asset recovery

Subscribe to asset recovery via RSS

In overruling the trial court’s September 2, 2008 opinion in Bakalar v. Vavra, Index No. 05-CV-3037 (S.D.N.Y.), the U.S. Court of Appeals determined that the heirs of Austrian-Jewish entertainer Fritz Grunbaum could proceed with their Holocaust-era art restitution claim.  According to the Court of Appeals’ September 2, 2010 decision, the trial court had wrongly…

The OECD’s latest paper on transparency in tax matters; a Bulgarian money laundering investigation; and Trevor Cook’s September 9th declaration; are featured at this "Asset Search News Roundup".

  1. The OECD website has published the September 3rd brief, "Promoting Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes". The brief highlights the significance of cross-border

…

Securities fraudster Trevor Cook, assets that might have been misappropriated from former East Germany, and over $2 million is interdicted at a U.S.-Mexican border crossing:

…

"The Americans & Swiss Target The Kleptocrats" contains an article discussing the Swiss Restitution Of Illicit Assets Act ("RIAA"). This act could be passed next month by the Swiss Parliament. It would be used to freeze the proceeds of public corruption schemes which some dictators and other politically exposed persons might transfer from…

American and Swiss officials are ramping up their efforts to recover assets hidden by corrupt foreign politically exposed persons commonly referred to as kleptocrats. A few of my thoughts about this are included at MoneyLaundering.com’s August 6th article “U.S., Swiss Initiatives to Recover Looted Assets Likely to Bring Banks More Subpoenas, Regulatory Scrutiny “:…

My July 11th "Asset Search News Roundup" mentioned that U.S. prosecutors were investigating HSBC since some U.S. taxpayers were suspected of using foreign HSBC bank accounts to facilitate tax frauds.  Swiss prosecutors meanwhile, are separately investigating whether former HSBC employees Hervé Falciani and Georgina Mikhael had illegally accessed bank customer information at HSBC in…

"Forced Collections Against A Fraudster Like Madoff" & "Competing Over Mr. Allen Stanford’s Assets" described the problem of competing claimants trying to recover from a limited pool of funds.  This same problem has been encountered by the plaintiffs in The Lautenberg Foundation v. Madoff, 09-Civ-00816, whose lawsuit I mentioned at "Suing Peter Madoff For Bernard Madoff’s Securities Fraud".

The Lautenberg plaintiffs are damaged investors of Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme and their lawsuit alleges they were injured by Bernard’s younger brother Peter.  As mentioned by their lawsuit, Peter Madoff is allegedly liable for his supposed tortious conduct while working as a "control person" at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC  ("BLMIS").

While the Lautenberg plaintiffs argue that Peter Madoff is liable to them, a complaint filed in an adversary proceeding claims that the Lautenberg lawsuit tries to wrongly recover BLMIS assets from Peter Madoff.  This May 27, 2010 adversary complaint filed by Bernard Madoff Trustee Irving Picard, asserts that the Launtenberg plaintiffs were participants in Trustee Picard’s claims process for damaged investors.Continue Reading Peter Madoff & His Competing Claimants

Today’s "Asset Search News Roundup" examines the criminal investigation into HSBC and the SEC’s case against Kenneth Wayne McLeod’s estate:

  • "U.S. Widens Tax Inquiry Into HSBC" reports that prosecutors are "ramping up their criminal investigation" of HSBC after U.S. taxpayers allegedly used foreign HSBC accounts to hide undeclared assets. My April

…