2008 was the first time I wrote an article mentioning hiding assets via a lawyer in Panama. The article was called “Bearer Shares & An Asset Search.” Although the facts at the article were sanitized & changed for privacy reasons, it described a divorcing husband in the U.S hiding assets from both his
How do you hamper an asset search while hiding vast sums of money across the globe? You may be able to do this by compartmentalizing your actions. Using compartmentalization to fly under the radar is nothing new. For example, terrorists in Paris compartmentalized what they did before their heinous November 13, 2015 attack. This is
A trailer for the “Better Call Saul” show features the dry cleaner used by TV’s money laundering lawyer Saul Goodman. For me, the trailer highlights the fact that some lawyers hide their clients’ money by washing it via laundering links in a money laundering circuit. When lawyers wash large
During his corruption scheme, former congressman William Jefferson is thought to have hidden bribe monies in his refrigerator. He also apparently hid bribe monies by using shell companies formed in Delaware, Nigeria and other places. U.S. law enforcement officers were able to search for these illicit assets through search warrants and a letter rogatory seeking
If you are a divorcing spouse, judgment creditor or other litigant, how do you conclusively establish whether or not assets have been hidden from you? You can sometimes reasonably determine this by using legal tools to search for assets. In a pending litigation, these tools might include: depositions; subpoenas; interrogatories; production requests; etc.
Below is part of a production request in the hypothetical case of “JOHN DOE.” The production request seeks access to JOHN DOE’s passport; credit cards; phone records; etc. By analyzing this kind of material one might possibly detect secret offshore bank accounts or other hidden assets.
1. JOHN DOE’s original passport of which FRED L. ABRAMS, ESQ. (or his representative), may possess for a period of not more than 45 minutes to photocopy and return to JOHN DOE.
2. All paid and unpaid invoices from creditors arising from obligations incurred by JOHN DOE for the period January 1, 2011 to present.
3. All of JOHN DOE’s telephone records, (including cell phone records), for the period of January 1, 2011 to date.
4. Receipts and copies of airplane tickets for all air flights JOHN DOE traveled, during January 1, 2011 up to the present date.
5. All frequent flyer miles statements relating to any air flights JOHN DOE traveled, during January 1, 2011 up to the present date.
6. Receipts or documents relating to all hotel accommodations JOHN DOE paid for or hotels JOHN DOE stayed at anytime during the period of January 1, 2011 to the present.
7. All records and documents relating to any transaction entered into on or after January 1, 2011 in which JOHN DOE presently has or will have a financial interest or from which JOHN DOE has received or will receive compensation of any nature.
8. All documents related to any transaction since January 1, 2011, entered into by another person or entity for the benefit in whole or in part, of JOHN DOE.
9. All documents showing the amount, purpose or source of all payments over $5,000.00 made since January 1, 2011, to, by or for the benefit of JOHN DOE.
10. Copies of all of JOHN DOE’s current and previous wills and other estate planning documents.
Continue Reading Using A Production Request In Your Asset Search
High net worth divorcing spouses, kleptocrats, bankruptcy debtors, judgment debtors, etc., can easily conceal their beneficially owned assets by utilizing Nominee Incorporation Services (“NIS”). Pages 63-64 of “The 2007 National Money Laundering Strategy” essentially explained that individuals may use NIS in schemes to hide assets through money laundering. Individuals sometimes hire
Locating hidden assets can be especially difficult if underground banks/informal banking systems like hawala have been utilized. “The Hawala Alternative Remittance System and its Role in Money Laundering”¹ explains that hawaladars, (a.k.a hawala operators), secretly transfer funds to financial accounts maintained in Switzerland, Dubai, the United Kingdom &/or other international financial centers. The
TIPS FROM EARLIER ASSET SEARCH BLOG ARTICLES THAT MAY HELP YOU RECOVER HIDDEN ASSETS:
DETERMINE BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP—Has your adversary hidden assets by transferring them to nominees, (i.e. intermediaries), or by using nominees to make purchases? If your adversary does this, the success of your asset recovery may depend on showing that your adversary
The following can help you detect money concealed in an offshore bank account:
When an adversary hides funds at an offshore bank there is always an electronic trace. The trace occurs because the bank stores electronic information comprised of: bank account opening documents; bank signature cards; monthly bank statements; etc.
This January 18th video depicts three 250 pound GBU-39 bombs dropped by B-1 or F-18 aircraft, in rapid succession on the same spot of the roof of an ISIS cash depot near Mosul, Iraq. As of last week, it was the ninth ISIS cash depot US-led forces had destroyed in Iraq &/or