Investigating & Recovering Hidden Money & Other Assets
My post "Pretexting During An Asset Search" explained that using false pretenses may violate privacy laws during an asset search. "Attorney Christensen’s Wiretap Conviction" additionally mentioned the case of a California attorney who violated privacy laws by conspiring to wiretap a divorcing spouse’s phone.
Privacy laws however, don’t just criminalize certain…
A search for hidden assets is sometimes actually a quest for greater transparency. A financial transfer lacking transparency may delay investigators trying to unravel a fraud. A lack of transparency can also multiply forced collection or asset forfeiture proceedings. This is so because such a financial transfer can obscure the true source or beneficial ownership…
The Asia / Pacific Group on Money Laundering explains on its typologies webpage, that one way to hide assets is by purchasing portable valuable commodities like diamonds. The typologies webpage provides the example of a beneficial owner concealing assets by transferring diamonds to another jurisdiction. One man who may have tried this kind of…
My father attended Far Rockaway High School at the same time as Mr. Bernard Madoff and in fact, they were in the same graduating class. He remembers from his high school yearbook "The Dolphin", that Mr. Madoff had lived in the Rockaways and was an ardent swimmer. My father even showed me "The Dolphin", which…
U.S. authorities are seeking the sanction of asset forfeiture in connection with a 36-story Fifth Avenue N.Y.C. building, alleged to be partly owned by Iran’s Bank Melli. "Assets Seized at Company Suspected of Funneling Money to Iran" and / or a U.S. Treasury Department press release, also report that Bank…
A foreign bank witness located in an offshore tax haven will likely rely on bank secrecy laws to resist discovery about a bank customer’s financial information. A foreign court located where this foreign bank witness resides could however, apply an exception to bank secrecy law. If this happens, the foreign court might then end up…
Assets hidden in an offshore tax haven which are the subject of a divorce, forced collection proceeding, etc., can sometimes be uncovered by eliciting evidence from a bank witness residing in that offshore tax haven. This is true because letters rogatory or other legal proceedings can usually be brought against an offshore bank witness in…
If assets are hidden in multiple jurisdictions, it can be necessary to conduct asset searches of foreign banks or other witnesses residing offshore. Such “offshore asset searches” typically involve Letters Rogatory, (a.k.a Legal Assistance Requests), which may be used to compel foreign banks or other witnesses residing offshore to give:
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The victims of a securities fraud, divorcing spouses, post-judgment creditors, etc. can have several remedies available to them if they need to recover assets hidden offshore. One might even pursue an asset search or recovery in the various offshore tax havens. This is particularly true when a bank is used as a laundering “link” to hide funds in a money laundering circuit or assets have otherwise been hidden during a financial fraud.
To cite just one example, I have previously filed letters rogatory / legal assistance requests with the Court in Geneva, (“the “Parquet du Procureuer général), because of suspected money laundering at two Swiss banks. As mentioned at “An Asset Search With Letters Rogatory“, these kinds of legal remedies can sometimes be used to elicit financial information from bank witnesses.
Other forms of relief for those seeking to recover funds hidden offshore, can range from attaching a bank account to alerting a financial intelligence unit. Local counsel in Geneva has analyzed these legal remedies which are available in Switzerland and in many other jurisdictions across the globe:
“As you probably know, Switzerland does not follow the common law doctrine. We do not adhere to the institution of discovery. The usual tools available to a claimant are therefore the filing of a criminal complaint, which is actually the most efficient way to get past the banking secrecy. Access to the information will be granted only if someone can be indicted. In exceptional circumstances a broader access to the information collected within the frame of the criminal investigation can be granted on a discretionary basis.