confirmed, probable or possible.
- Politically exposed persons: a PEP screen built on Wikidata.
- Identity and ownership: GLEIF LEI records and GLEIF Level 2 parent and subsidiary links.
- Adverse media: GDELT global news, classified for relevance, sentiment and materiality.
- Growth signals: public job boards, GitHub, web traffic rank, web-archive history, tech stack and app listings.
Which sales triggers cover US companies?
US companies produce country-specific triggers from the register as well as the triggers that work in any country:
- SEC Form D filings and amendments
- Federal contract awards
- Executive changes (Form D related persons)
- Hiring spikes
- Tech adoption
- Website launches
What is not covered for United States?
Public records are uneven between countries. Where a source is missing or thin, a MarketPrior report says so instead of filling the gap with a guess.
- Delaware Division of Corporations is not wired: Entity search is per-query paid for status/detail; no free API.
- PACER is not wired: Per-page fees; CourtListener/RECAP is used instead.
- FINRA BrokerCheck is not wired: FINRA website Terms of Use restrict BrokerCheck data to personal, non-commercial use and forbid automated querying/redistribution.