Discussed today are Arizona’s attempt to stop cross-border crime and Minneapolis Ponzi schemer Trevor Cook:

Copyright 2010 Fred L. Abrams

Forensic scientist Richard T. Picciochi is a questioned document examiner who can establish genuineness by identifying handwriting, machine printing, paper, writing instruments and inks.  Mr. Picciochi was formerly an NYPD detective and he learned questioned document examination through on-the-job apprenticeship at the NYPD and via training by the FBI and Secret Service.

Before retiring from the NYPD, he participated in cases which included the assassination of Rabbi Meir Kahane (the founder of the JDL); the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in 1993; the abduction of Harvey Weinstein who was buried alive for almost two weeks; and the homicide of Manhattan socialite Irene Silverman.  Mr. Piccochi additionally testified at the criminal trial of the Zodiac serial killer in NYC who left behind cryptic notes like this one:

Continue Reading Using Forensic Science To Fight Financial Fraud

The financial fraud investigation connected to Minneapolis money manager Trevor Cook is thought to have widened; Andrew B. Silva is sentenced in Virginia for tax fraud; and the delay in disclosing the names of some UBS AG bank customers:

Copyright 2010 Fred L. Abrams

During his marriage to actress LisaRaye McCoy, ex-Turks and Caicos premier Michael Misick was investigated for public corruption by the Turks and Caicos Islands Commission of Inquiry. The ex-premier’s suspicious activities were believed to be so harmful, they contributed to the UK Government decision to suspend parts of the 2006 Turks Caicos Island Constitution.++

With this August 14, 2009 constitutional suspension, the right to a jury trial was revoked, the Cabinet abolished and the House of Assembly dissolved. As my article “The Former Premier’s Nexus To Hip Hop Weekly Magazine” reported, the ex-premier’s suspicious activities had included his possible transfer of funds through the My Way Productions 2 company to the U.S. based Hip Hop Weekly Magazine.

Not covered by my article, was how Ms. McCoy might possess probative evidence regarding the ex-premier’s relationship to Hip Hop Weekly and My Way Productions 2. Perhaps as a director of My Way Productions 2, Ms. McCoy may even have executed a March 30, 2007 “Unanimous Written Consent” agreement about Hip Hop Weekly:

(FIRST EXCERPT MARCH 30th CONSENT AGREEMENT)


(SECOND EXCERPT MARCH 30th CONSENT AGREEMENT)

(To Read The Entire Agreement, Click On The Excerpt Above)

A March 30, 2007 operating agreement concerning Hip Hop Weekly seems to have also been executed by Ms. McCoy. Although Ms. McCoy was publicly examined about My Way Productions 2 by the Turks and Caicos Islands Commission of Inquiry on January 30, 2009, there was never any discussion of Hip Weekly Magazine, according to pages 73 to 205 of the January 30th hearing transcript.

(Click On The Transcript To Read All Of It)++

++ The Turks and Caicos Islands Constitution ©Crown Copyright 2006 and January 30, 2009 Hearing Transcript ©Crown Copyright 2009, are reproduced under the terms of Crown Copyright Policy Guidance issued by HMSO.

Copyright 2010-2011 Fred L. Abrams

“If A Judge Can See Your Assets, He Can Seize Them“, mentioned that shell companies formed in Nevada, Wyoming or Delaware especially lacked transparency because in these states there are virtually no reporting requirements about company managers, shareholders, etc.

Some beneficial owners therefore anonymously establish Nevada, Wyoming, or Delaware shell companies and then use them to open nominee bank accounts through which assets can be laundered or otherwise concealed.  My May 5, 2010 “Weekly Asset Search News Roundup” additionally described “Asset Managing Group, Inc.“, which offers anonymity by registering yachts and aircraft via Delaware formed companies.

The Levin-Grassley-McCaskill Incorporation Transparency and Law Enforcement Assistance Act (S.569), addresses the above situations.  This legislation was introduced in the Senate by Senator Carl Levin (MI), on March 11, 2009.  It has already been the subject of a November 5, 2009 hearing by the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.  If this bill became U.S. law, it would require a company’s true beneficial owner to be identified / disclosed:

  (Click Below To Read The Entire Bill)

(Edited January 8, 2012)

Copyright 2010-2012 Fred L. Abrams

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 discovery then led to the interdiction of a valuable painting hidden by the attorney’s client at the art storage facility.

A second financial investigator gathered financial intelligence by searching for leads provided by an adversary’s: passport, airline frequent flyer statements, country club membership, credit cards, phone bills and other records.  A third investigator was able to detect an adversary’s foreign bank account by acquiring financial intelligence from an offshore check printing company.  In addition to the foregoing, eliciting financial intelligence can involve tools ranging from human intelligence to a variety of discovery devices.

Human Intelligence

Human intelligence can be the only practical way to uncover some sophisticated asset concealment schemes.  The concealment scheme analyzed at “Money Laundering, Marital Assets & Divorce“, was in fact detected solely because of human intelligence.  “An Asset Search, Tax Fraud & Divorce” meanwhile, described an effort to access financial information via human intelligence.  It outlined how “Brian”, (a former high-ranking official at the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, who had earlier been an IRS special agent), sought human intelligence about a divorcing husband.  Brian did this by interviewing a cooperating witness / business associate of the divorcing husband.

Discovery Devices

Another way to try to elicit financial intelligence and locate assets is to utilize discovery devices like depositions, interrogatories, etc.  Under limited circumstances, a court might even permit discovery via the physical inspection of an adversary’s home or place of business.  The court for example, allowed the receiver in the case of Ponzi schemer Trevor Cook, to perform this type of physical inspection.

The Cook receiver had successfully argued in court, that Fed. R. Civ. P. 45(a)(1)(c) & Fed. R. Civ. P. 34(a)(2), provided for an inspection of Mr. Cook’s Apple Valley, Minnesota home.  The receiver then seized receivership estate assets including three automobiles and 31 watches, at the Apple Valley inspection.

Likely more significant, was the receiver’s recovery of over sixty computers and other electronic media.  These were eventually forensically examined in an attempt to access additional financial information.  The receiver had also issued more than 250 domestic subpoenas, which too might have provided financial intelligence.

If cross-border elements / multiple jurisdictions are however used to conceal assets, then letters rogatory can be issued pursuant to the Hague Evidence Convention (20: Convention of 18 March 1970 on the Taking of Evidence Abroad in Civil or Commercial Matters Hague Convention).

Letters rogatory, (a.k.a. “letters of request” or “legal assistance requests”), may help access financial intelligence possessed by foreign bank or other foreign witnesses, as explained at “An Asset Search With Letters Rogatory“.  They are sometimes even available in jurisdictions where there are strong bank secrecy laws, as this sanitized / changed copy of a Swiss letter rogatory indicates:

(Click Above To Read The Complete Letter Rogatory)

(Last Edited November 15, 2011)

Copyright 2010-2012 Fred L. Abrams

This "Asset Search News Roundup" highlights an updated tax protocol, a $40 million dollar asset recovery and the sentencing of New York securities fraudster Matthew D. Weitzman:

  1. On May 27, 2010 the Organisation For Economic Co-Operation And Development announced that the United States and ten other countries agreed to an updated tax protocol which provides for increased cooperation in the fight against tax fraud with cross-border elements.
  2. A U.S. Department of Justice press release explained that over $40 million dollars was recovered by asset forfeiture for injured investors in Japan who supplied funds to suspected Ponzi schemer Isamu Kuroiwa.  Mr. Kuroiwa is thought to have defrauded 30,000 plus victims out of about $1 billion dollars.
  3. As more fully set forth here, securities fraudster Matthew D. Weitzman of Armonk, N.Y. was sentenced last week to 97 months in prison.  A June 10, 2009 SEC civil complaint  had alleged that an injured investor in late March 2009 discovered part of the fraud and apparently confronted Mr. Weitzman about it.  Page 13 of the sentencing memorandum in Mr. Weitzman’s criminal case meanwhile, emphasized that Mr. Weitzman voluntarily reported his fraud to governmental authorities in late March 2009.;

Copyright 2010 Fred L. Abrams

An alleged Guatemalan drug lord and Peter Madoff are the subjects of the May 26th “Asset Search News Roundup”:

“Suing Peter Madoff For Bernard Madoff’s Securities Fraud” described plaintiffs’ summary judgment motion pending against Peter Madoff in The Lautenberg Foundation v. Madoff, 09-Civ-00816.  Pages 8-10 of a May 20th reply memorandum shows that the Madoff plaintiffs are relying heavily on their claim that Peter Madoff was liable as a “control person“.

U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control recently added Waldemar Lorenzana Lima to its list of Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act.  A press release characterizes Mr. Lorenzana as a Guatemalan drug lord with ties to Mexico’s Sinaloa narco-traffickers.  The instant Treasury designation freezes any of Mr. Lorenzana’s assets subject to U.S. jurisdiction.  The image which follows, depicts Mr. Lorenzana’s alleged trafficking organization.

 

(Click On Image To Enlarge)

Image: U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control

Copyright Fred L. Abrams 2010

"How To Minimize Your Assets" published at a webpage belonging to Assetprotection.com, indicates that a judgment debtor can mitigate the risk of forced collection proceedings "[b]y becoming a smaller target".  The Assetprotection.com website is also replete with asset protection diagrams.  In cases that illicit proceeds are being hidden, some of these same diagrams could actually be laundering "link charts".

The third chart displayed from the top of its "Domestic Asset Protection Strategies" webpage, suggests that nominees, shell companies, bearer shares and loan agreements may all be effectively used to hide a true beneficial owner’s assets.  These components meanwhile, can be abused by money launderers seeking to wash their monies via "back-to-back" loans from financial institutions.

As partly shown below and more fully described at "Laundered Assets", a back-to-back loan appears at first glance to be an arm’s length transaction but conceals the fact that the borrower and lender are one and the same:

 Copyright 2010 Fred L. Abrams

Today’s “Asset Search News Roundup” discusses my next speaking engagement and asset forfeiture:

  • At the New York County Lawyers’ Association, 14 Vesey Street, New York City, on May 25, 2010, I will present “Ethically Accessing Financial Intelligence From Warsaw To Wilmington, In Criminal & Civil Cases”.  It examines the financial fraud investigations of Ponzi schemer Trevor Cook, Former Premier Michael Misick of the Turks & Caicos Islands and some others. A complete description of the program / registration information is available here.
  • A May 13, 2010 article in The Saint Paul Legal Ledger – Capitol Report mentions that Representative Tina Liebling of the Minnesota House of Representatives seeks change in state asset forfeiture laws.  According to the May 13th article, Representative Liebling favors asset seizure during a police investigation, but opposes asset forfeiture absent a criminal conviction.
  • My post “Seizing Assets In A Suspected Racial Profiling Scheme?“, explained that the plaintiffs in James Morrow et. al. v. City of Tenaha Deputy City Marshal Barry Washington et. al., claimed they had been subjected to improper seizures or forfeitures.  This past February 19th, the Court permitted the Morrow plaintiffs to file their third amended complaint, as revealed by the Morrow docket report.

(Click On The Docket Report To Access It)

Copyright 2010 Fred L. Abrams