Following The Money Trail In Zürich
While "Roger" and I were walking near Bahnhofstrasse Street, Zürich, Roger suddenly stopped and had us duck into a corner shop. Once inside the shop Roger appeared to be looking for a particular item displayed in the shop's front window, although he was really scrutinizing the outside street. He explained afterwards how it was necessary to check if we were being followed: "But first you must choose a side street or a main street where there are not many pedestrians or traffic, not a busy thoroughfare. You take mental pictures of everyone you think could be potential followers or surveillance cars as you continue along, before entering a store with windows which will permit you to survey the street".
Roger had a knack for locating offshore financial information because of his former work as an intelligence officer. He and I were in Zürich on our way to meet my local Swiss counsel. We were following the money trail of a husband who pretended in his divorce case to have a negative net worth. Roger had brought details of the husband's offshore finances with him, which demonstrated that the husband had hidden millions by money laundering through Switzerland. Roger was about to share this information with me for the first time, at our meeting with the Swiss counsel.
In some cases, offshore financial information discovered during an asset search suggests that a foreign criminal law has been violated. Sometimes in Switzerland for example, one can be criminally prosecuted for lying about the beneficial ownership of a bank account as mentioned in the attached Swiss law memo and in "An Asset Search In Switzerland". The concealment of a bank account's beneficial ownership however, more often indicates a violation of U.S. criminal law through a tax fraud or money laundering.
The very existence of an offshore bank account may also persuade a domestic court to issue Letters Rogatory / Legal Assistance Requests. As more fully described by my posts "An Asset Search In Switzerland" and "Asset Search Tips for Divorce & Child Support Cases", Letters Rogatory are sometimes necessary in order to elicit evidence about hidden assets from foreign bank or other witnesses.
Copyright 2007 Fred L. Abrams
