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
Transparency International leads the fight against public corruption which includes bribery & theft by government officials. It basically says that corruption proceeds are transferred offshore & are one of the sources of illicit financial flows. How do financial investigators across the globe search for these illicit assets? One way they search is by looking
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.
As
“A Surreptitious Search For Money Hidden In Divorce & Other Cases” explains, law enforcement databases may house confidential information about a person’s assets. Private investigators & the general public cannot lawfully access these law enforcement databases/computers. This is the 5th post in my series about what private investigators can and cannot do
At Carmelite Chambers International Fraud & Assert Recovery Conference, I met Advocate & English Barrister Stephen Baker of Baker & Partners from St. Helier, Jersey. During the Conference, Mr. Baker presented his slideshow with case studies about recovering suspected corruption proceeds or other assets.
Some of Mr. Baker’s slides reveal how foreign bank accounts; multiple jurisdictions and nominees, (i.e. intermediaries), could be used as elements in suspected laundering schemes:
One topic Mr. Baker’s slideshow covers is the investigation of the late Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha. As Baker & Partners’ webpage explains: “Baker & Partners were central to the successful Jersey investigation into the alleged laundering of the proceeds of the corrupt Nigerian Dictator General Abacha’s crimes through Jersey. This investigation has already resulted in over USD $160,000,000 being returned to Nigeria.”
Continue Reading Searching For Corruption Proceeds & Other Assets On The Island Of Jersey
Mr. Pascal Gossin is the head of Switzerland’s Mutual Legal Assistance Unit, (“the Unit”), which is part of the Federal Office of Justice. Mr. Gossin was a fellow speaker at the Carmelite Chambers International Fraud & Asset Recovery Conference, which I attended last month.
If the Unit suspects a dictator or other Politically
Leonard Glenn Francis is a Malaysian national who is the CEO and owner of Glenn Defense Marine Asia, a general contractor to the United States Navy. He is suspected of using Glenn Defense Marine Asia to defraud the Navy out of an estimated $20 million. At a November 22, 2013 court filing, prosecutors argued that Mr. Francis “ has built a business empire based on defrauding the United States.”
Mr. Francis is accused of fraudulently billing the Navy while supplying its ships with marine husbanding services (i.e. fuel, tugboats, food etc.). Mr. Francis supposedly also bribed senior Naval officials with cash, lavish travel and the service of prostitutes. These Naval officials are thought to have provided Mr. Francis with secret information about criminal investigations into him; and / or they allegedly disclosed confidential defense procurement information.
The Washington Post reported that the possible involvement of two admirals in the alleged public corruption scheme, “makes the crisis the worst to tar the Navy since the 1991 Tailhook scandal, when a convention of naval aviators sexually assaulted scores of women.” A September 12, 2013 complaint filed in one of three criminal cases pending against Mr. Francis, included purported e-mails. They were allegedly sent from April 27 to May 21, 2012, between Mr. Francis and a codefendant, Mr. John Bertrand Beliveau, Jr. Mr. Beliveau has been employed as a Special Agent by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service since about 2002 and his purported e-mails are set forth below.
Continue Reading Mr. Francis Supposedly Built A Business Empire By Defrauding The US
Hiding assets via jewelry or other portable valuable commodities and former Turks & Caicos premier Michael Misick:
U.S. prosecutors issued a press release yesterday announcing the extradition of former Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo. Mr. Portillo’s extradition to the United States was based on his alleged money laundering.
Yesterday, Mr. Portillo was also arraigned in federal court in Manhattan. Although Mr. Portillo was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshal, the
This Asset Search News Roundup discusses the Secrecy for Sale Project and the indictment of a NY attorney along with a Swiss banker:
I) The US-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, (“ICIJ”), analyzed more than 2.5 million documents in its Secrecy for Sale Project. The Project began after the ICIJ received a computer hard