Asset Search & Hidden Assets | Lawyer & Attorney Fred Abrams | Bankruptcy Fraud, Asset Search | Divorce & Child Support

Hiding Assets Through Gatekeepers With Accounts Across The Globe

By Fred Abrams on May 28th, 2012 Posted in Asset Forfeiture, Asset Search/Fraud Investigation, Money Laundering

A statement from The Wolfsberg Group of global banks recognizes that money laundering risks consist of financial “[a]ccounts for ‘gatekeepers’ such as accountants, lawyers, or other professionals for their clients where the identity of the underlying client is not disclosed to the financial institution.”

It is therefore no surprise that assets hidden through laundering or otherwise, can end up in a gatekeeper’s account across the globe. For example, a 2007 forfeiture complaint filed in United States, v. Proceeds of Crime Transferred to Certain Domestic Financial Accounts, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Index # 07-CV-21791, implicated gatekeeper / accountant Mr. Pierfrancesco Munari in an alleged conspiracy to launder hundreds of millions of dollars.

Although the hundreds of millions of dollars had reportedly originated from a judicial bribery scheme in Italy, these monies were allegedly washed by way of business entities and / or financial accounts in the United States; the British Virgin Islands; the Cayman Islands; Guernsey; Jersey; Switzerland; Luxembourg; Liechtenstein; Singapore; the Cook Islands and Costa Rica.

A November 16, 2007 settlement agreement indicated that Mr. Munari consented to the forfeiture of four of these financial accounts which were respectively maintained at Merrill Lynch and Citibank. Blog posts which additionally mention gatekeepers are:

Asset Search News Roundup: May 20, 2012

By Fred Abrams on May 20th, 2012 Posted in Asset Search News, Divorce & Child Support, Tax Fraud

Tipsters and protecting assets by going offshore–

Information from tipsters sometimes leads to an asset recovery in cases as diverse as tax fraud and divorce. Earlier articles regarding tipsters include: (1)An Asset Search Via Whistleblowers & Other Tipsters; (2)Mass Leak Of Large Client Data Rattles Swiss Banking World; (3)Swiss Banker Blows Whistle on Tax Evasion.

As discussed at my May 13th post, Capital Asset, Inc. promotes protecting assets by establishing companies in Nevada, Wyoming or Delaware. To similarly protect assets, Physiciansfortress.com advocates offshore: limited liability companies, trusts and captive insurance companies. A Physicianfortress.com webpage proclaims: “[o]nly if a lawsuit is filed against you is your money removed to an offshore jurisdiction.” Its “International Strategies: Offshore LLCs and Trusts“ webpage also brazenly declares:

“Good offshore planning takes your assets out of your control and puts them in a place that the U.S. government cannot reach. The U.S. only has jurisdiction over people or property located within the U.S. borders. When you move your assets to an entity that is offshore, you remove your property from U.S. control.”

Protecting Assets By Utilizing A Nominee Incorporation Service

By Fred Abrams on May 13th, 2012 Posted in Asset Search/Fraud Investigation, Bankruptcy, Divorce & Child Support, Money Laundering

Ultra-high net worth divorcing spouses, kleptocrats, bankruptcy debtors, judgment debtors, etc., could easily conceal their beneficially owned assets by utilizing nominee incorporation services (“NIS”). Pages 63-64 of The 2007 National Money Laundering Strategy, in essence divulge that some NIS promote the creation of non-transparent bank accounts and shell companies.

Page 64 expressly says: “The FBI believes that U.S. shell companies and bank accounts arranged by certain NIS firms are being used to launder as much as $36 billion a year from the former Soviet Union. It is not clear whether these NIS firms are complicit in the money laundering abuse.” One apparent NIS is Capital Asset, Inc. As described at “If A Judge Can See Your Assets, He Can Seize Them”, Capital Asset, Inc. recommends forming companies in Nevada, Wyoming or Delaware.

It presumably does so because these states have little or no reporting requirements concerning a company’s shareholders, managers, etc. A Capital Asset, Inc. wepage additionally advocates adopting an offshore asset protection plan. In support of the foregoing, the webpage incredibly claims:

“The Feds can and will seize or freeze any asset or bank account without notice, due process of law, right to counsel, your day in court, regardless of your innocence or guilt, and they’ll do it with a smile knowing the more money they seize the more likely they are to get promoted.”

(Edited May 13, 2012)

Asset Search News Roundup: May 6, 2012

By Fred Abrams on May 6th, 2012 Posted in Asset Search News, Money Laundering, Tax Fraud, White-Collar Crime Generally

Today’s “Asset Search News Roundup” relays the details of a likey abusive trust scheme and an Egmont Group link chart.

“Seattle’s Ubiquitous Asset Protection Lawyer, Ms. Mary Simon” outlines how an attorney was thought to have employed Belizean trusts as critical components in asset protection plans. U.S.A. v. Arthur Lee Ong, U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii, 09-CR-00398 meanwhile, illustrates the probable abuse of domestic trusts in an effort to “protect” assets from the IRS. As his superseding indictment shows, Mr. Ong was accused of secreting undeclared revenue in nominee bank accounts opened in the names of his two trusts, Magnum Investments Trust and Aloha Ventures. Mr. Ong had also allegedly hidden rental properties by titling the same in the name of Aloha Ventures.
“Link Charts In An Asset Search” advises that a visual analysis of data may help one follow a money trail. This kind of analysis is supplied by the link chart from page 13 of the 2010-2011 Egmont Group Annual Report.¹ The link chart documents a money laundering circuit established by determined criminals. As the link chart partly demonstrates, the criminals had transferred their illicit proceeds through multiple jurisdicitions, such as Spain, Greece and the Finnish cities of Helsinki and Tampere:

¹Link Chart & 2010-2011 Egmont Group Annual Report, Courtesy of The Egmont Group.

(Edited 5/19/12)

Seattle’s Ubiquitous Asset Protection Lawyer, Ms. Mary Simon

By Fred Abrams on April 29th, 2012 Posted in Asset Search/Fraud Investigation, Bankruptcy, White-Collar Crime Generally

The U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations August 1, 2006 report on offshore tax haven abuses explains that assets can be hidden with the assistance of “lawyers, brokers, bankers, offshore service providers, and others” offering offshore asset protection. Seattle lawyer Mary Simon appears to have especially provided offshore asset protection services that featured Belizean trusts.

As revealed by “Red Flags In One of Washington State’s Largest Bankruptcies”, Ms. Simon may have aided bankruptcy debtor Michael Mastro’s effort to protect assets by way of a Belizean trust. Mr. Mastro had seemingly hidden assets in said Belizean trust and the Court ultimately deemed the Belizean trust assets, (and his assets at two other trusts), to be bankruptcy estate property.

This meant Mr. Mastro’s trust assets were subject to liquidation for the benefit of his unsecured creditors, as discussed by Mr. Mastro’s Bankruptcy Estate & His Self-Settled Trusts. Besides surfacing at Mr. Mastro’s bankruptcy, Ms. Simon’s name popped up during U.S.A. v. Berg, the largest Ponzi scheme / fraud prosecution in Washington state history. A November 30, 2010 sworn declaration filed in Berg, averred that Mr. Berg had conferred with Ms. Simon on the subject of an asset protection plan.

Although an August 3, 2010 letter purportedly signed by Ms. Simon, suggests the plan was never fully realized, Ms. Simon might have participated in the plans initial phase by allegedly starting the process for forming the “DB517″ Belizean trust and the “DB517″ Delaware company. Documents reportedly linked to this Belizean trust and the Delaware company, were seized by FBI agents executing a search warrant on August 30, 2010 at Mr. Berg’s Seattle business office. These documents can be viewed by clicking on the following image:

Asset Search News Roundup: April 21, 2012

By Fred Abrams on April 21st, 2012 Posted in Asset Search News, Money Laundering, Public Corruption, White-Collar Crime Generally

Transparency International’s April 17th post “Who owns what? Trying to clean dirty money in the EU”, highlights the importance of identifying the beneficial ownership of assets. Among other things, it mentions Teodorin Nguema Obiang, who is a suspected kleptocrat. A Wall Street Journal blog post meanwhile, describes the French arrest warrant concerning Nguema.
Former Turks & Caicos Premier Michael Misick is another suspected kleptocrat who is the subject of a fresh arrest warrant. Like Nguema, Mr. Misick’s warrant is reportedly over supposed corruption and alleged money laundering. Asset Search Blog posts regarding Mr. Misick include:

Target Of Corruption Probe Sues Hip-Hoppers For Supposed Fraud

Could Former Premier Misick Face U.S. Forced Collection Proceedings?

New Jersey Lawsuit Involving Former Premier Misick Settles

The Former Premier’s Nexus To Hip Hop Weekly Magazine

The Actress, An Ex-Premier & Hip Hop Weekly Magazine

Asset Search Litigation To Stay In Puerto Rico

By Fred Abrams on April 15th, 2012 Posted in Asset Search/Fraud Investigation, Divorce & Child Support, Financial Institutions, Privacy Laws

The complaint filed in Puerto Rico at Florea v. Bocra, U.S. District Court, District of Puerto Rico, Index No. 11-02102, basically alleges that private investigator Terry L. Gilbeau of Checkmate Investigative Services, Inc. and / or Virginia-based private investigator Nicole Bocra, had improperly searched for assets thought to be connected to a divorce.

As more fully set forth at “Lawsuit Claims PI’s Could Have Illegally Accessed Bank Info” and “Revisiting A Lawsuit Against Two Private Investigators”, the complaint accuses the investigators of possibly participating in a conspiracy to elicit bank account information illegally. On November 11, 2011, Mr. Gilbeau and Checkmate Investigative Services Inc. filed papers asking the Court to change the venue of the litigation from Puerto Rico to California.

In support of the requested venue change, Mr. Gilbeau’s supplemental declaration seemed to argue that work related to the asset search(es) had been performed in California. Supplemental Declaraton of Terry Gilbeau In Support Of Remoal Notice And Motion To Transfer Venue, dated February 10, 2012 at p. 2, ¶¶2-4. This supplemental declaration also asserted California was the most convenient forum for the litigation. On April 5, 2012, the Court however, ruled the litigation would remain in Puerto Rico:

(Click On The Image To Read The April 5th Ruling)

Unmasking Beneficial Owners To Identify Their Assets

By Fred Abrams on April 2nd, 2012 Posted in Asset Search/Fraud Investigation, Financial Institutions, Money Laundering, Swiss Banks, Tax Fraud

Laundered Assets analyzes the way a beneficial owner secreted undeclared revenue in a “back-to-back” loan, (i.e. a fully collateralized loan in which the borrower and lender are one and the same). “True Beneficial Owner” facilitated this money laundering scheme by putting a Liberian shell company to work as a nominee / intermediary. A chart at Laundered Assets shows that True Beneficial Owner deposited $27 million in undeclared revenue into a Curacao bank account maintained by the Liberian company:

Since True Beneficial Owner applied the Curacao bank account and the Liberian company as nominees, tax authorities or anyone else would have difficulty searching for True Beneficial Owner’s assets. One countermeasure to this problem of bank accounts maintained in the name of nominees, is bank customer identification rules.

Asset Search News Roundup: March 28, 2012

By Fred Abrams on March 28th, 2012 Posted in Asset Search News, Financial Institutions, Identity Theft, White-Collar Crime Generally

The criminal complaint filed in U.S.A. v. Brandon Lee Price, U.S. District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania, Case No. 12-152 M, essentially claims that Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen was the target of an identity theft. As reported at “Identity Thief Targets Billionaire Allen”, suspected identity thief Brandon Lee Price of Pittsburgh supposedly tried to illegally transfer $15,000 from Mr. Allen’s Citibank account.

“Identity Thief Targets Billionaire Allen” raises the question of how identity thefts are carried out. It observes that identity thieves might obtain a bank customer’s account information from the trash. Armed with this type of information, the thieves then attempt to impersonate the bank customer and illegally access bank accounts. The article indicates these thieves can employ spyware and computer hacking to steal personal information. This kind of hacking was utilized by identity thief Albert Gonzalez, who was accused of stealing 130 million credit / debit cards by fraudulently accessing computers at Heartland Payment Systems.

Some bank tellers, medical office staff, etc., too illegally provide identity thieves with a prospective victim’s personal identifying information like social security numbers and dates of birth. Determined identity thieves also carry out their crimes through forged documents, pretext calls, mail intercepts or by obtaining a corporate director’s personal information from public registries.

The following Asset Search Blog articles describe methods identity thieves employ:

Fred L. Abrams has located tens of millions of dollars hidden in offshore tax havens and filed legal proceedings in Zurich, Geneva, Tel Aviv, Amsterdam and Puerto Rico to seek discovery from foreign bank witnesses. A member of the New York bar since 1990, he has handled a wide variety of legal matters in which assets were hidden, such as RICO, money laundering, identity theft and tax fraud.