2011 Conference Programme

Do your complex cases involve global asset recovery?  Would you like to enhance your knowledge of sophisticated techniques from other experts?

Download the timed Conference ScheduleIf the crimes uncovered by the recent global financial meltdown have taught us anything, it is that corruption and fraud know no borders – especially not the imaginary lines that separate nations. Fraudsters and their abettors have always gone to great lengths to obscure their assets, and the World Wide Web, along with the advent of the digital age, has made this clandestine crime easier.  As such, today nearly every effort to recapture the proceeds of financial crimes – every asset recovery case – is a cross-border case.

From the organization that hosted the largest asset recovery conference in the history of the field, the International Association for Asset Recovery presented the 2011 Cross-Border Asset Tracing and Recovery Conference on 12-14 June 2011.

1. Penetrating Fraudsters' Ruses and Hiding Spots – Using a Court’s Far-Reaching ‘Equity Powers’ to Help You Trace and Recover Hidden Assets

Civil search warrants, break-and-search orders, reformation and rescission of contracts, writs of assistance, writs of ne exeat, gag-and-seal orders. Have you heard about them? All of these very potent weapons and more are yours for the asking if you have "clean hands." For centuries, courts have followed the axiom, "Where there’s a wrong there’s a remedy, if you come with clean hands.” This principle gives courts the power to do "equity" when no statute or regulation provides the relief that financial crime victims seek. Government agents have badges, guns and grand juries, but private sector representatives of fraud victims have similar powers in the equitable relief a court gives. It can compel disclosure, rewrite contracts, declare a wrongful detention of assets, transfer property, require document examinations, freeze assets, and other things. In this vital panel, top experts will show you how to get, construct and use these powerful weapons that put you on a winning road in asset recovery.

Speakers: Felicity Toube, Martin Kenney, Arnaldo Lacayo
Moderators: Charles Intriago, James Earp

2. Tracing and Recovering the Stolen National Treasures Taken by Deposed Despots and Dictators in the Middle East and North Africa

The Middle East-North Africa region is convulsing with upheaval and revolution. With that has come the unmasking of the deep corruption that the deposed dictators and their close associates practice over long decades in power. In some cases it is estimated that the dictators stole $40 billion or more from their impoverished subjects. To recover that money, asset recovery professionals must understand the unique tools and weapons that they must use to meet the asset recovery challenge effectively. There are tools and weapons offered by the countries that follow the common law, the civil law and, in predominantly Muslim countries, Sharia law. Whether it is a private sector team of asset recovery professionals or a public sector team which may be cooperating with their private sector counterparts, it is important that both know what they must do to vindicate the rights of the ravished treasuries of the affected countries.

Speakers: Kenneth Barden, Andrew Witts and Kevin Hellard
Moderator: David Quinones

3. Think Offshore Secrecy Havens Are Impenetrable in Asset Tracing and Recovery Cases? Wrong.

The sixty or so secrecy havens around the world that shield fraud and other criminal proceeds from their rightful owners represent an obstacle to asset tracing and recovery efforts of both private and public sector asset recovery teams worldwide. Many people believe they are impenetrable by asset recovery teams, but that is not true. There are several appropriate and legal judicial, investigative and other remedies that allow you to lift the secrecy that these jurisdictions purportedly impose, to discover the true ownership of assets, uncover crucial financial information and take back the assets that rightfully belong in other hands. In this session, top experts will show you how you and the right team can break through the secrecy, locate the asset you seek, identify the fronts who hold them for the true beneficial owner and recover and repatriate the assets all within the existing legal and investigative framework.

Speakers: Martin Kenney, Kenneth Krys and Trevor Millington
Moderators: Charles Intriago and David Quinones

4. 'One-Off' Asset Recovery – Forcing Third Parties, Facilitators and Fronts to Pay When the Fraudster and the Stolen Funds Have Fled

The collapse of a financial crime or fraud scheme is merely the beginning of a long road the victims must travel to recover their stolen funds. In most cases, the fraudster or other financial criminal has fled and the stolen assets are well-hidden or have been dissipated. A growing body of tools and legal precepts has arisen in recent years to help victims recover assets from third parties. This is a process that IAAR calls “one-off” recovery. The targeted "third-party" recovery effort focuses on many of the usual suspects, including fronts, co-conspirators, aiders and abettors, lawyers, financial advisors, broker dealers, bankers, family members and others. Here, top experts give you invaluable information on how to select the targets, what investigative and legal maneuvers to use, the defenses you can anticipate and how to respond, and how to recover. This section is worth the price of admission.

Speakers: Javier Cremades, Linda Candler and Jonathan Edward Wheeler
Moderator: Charles Intriago

5. How Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties and Other Diplomatic Tools Help Public and Private Sector Asset Recovery Specialists Succeed

Nearly all Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties (MLATs) have asset recovery/forfeiture clauses and other provisions that can be extremely helpful in asset tracing and recovery case. Not many private sector asset recovery specialists know how they can maneuver their cases and negotiate with the public sector investigators and prosecutors to take advantage of the information and evidence-gathering assistance that MLATs and other bilateral and multilateral agreements provide. Sophisticated fraudsters and other criminals shield their assets and hide and disguise them in other countries. With the help of government counterparts, a private sector asset recovery team can succeed in ways that are unattainable without that help. MLATs and other international agreements, such as the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), require signatory governments to provide assistance in certain asset recovery cases. In this panel, you will learn how to benefit from international agreements and diplomatic resources and how you can strengthen your asset recovery arsenal in multi-jurisdictional cases through these means.

Speakers: Linda Candler, Kevin Roberts and Trevor Millington
Moderator: James Earp

6. Essential Tools That Top Professionals Deploy to Succeed in Global Asset Recovery Cases

Tracing and recovering assets is a learned skill. Financial criminals get the best advice money can buy for guidance on hiding and disguising assets to keep them from getting recovered by their rightful owners. Skilled forensic accountants, lawyers, investigators and analysts know how to penetrate those artifices, locate hidden assets and uncover true ownership. Skilled asset recovery professionals know the best practices that legal, investigative and forensics practitioners must follow to improve their chance of success. What do original entry documents really show and how should business books and records be mined for the gold they contain? How does a specialist find out the potential investigative yield of a case? Is a particular asset worth pursuing? What are the best methods to trace assets from the point of acquisition to the present hiding place? Here, four experts guide you with invaluable tips they have learned through decades of successful experience.

Speakers: Christopher Osborne, Chris Phillips, Kenneth Krys and Lisa Burton
Moderator: David Quinones

7. Navigating the Requirements of the (Imminent) UK Bribery Act and the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act – Keeping the Corruption Assets in View

It is not enough to punish corrupt public officials. The citizens of the victimized jurisdictions should have their national treasuries made whole. In recent decades, an art has emerged in the challenging work of tracing and recovering corruption proceeds of dictators such as Abacha, Marcos, Duvalier, Obiang and dozens of others. Sometimes what they steal runs into the billions of Pounds, such as Abacha and Mubarak. Heightened enforcement of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the UK Bribery Act shed light on the issue, "Where's the money and how do we get it back?" The tracing and recovery of official corruption proceeds is a job for public and private sector professionals. Here, four top experts show you how to break through barriers to locate and take back the national treasures that corrupt officials steal in and out of the ambit of the UK Bribery Act and the US FCPA.

Speakers: Martin Kenney, Kevin Roberts and Fiona Jackson
Moderator: Charles Intriago

8. Hands-On, Real-Life Case Study on Succeeding in Tracing and Recovering Assets in a Multinational Fraud Case

The facts and players in multinational fraud vary from case to case, but when it comes to hiding the proceeds, there are few mysteries. It is difficult to hide all traces of money flows. There are not many places to hide; the fronts and other devices that financial criminals use have been well documented over the decades. Sound investigative, analytical and forensics techniques can usually show where the money went. Here, using a case study we put together from the facts of well-known frauds, four experts from the legal, investigative and forensics disciplines engage you in working through the case to the point of the recovery of well-hidden assets. This includes offshore secrecy havens, fronts, money launderers, corruption and other common practices. There are universal best practices that increase the chance of winning an asset recovery case. You will get actionable, practical knowledge that you can immediately apply in your cases.

Speakers: Javier Cremades, Christopher Osbourne and William Jennings
Moderator: James Earp

9. Dissecting Bank, Business and Credit Card Records That Lead You to Hidden Assets and Fronts for Bad Guys

These days, when the electronic movement of funds leaves tracks in many places, money can run but it cannot hide. Even currency at some point must find its way to a financial institution to lose its conspicuous state and convert to another form of value. Financial institutions and commercial businesses keep many types of records that can provide a roadmap to substantial assets, their owners, the real beneficial owners, and to other suspects who had escaped attention. Knowing what records to subpoena from a bank, securities dealer, insurance company, mutual fund, money transmitter or business is a crucial skill. An equally important skill is determining what the records reveal. Any law enforcement agency seeking greater success in asset forfeiture must assure that its investigators and analysts acquire those skills. Here, experts give you invaluable lessons on the records you need and how to get them.

Speakers: Kenneth Barden and Fiona Jackson
Moderator:  Charles Intriago

10. Maneuvering Your Asset Recovery Effort Smartly Through the Distinct Rules in Civil Law and Common Law Countries

Large-scale fraudsters will not leave the proceeds of their crimes in an account at your neighborhood bank. They will do everything possible to place the stolen funds where it is difficult for you to identify and recover. The financial criminal knows that as he maneuvers between countries that operate under legal different legal systems the difficulty increases for public and private sector asset recovery teams. About half the world operates under the common law system, including Great Britain, the United States, Canada and Australia. Another large portion of the world operates under civil law such as nations in continental Europe and Latin America. Different rules apply in both, and any effective asset recovery professional must know how to navigate around and through the respective rules of the game. In this panel, experienced professionals give you vital roadmaps on how to do that. This panel is worth the price of admission.

Speakers: Sion Richards, Stephane Bonifassi and Dieter Hofmann
Moderator: Jonathan Edward Wheeler

11. General Session | Guidance on the 'Guidance': Countdown to Enforcement of the UK Bribery Act and Asset Recovery Implications

Bribery is on the front-burner internationally, and the landmark UK Bribery Act is the most-discussed issue. In response to repeated requests, demands and pleas from the asset recovery community around the world, IAAR has added this much-needed panel to its programme in order to provide a venue for professionals to "war-game" the impending enforcement of the UK Bribery Act with experts in the know. The legislation, set to take effect July 1, has been the source of much rancor and little understanding since it received royal assent last year – and guidance published by the Ministry of Justice has only fueled more questions. Will it help or hurt the fight against corruption and graft? Is there intersection with POCA? And what hurdles does the Section 7 defence present? Here, panelists will explore the Bribery Act's impact on business, regulators and law enforcement, and provide best practices for asset recovery professionals. Your questions on the UK Bribery Act will be answered by "best in the business" speakers in this groundbreaking session.

 

Speakers: Charlie Monteith, Stephen Hancock, Sterl Greenhalgh

Moderator: Jonathan Edward Wheeler

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