During forced collection / attachment proceedings, the Debtor alleged that he could not pay the Creditor because of an arm’s length business loan from “Offshore Lender” in the millions. The Debtor further claimed that he had collateralized his business loan with mortgages, promissory notes and U.C.C. liens, on nearly all of his property.
Through subpoenas
While “Roger” and I were walking near Bahnhofstrasse Street, Zurich, 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 Zurich on our way to meet my local Swiss counsel. We were following the money trail of a financial fraudster who pretended in his U.S. court case to have a negative net worth. Roger had brought with him the details of the fraudster’s finances, which demonstrated that the fraudster had hidden tens of millions of dollars 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. In Switzerland for example, one might conceivably violate criminal laws by lying about the beneficial ownership of a bank account, as mentioned in this legal memo from Swiss counsel:
(To Read The Legal Memo, Click On The Image Above)Continue Reading Following The Money Trail In Zurich
Parking assets offshore in one jurisdiction and then exercising control over them through another, sometimes indicates money laundering. One example of how multiple jurisdictions may have been used to facilitate money laundering, is the case of United States v. Proceeds of Crime Transferred to Certain Domestic Financial Accounts, U.S. District Court for the
As my post “Divorce, Child Support & Reporting Tax Fraud” mentioned, divorcing spouses sometimes tip the IRS about a suspected tax fraud. Mrs. Benjamin for example, tipped the IRS because she thought that her divorcing husband had underreported revenue from his commercial maintenance and landscaping business. She specifically provided the IRS with the
An investigation of a high-risk geographical location can sometimes uncover assets which have been hidden through: nominees; shell companies; cash couriers; wire transfers; credit cards; informal banking systems, etc. For example, one way the IRS focuses on high-risk locations like tax havens, is to compare the banking information it receives from the Financial Crimes
Sometimes information from passports, phone records, or the documents found in one’s home can be a red flag that a divorcing spouse has hidden assets in an offshore bank. One divorcing wife recently explained to me that her absconding husband had left a box full of Internet research about offshore banks in their basement. These
With the lawsuit ending in a large money judgment in favor of the Judgment Creditor, the Debtor filed for bankruptcy in order to protect his personal assets. To collect on its judgment against the Debtor, the Judgment Creditor then filed a proof of claim as an unsecured creditor in the bankruptcy. The Judgment Creditor thought
Beneficial owners can try to use a nominee, (i.e. intermediary/straw owner), to hide money with complete anonymity in a bank account. Through websites like Offshore-Protection.com beneficial owners may purchase a shell company and retain a nominee director for the shell company. The beneficial owner may then title a bank account in
“I’m out of the asset forfeiture business and Title-III wiretaps too”, Donnie remarked as we discussed the Drug Enforcement Administration’s on-going effort to find hidden assets related to drug trafficking and other crime. Donnie had retired from the DEA after serving twenty-one years as a Special Agent. Now he was deployed to the
A former Criminal Intelligence Specialist at Scotland Yard confirmed that the divorcing husband was hiding millions from his wife by using bank accounts in Switzerland. The husband’s true beneficial ownership of these funds had been concealed by a nominee (i.e. intermediary). This nominee had opened the Swiss bank accounts in the names of shell corporations