There are two different issues I see here: (1) If you hire someone to investigate someone's background then you are not breaking any laws. The person you hire may break laws (social engineeering to get more info then they should be allowed to get) but that's not your problem (unless you specifically told them to break laws). If you investigate someone yourself then as long as you stick to public records (e.g. dont commit fraud to pull info) then you have not broken any laws. It doesnt matter the reason, you can do a background check on your neighbor if you feel like it - you don't have to justify it. (2) Trading on the information you get. Unless you somehow get your hands on insider information (which shouldnt be the case if the info you got is public) then it can't be illegal to trade on any information you retrieved.