ICC Commercial Crime Service

Mobilized Team Approach

FraudNet’s lead lawyer begins by assembling a strategic multidisciplinary transnational team that includes asset recovery lawyers, investigators and forensic accountants from within the network.

The FraudNet team promptly organizes a forensic investigation and selects the optimum jurisdiction to commence court proceedings. The team moves quickly and diligently, using specialized disclosure, gag and seal and investigative orders (e.g., 28 USC 1782 and Anton Piller/Banker’s Trust orders). With their specialized arsenal of civil remedies, FraudNet lawyers can force third-party financial institutions hiding assets to covertly disclose critical information, without tipping off targeted fraudsters.

Other civil court orders grant FraudNet teams the authority to obtain documents and perform search and seizures to retrieve critical information for the investigation. In jurisdictions where civil remedies do not exist, FraudNet teams collaborate with law enforcement to freeze local assets and track assets in other jurisdictions for use in civil or criminal proceedings.

After successful investigation, the FraudNet team freezes the target’s assets across the globe in multiple, simultaneous civil court actions. FraudNet lawyers use injunctions or freeze orders to prevent fraudsters and their accomplices from selling or transferring assets before they can be liquidated to satisfy victims’ claims.

The team also pursues replacement assets and compensation from financial institutions and other professionals who may be held liable for breach of fiduciary and other duties under the law. This can include civil remedies, suing for damages in criminal proceedings or a blend of the two.

Robust Recovery Efforts

With seamless global transfers of funds, fraudsters can instantaneously steal and hide liquid assets inside financial institutions across the globe. Teams of well-funded, professional criminals are aided and abetted by cyber stealth and bank secrecy laws.

Time is of the essence when recovering assets. Setting up an ad hoc international team of asset recovery professionals in many jurisdictions can be time-consuming, ineffective and costly. Furthermore, fraud victims will find that fraud is a low priority for law enforcement, whose focus is on criminal punishment but not on reparation for the fraud victim. Law enforcement’s international reach is constrained by the formalities of international law, and most agencies lack the resources to quickly freeze assets before they are transferred beyond their jurisdiction.

Successfully combatting international fraud and corruption requires concerted, multi-jurisdictional expertise and decisive legal action by experienced professionals over and above traditional law enforcement.

FraudNet members can assist creditor-victims and estate fiduciaries (trustees, liquidators, etc.) with a growing number of litigation finance tools. Creative fee arrangements, including full and blended contingency arrangements and third-party financing, may be available to finance investigation and recovery efforts.