A successful asset search often requires gathering financial intelligence. One financial investigator sought financial intelligence by doing “trash pulls”. This investigator did trash pulls at an attorney’s home to elicit intelligence about the attorney’s client. During one of these trash pulls, an envelope bearing the name of a climate-controlled art storage facility was discovered. This
Asset Search News Roundup: January 9, 2010
The January 9th "Asset Search News Roundup" provides an update on a couple of matters from Minnesota:
- Both "Money Laundering By Minneapolis Managers?" and "Associated Bank Sued For Supposedly Ignoring Red Flags" described pending civil complaints against suspected securities fraudsters Trevor Cook, Patrick Kiley and their companies. Another complaint filed against
Alleging Money Laundering In Private Sector Lawsuits
By claiming that proceeds of a judicial bribery scheme had been laundered from Italy into nineteen U.S. bank accounts, prosecutors sought asset forfeiture as described at "Using Multiple Jurisdictions To Launder Money". That forfeiture case was mostly based on U.S. anti-money laundering laws which included 18 U.S.C. §1956 (Money Laundering) and 18 U.S.C. §1957 (Money Laundering of property from specified unlawful activity).
In two of the cases mentioned at "Following The Money Trail From Poland To Delaware", prosecutors from Warsaw and Koszalin had asserted that they too suspected money laundering. In those cases the prosecutors sought the issuance of letters rogatory in Delaware by claiming that laundering could have occurred in violation off Article 299 of Poland’s penal law.
Like the foregoing prosecutors, litigants in the private sector may also allege that an adversary has fraudulently concealed assets in violation of U.S. and / or foreign money laundering laws. To cite just one example, the RICO plaintiff more fully described at "Divorce, RICO & An Asset Search", claimed that her ex-husband had laundered money in violation of 18 U.S.C. §1956.Continue Reading Alleging Money Laundering In Private Sector Lawsuits
Has Auto Magnate Dennis Hecker Hidden His Assets?
As a high-profile Twin Cities auto magnate, Mr. Hecker had been one of Minnesota’s largest car dealers. During April 2008, he sought a divorce from his wife of about fifteen years in Hennepin County Family Court, Case No. 27-FA-08-2731. Mr. and Mrs. Hecker however, stipulated to dismiss said divorce case during October 2008.
At that time, Mr. Hecker had business difficulties which later culminated in the entry of a nearly $477 million dollar judgment against him in Chrysler Financial Services Americas LLC v. Dennis E. Hecker, Hennepin County Civil Court, Case No. 27-CV-09-2152. Given the fact of this $477 million dollar debt, Mr. Hecker filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition on June 4, 2009.
Mrs. Hecker meantime, applied to the Family Court for a monthly award of interim spousal maintenance and child support. Similar to what I discussed at "Recovering Marital Assets Through A Domestic Court", page 4 ¶14 of her September 28, 2009 supporting affidavit asked the Court to "impute income" to Mr. Hecker:
Click On The Affidavit To Read It
Continue Reading Has Auto Magnate Dennis Hecker Hidden His Assets?
Link Charts In An Asset Search
If your are suing your adversary over hidden assets, you might be able to use link charts. You can use the charts in court to show how your adversary has hidden money or other assets. Financial Intelligence Units, local law enforcement, prosecutors, etc. visually analyze data through link charts like the one below from
Some Asset Search & Recovery Basics
Have the methods mentioned at “Asset Search Indicia For Divorce, Debt Collection & Bankruptcy“, been used to hide assets during a financial fraud? Are there any red flags that assets are being fraudulently concealed? Finding answers to these questions can be critically important if you are trying to recover: marital assets; probate assets
Accessing E-Mail As Part Of An Asset Search
During an asset search, subpoenas or other court-related discovery can be used to access an adversary’s e-mail. This access to electronically stored information like e-mail, may be authorized by Fed. R. Civ. P. 26 (a) (1) (A) (ii) & (b) (2) (B) and additional discovery rules, as is more fully set forth in my post
Foreign Bank Secrecy Laws & An Asset Search
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
An Asset Search In Geneva
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.
Badges Of Fraud & Buying A Car Dealership
Mr. Lattuga’s lawsuit against his wife is next scheduled for trial on Wednesday, November 19, 2008. Mr. Lattuga claimed in it, that he had given his wife $784,822 because she had agreed to buy her father’s car dealerships for the two of them. Mr. Lattuga specifically alleged that his wife had given the $784,822 to