The Worldwide recession has caused economies to collapse, fraud seems one of the only industries unaffected by the crisis. Bernard Madoff, Sir Allen Stanford, Barry Tannenbaum; were all involved in major frauds within the last six months, with damages as high as US$ 50 billion.

A problem that should be for the criminal authorities has great influence on the day to day work of insolvency practitioners, appointed as liquidators in fraud cases, or assisting victims of fraud in their struggle for restitution. Alex King (||Australia||, Chair), Andrew Weissmann (||USA||), Anthony Akiwumi (Cayman Islands) and ||Bernd Klose|| (||Germany||) all discussed backgrounds and strategies to fight fraud, tracing and locating assets, and returning them to the victims in the 2009 INSOL Conference, Vancouver.

The Worldwide recession has caused economies to collapse, fraud seems one of the only industries unaffected by the crisis. Bernard Madoff, Sir Allen Stanford, Barry Tannenbaum; were all involved in major frauds within the last six months, with damages as high as US$ 50 billion.

A problem that should be for the criminal authorities has great influence on the day to day work of insolvency practitioners, appointed as liquidators in fraud cases, or assisting victims of fraud in their struggle for restitution. Alex King (||Australia||, Chair), Andrew Weissmann (||USA||), Anthony Akiwumi (Cayman Islands) and ||Bernd Klose|| (||Germany||) all discussed backgrounds and strategies to fight fraud, tracing and locating assets, and returning them to the victims in the 2009 INSOL Conference, Vancouver.

Fraudsters; mainly male, well educated and middle-aged use the possibilities of modern communication technology and globalization to commit frauds and hide the assets defrauded. The international approach of the fraudsters needs an international answer by the victims and cross border insolvency regimes like the UNCITRAL Model Law improve the standing of the victims. The panellists discussed the advantages of this approach but included in their discussion other routes to restitution such as criminal proceedings and the “Mareva by Letter” concept using the international Anti Money Laundering Regimes.  The panellist found a number of approaches developing slowly but steadily, including international cooperation not only between insolvency regimes but also in criminal and civil proceedings.

As fraudsters use offshore financial centres to hide “their” money, the victims have not only to overcome borders between jurisdictions but between legal systems; fraudsters from Anglo-Saxon law systems prefer ||Switzerland|| and ||Liechtenstein||; fraudsters from Civil Law systems are attracted by the Caribbean offshore jurisdictions. The panellists developed the idea of cooperation across the borders of the legal systems, the use of local remedies available and the strength of international or supranational laws, e.g. the European Union’s Insolvency Regulation. The insolvency practitioner more than anyone else, is close to the prosecuting authorities, has access to the insolvent’s documents, assets and privileges. Exercised in an appropriate manner the insolvency practitioner is one of the most powerful tools the victims have in their struggle for restitution.  This practitioner may also become the hunter of the hidden assets of the insolvent when appointed as liquidator in insolvency proceedings.

The panellists and their audience agreed that a successful asset tracing and recovery expedition needs careful planning, utmost secrecy and the best professional help available.