Fraud, Asset Tracing & Recovery Miami

Enjoy some breakfast, settle in and connect with your peers through a series of rotating roundtable discussions. This interactive, ice-breaking session will operate as a series of 25-minute roundtable discussions — where the audience and hosts can switch tables after each session — for discussion on hot button issues

When contemplating or anticipating a divorce filing in Latin America and the Caribbean, it is not uncommon for a wealthy party to the marriage to conceal their wealth in complex offshore holdings, trusts, and other methods of hiding those assets from their spouse. To effectively identify and value assets that have not been disclosed – or are grossly undervalued – in divorce proceedings, it is important to utilize the latest legal, forensic and investigative tools to trace, trap and repatriate those hidden assets to the marital estate.

Some of the challenges, tools and assets that will be discussed in this engaging session include:

• Hurdles to gathering evidence in multiple foreign jurisdictions
• How to effectively and ethically utilize forensic accounting and corporate intelligence for high stakes matrimonial asset recovery investigations
• Creative use of insolvency tools in matrimonial cases

Digital assets, personal data protection hurdles, and the growing number of mechanisms for concealing assets have heightened the need to adapt asset tracing and recovery strategies. As a result of the many changes to the asset recovery landscape, it is critical to expand your “toolbox” and available resources to recover for your clients.

Be sure to join us in this session as we hear real-world insights from practitioners and investigators who continue to be involved in some of the most impactful and high-profile criminal and civil matters. We will trace the steps that are — and will be — needed to get matters investigated and prosecuted:

• What continues to trigger suspicion and investigations — both criminal and civil
• The early stages of interagency and multi-jurisdictional cooperation, and what is ultimately needed to bring a case to fruition
• The initiation of the investigation and severity of the potential charges against a public official
• The role of outside counsel and cross-border investigation firms in subsequent litigation
• Where civil claims clash with prosecutorial actions or government/agency inaction

It is a very complex landscape within which fraud and insolvency practitioners must navigate, and requires careful consideration of conflicting regimes, class priorities, foreign substantive law, principles of comity, and an array of other cross-border insolvency and fraud-related proceedings.

In this insightful and interactive panel, our experts will discuss:

• Updates on cross-border insolvency and restructuring laws in the U.S., Canadian, Latin American and offshore jurisdictions
• Forum and Venue: Challenges associated with selecting and changing the “battlefield” to speed up cases and gain momentum
• Utilizing Insolvency and Restructuring as mechanisms for exposing fraud, detecting and recovering assets
• To what extent has there been an uptick in insolvency and restructuring; will the trends continue?
• How insolvency and fraud litigators from multiple jurisdictions are now working together
• The do’s and don’ts when applying for freezing orders in insolvency situations

Join us in this session as our panelists discuss:

• Continuing challenges in locating assets hidden in Offshore Jurisdictions
• Challenges with – and strategies for – pursuing assets housed with holding companies and subsidiaries
• The advantages and drawbacks of entities being able to register digital assets in Offshore locations
• The continuing influence and attempts at fraudulent executive appointments
• Newer resources and fraud prevention tools that prosecutors have at their disposal when trying to enforce judgments and recover assets
• What can and cannot be done in LATAM, US, and Caribbean / Offshore hotspots

In this uniquely interactive session, our faculty members act as Plaintiff’s Counsel, Defense Counsel, and a Third-Party Intervenor. We will set the tone with a fact pattern that includes assets being hidden in several “asset havens”, and our litigants will argue their cases in front of our distinguished Justice. Our “case” will be full of twists and turns, as our international law firms seek to protect the interests of their high net-worth clients, fraud victims, and interested third parties.

Our winner – as determined by Audience Polling – will be announced on Day Two before closing with our annual “Fraud Miami” Champagne Toast.

• Blood Diamonds and unlawfully acquired assets
• Tracing Cash
• Surprise injunctions and freezing orders
• The role of forensic accountants
• Crypto and digital assets
• Covert intelligence gathering by electronic means
• International bank account information procurement

During this highly anticipated keynote, The Chief Justice of the Cayman Islands will share first-hand insights related to fraud and asset recovery proceedings; along with other pressing, critical matters during these pivotal times.

Crypto Fraud schemes are continuously changing, and the increasing activity in digital asset fraud has created numerous challenges for fraud and asset recovery practitioners – particularly around the standard suite of relief for fraud victims. In addition, there is a lot of uncertainty regarding the underlying substantive crypto claims relating to fraud, where there arguably remain more questions than answers.

Join this session to delve into crypto disputes and consider issues such as:

• The court’s powers in multiple jurisdictions to recognize and ID crypto asset owners; and how they can trace and transfer ownership
• “Person Unknown” injunctions and asset freezing orders
• Understanding some of the unique and advanced types of crypto fraud; including: scam ICOs, pump and dump schemes, exit scams, phishing and advanced Ponzi schemes
• The known and unknowns in crypto disputes that will impact fraud claims: good faith, money vs commodity, DAOs, flash loan exploits and more
• What to look out for when following a chain of transactions via the blockchain, and how crypto fraudsters commonly seek to off-board fraudulently obtained crypto and fiat money

Due to the growing number of financial institution, holding company, crypto exchange and subsidiary collapses, collectability risk has become a major focus of litigation finance globally. As a result, practitioners anticipate a growing demand for asset recovery and enforcement funding, because this collectability risk is being evaluated just as diligently as legal risk.

Join us as we examine the risks and newest methodologies for assessing collectability in the context of litigation funding in key jurisdictions.

A fraudster is the hare. An asset recovery team is the tortoise. The tortoise is slow and lumbering – and cannot catch the hare absent the use of utmost secrecy of its movements.

However, open justice and the rights of freedom of expression and to due process are core principles in a free and democratic society. Derogations can only be justified in exceptional circumstances. When can a Court cloak a disclosure order in ancillary secrecy orders? How is this question answered by the courts? This panel will explore this important subject by discussing:

• Ex Parte Super Injunctions
• Sealing and Gagging Relief
• Anonymization Orders
• Temporary Suspension of the Adversarial Process

Now a staple at C5/ACI’s conference in Miami, enjoy a glass of champagne and join us as our panelists discuss the new, growing trends in Fraud and Asset Recovery in Latin America. Come with your questions and comments, as the audience will be encouraged to join the conversation and discuss such topics as:

• Some of the emerging challenges and trends in locating and freezing assets in Central and South America
• The impact of regime changes on fraud and corruption investigations throughout the region
• Special considerations for fraud-related, environmental, financial and money-laundering crimes
• The continuing influence and attempts at fraudulent executive appointments
• Newer resources and fraud prevention tools that practitioners have at their disposal when trying to enforce judgments and recover assets in Latin America
• The future of litigation, damage assessment, internal investigations, insolvency and asset recovery