Check that a new supplier is a real registered company before you pay

Why check before paying

Invoice and supplier fraud often relies on a business name that sounds real but is not a registered entity, or on an address that does not match the registry. A registry record will not prove a supplier will deliver, but a missing record, a lapsed registration or an address that differs from the one on the invoice is a reason to ask more questions before money moves.

This check compares what you were given with the Global LEI Index and, for US public companies, SEC EDGAR. Many small private companies hold neither an LEI nor SEC filings; if no record is found, that is reported plainly and is not by itself evidence of fraud.

What happens to a request

The lookup runs immediately against GLEIF's public LEI API and, when you give a CIK or ticker, SEC EDGAR's submissions API. The answer lists every matching LEI record with its registration status and the registry it came from. Nothing is inferred: a company with no LEI and no SEC filings returns no match, and the answer says so.

What you get

A JSON answer with each matching LEI record (LEI, legal name, jurisdiction, legal and headquarters addresses, registration status and next renewal date, the registration authority and its local identifier) and, where requested, the EDGAR registration (CIK, name, SIC code, state of incorporation, addresses, the ten most recent filings).

Scope and limits

Worldwide for LEI records (any jurisdiction that issues LEIs); United States for SEC EDGAR registrations.

• Only companies that hold an LEI or file with the SEC can be found; many small private companies hold neither.
• Beneficial ownership, credit, litigation and sanctions status are not returned (sanctions screening is a separate operation).
• Name matching is the registry's own; ambiguous names return several candidates for you to choose from.

What you can specify

• legal name or part of it
• LEI (20 characters)
• SEC CIK or stock ticker
• country or jurisdiction to narrow a name search

Operations

GET /entity-verification/op/lookup

LEI records matching a name or an LEI, and the SEC EDGAR registration for a CIK or ticker, each with its registry source and retrieval time.

Price: this operation is paid per call with x402; payment is not enabled on this deployment, so calls answer that it is unavailable.

Example answer:

{
  "query": {
    "name": "Apple Inc.",
    "ticker": "AAPL"
  },
  "lei_records": [
    {
      "lei": "HWUPKR0MPOU8FGXBT394",
      "legal_name": "Apple Inc.",
      "jurisdiction": "US-CA",
      "entity_status": "ACTIVE",
      "registration_status": "ISSUED",
      "next_renewal": "2027-03-08",
      "legal_address": "C/O C T Corporation System, 330 N. Brand Blvd, Suite 700, Glendale, US-CA, 91203, US",
      "headquarters_address": "One Apple Park Way, Cupertino, US-CA, 95014, US",
      "registration_authority": "RA000598",
      "registration_authority_entity_id": "806592"
    }
  ],
  "edgar": {
    "cik": "0000320193",
    "name": "Apple Inc.",
    "sic": "3571",
    "sic_description": "Electronic Computers",
    "state_of_incorporation": "CA",
    "business_address": "ONE APPLE PARK WAY, CUPERTINO, CA, 95014",
    "recent_filings": [
      {
        "form": "10-K",
        "filed": "2026-11-03",
        "accession": "0000320193-26-000026"
      }
    ]
  },
  "sources": [
    {
      "registry": "GLEIF",
      "url": "https://api.gleif.org/api/v1/lei-records/HWUPKR0MPOU8FGXBT394",
      "retrieved_at": "2026-11-03T19:05:00Z"
    },
    {
      "registry": "SEC EDGAR",
      "url": "https://data.sec.gov/submissions/CIK0000320193.json",
      "retrieved_at": "2026-11-03T19:05:00Z"
    }
  ],
  "not_found": []
}

Sources: GLEIF LEI API (CC0 1.0); SEC EDGAR submissions API (US government work, public). Limits: at most 10 LEI records per answer; EDGAR only for a CIK or a ticker in SEC's company list.

Next step

Call GET /entity-verification/op/lookup with name, lei, cik or ticker. It is paid per call over x402; the price and network are in the 402 answer. Or describe a verification you need that this does not cover.

Or send JSON to POST /entity-verification/requests (schema: /entity-verification/schema.json). Example:

{
  "action": "verify",
  "need": "Confirm that the supplier Siemens Energy AG is a registered company and get its registered address before we pay a deposit.",
  "specifications": {
    "legal_name": "Siemens Energy AG",
    "jurisdiction": "DE",
    "checks_needed": [
      "registered address",
      "registration status"
    ]
  }
}

Sources for statements on this page

• GLEIF publishes LEI reference data under the CC0 licence through a public API. www.gleif.org
• SEC EDGAR submissions data is public and requires a declared User-Agent. www.sec.gov