The following is a list of Asset Search Blog posts which discuss data brokers; private investigators; bankers; suspected tax fraudsters; etc. As these posts show, asset searches & asset recoveries sometimes raise privacy &/or criminal law issues.
Spotting the red flags/the money laundering indicators is one way to search for hidden assets. The red flags may help you sniff out money or other assets concealed in matters ranging from a high net worth divorce to a securities fraud. Financial Intelligence Units part of the Egmont Group employ red flags to search for money hidden across the globe by terrorist financiers; narco-traffickers; kleptocrats & others. As more fully set forth here, red flags include:¹
The case study below, (sanitized for privacy reasons), is also from the Egmont Group.² It is about a homicide; public corruption; fraud; & the laundering of $9.5 million dollars in “Economy F.” The money was washed through a corporate bank account; lawyers’ trust accounts; & bank accounts belonging to money mules. The Financial Intelligence Unit (“FIU”) involved in the case analyzed Suspicious Transaction Reports (“STRs”); issued orders freezing monies; etc.
An asset search may reveal that your spouse is hiding assets from you during your divorce. You might then be able to sue your spouse & possibly others for fraudulently concealing assets. As this 25th post in the “Divorce & Hidden Money” series shows, you may be able to sue on the ground that assets were fraudulently conveyed away from you:
Before leaving New York, the divorcing husband in Skiff-Murray v. Murray¹ fraudulently conveyed his business and former marital residence to his newly created Nevada corporation. Violating a restraining order, the husband next conveyed the residence from his Nevada corporation to his aunt and uncle. The aunt and uncle then mortgaged the residence to a third party.
According to the Court in Skiff-Murray, the divorcing husband had “…made it impossible for plaintiff [the wife] to enforce her judgments for child support arrears or obtain the maintenance, distribution of marital property and counsel fees awarded in the judgment of divorce.” After the divorce was over, the now ex-wife filed a lawsuit against the aunt; uncle & others. The lawsuit alleged the residence had been fraudulently transferred. It asked the Court to set the transfer aside under N.Y. Debt. Cred. Law. §§ 270 – 281, which is the codified version of the Uniform Fraudulent Conveyance Act.
Continue Reading Divorce & Hidden Money: Suing Your Spouse For Fraudulently Conveying Assets
If you are a divorcing spouse, judgment creditor or anyone else who believes they may need to do a bank search to locate hidden assets parked offshore, read this post to see how individuals sometimes hide their assets. It covers the legal remedies that may be available to you in your asset search for offshore bank accounts. This post was first published in 2013 and was called “Hidden Assets Offshore & A Bank Search To Find Them.”
Beneficial owners around the world are able to secretly transfer assets across international borders into offshore bank accounts. The beneficial owners sometimes do this by money laundering through multiple jurisdictions; bulk-cash smuggling; back-to-back loans; shell companies; nominee incorporation services & gatekeepers like lawyers. Legal remedies are however, usually available for finding hidden assets transferred offshore. These remedies may even include seeking a court order directing a Swiss or other offshore bank to perform a bank search and disclose bank customer information.
The link chart below describes how one divorcing husband concealed both undeclared revenue and marital assets via multiple jurisdictions.¹ The husband laundered millions from the U.S., through a Swiss bank and a German one. Prior to the equitable distribution hearing in his divorce, the husband alleged he had a liability of $29 million owed to a prime bank in Germany because of an arm’s length business loan. As this link chart reveals, the supposed arm’s length loan was back-to-back , (i.e. a fully collateralized loan in which the borrower and the lender are one and the same):
(Click On The Link Chart To Enlarge)
Continue Reading An Asset Search To Find Secret Offshore Bank Accounts
Many Asset Search Blog articles emphasize the role intermediaries, (i.e. “nominees”), can have in asset concealment schemes. This 24th post in the “Divorce & Hidden Money” series reminds you that your divorcing spouse might utilize nominees to hide assets from you.
During your divorce you may need to pursue an asset search in
This is the 23rd post in the “Divorce & Hidden Money” series:
What can you do
This 22nd post in the “Divorce & Hidden Money” series says an asset search of your spouse should include inspecting your spouse’s passport:
Did your spouse hide assets from you during your divorce by opening a secret offshore bank account or by placing valuables like diamonds in a safe deposit box offshore? Did
If someone is hiding assets, you might detect the assets by reviewing: corporate records; patents & trademarks; court papers; U.C.C. filings; real estate documents; or through additional basic research. “A Low-Cost Asset Search” gives information about how to perform basic research. Although basic research can lead to a good result, it may not
The TV shanking of fictional lawyer Dan Wachsberger at Breaking Bad’s 54th episode. In the 53rd episode, Wachsberger hid monies in safety deposit boxes & became a DEA informant.
“Say My Name” is the 53rd episode of AMC’s Breaking Bad series & it showed fictional lawyer Dan Wachsberger hiding illicit
This is my 21st post in the Divorce & Hidden Money series. It is also the 8th post in my series describing what private investigators can and cannot do legally when searching for hidden assets. My July 13th post mentioned private investigators & their clients using law enforcement databases and illegal pretext calls to