Divorce & Hidden Money

Structuring cash, (a.k.a. smurfing), is one thing to look for when spouses hide money during their divorces in community property states. US Treasury Department’s FinCEN explains structuring occurs if you “break up…currency transactions [at banks] into multiple, smaller amounts to avoid being reported to the government.”1 This means organizing cash transactions beneath the

If you are in a high net worth divorce, your spouse might hide community property from you by misusing:

These are just three of the common money laundering methods. Although not a high net worth divorce case, filings in Brooklyn Federal Court in USA v. Ahmad reveal

Learning about concealment schemes can help you spot concealed assets your spouse places beyond your reach during your divorce. Therefore, a divorcing spouse trying to identify hidden marital assets / community property could learn a lesson from Dr. Krishnaswami Sriram.  Dr. Sriram is thought to have concealed assets from the IRS in two suspected

If you are in a high net worth divorce, you might hire a forensic computer expert to access your divorcing spouse’s computer. You might hire this expert to try to detect community property your divorcing spouse hid from you. Meanwhile, if you are going to access your divorcing spouse’s computer, make sure your access does

If your spouse is a highly paid key employee, your spouse may participate in a nonqualified deferred compensation plan offered by an employer. By using this kind of plan, your high net worth spouse might reduce taxes by deferring an employer’s payment of salary, stock share certificates, cash or other assets. The YouTube

By using forensic computer experts in your divorce, you might identify a money trail leading to community property your spouse hid from you. In fact, you may be able to ask the Court to appoint a forensic computer expert to act as special master in your case. This special master would examine your spouse’s computer

I. Alleged Hidden Marital Assets At A Bahamian Trust

Mrs. Jennifer Stein suspected her anesthesiologist husband Dr. Barry D. Stein, had hidden marital assets during their divorce.  According to Mrs. Stein, Dr. Stein transferred assets to a Bahamian trust to place them out of Mrs. Stein’s reach. Dr. Stein allegedly manipulated the family finances, Mrs.

Today’s post mentions indicators your divorcing spouse could have hidden marital property. It also asks: will the Court exclude evidence showing your spouse hid marital property, if your private investigator illegally obtained this evidence?

A) Indicators Your Spouse May Be Hiding Marital Property

As soon as your high-net-worth spouse filed for divorce in New York, your spouse claims his / her businesses had fallen on hard times. Therefore, your spouse took large loans from offshore lenders. Then, your spouse failed to repay these loans and was in default. Consequently, your spouse alleges in your divorce a net worth of “0”. Meanwhile, these events only first happened when your spouse filed for divorce. As American sports legend Yogi Berra said: “That’s too coincidental to be coincidental”.

Furthermore, when your spouse filed for divorce, your spouse left New York with your spouse’s paramour, (“the paramour”). These two were now living in a $3 million home in California the paramour had supposedly purchased. However, you suspect the paramour was your spouse’s intermediary and that your spouse had actually purchased the California home.  Stated differently, you believe your spouse used the paramour as the nominee purchaser of the California home.  Like your spouse’s “0” net worth claim, your spouse’s suspected use of a nominee purchaser is an indicator your spouse could be hiding marital property / community property.

B) The Investigation Of Your Spouse

Since there are indicators your spouse is hiding marital property, you hire a private investigator licensed in New York. Your investigator will track your spouse’s assets and seek evidence showing your spouse owned the $3 million home rather than the paramour. Three months after you hired the private investigator, your investigator says the following:
Continue Reading Your Spouse Hid Marital Property & Your PI Obtains Evidence Illegally

We all know that compared to money hidden at domestic bank accounts, money hidden in offshore accounts is harder to detect and interdict. This explains why offshore bank accounts are perhaps the most widely used method to hide vast sums of money. Individuals ranging from high-net-worth divorcing spouses to narco-traffickers and terrorist financiers can use