ICC FraudNet

Chairman: Aimee Prieto (Dominican Republic) and Danny Ong (Singapore)

Number of members: 86 members from 76 jurisdictions

Languages:Afrikaans, Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English, Efik, Filipino, Flemish, French, Gaelic, German, Greek, Hausa, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Italian, Ibo, Japanese, Latvian, Maltese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Thai, Ukrainian, Urdu, Yoruba

Network Overview:

With 86 members in 76 jurisdictions and growing, ICC FraudNet is an international network of independent lawyers who are the leading anti-fraud/asset recovery specialist(s) in each country. Founded in 2004 by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), FraudNet operates under the auspices of the ICC’s Commercial Crime Services. Its membership extends to every continent and the world’s major economies, as well as leading offshore wealth havens with complex bank secrecy laws and institutions, where the proceeds of fraud are often hidden.

ICC FraudNet members are specialists immersed in cutting-edge fraud and recovery jurisprudence and legislation. While the home-country member usually serves as the client entry point, each matter receives the attention of a multi-jurisdictional team of specialists who have a track record of working together in transnational recovery efforts. This prior work experience allows for the rapid creation of a matter-specific team that designs and implements a global recovery strategy. Typical cases incorporate state-of-the-art forensics to model the suspected fraud. Such forensics provide the basis for coordinated, specialised court-supervised disclosure and investigative orders that enable victims to trace and freeze the proceeds of fraud wherever they are held. Depending on the circumstances of any particular case and the jurisdictions involved, the ICC FraudNet team often pursues a combination of civil and criminal proceedings.

Working as a rapid deployment force to quickly identify misappropriated assets and prevent their transfer or dissipation, ICC FraudNet has recovered billions of dollars for victims of some of the world’s largest and most sophisticated frauds. ICC FraudNet members regularly act for government agencies and regulators in effecting domestic and international recovery for victims. Leaving no stone unturned in maximising victims’ recovery, ICC FraudNet members also pursue recoveries against financial institutions, professional advisors and other intermediaries who facilitated or enabled the fraud or corruption.

Main Areas of Practice:

Grand Corruption:

ICC FraudNet members frequently represent sovereign governments in recovering assets misappropriated through corruption, embezzlement and fraud. For example, ICC FraudNet members represented Trinidad & Tobago in the Piarco Airport corruption case in multiple jurisdictions and continue to represent the country’s government in an ongoing corruption case involving a state-owned enterprise. Additionally, ICC FraudNet members represented the Republic of Nigeria in the Abacha cases, with more than US$1.3 billion recovered in Switzerland, Luxembourg, Jersey and Liechtenstein.

Asset Tracing & Recovery:

This specialised core competency for all ICC FraudNet members includes the design and implementation of multi-jurisdictional recovery plans based on state-of-the-art forensics and intimate knowledge of the civil and criminal remedies available in diverse legal systems around the world. Proceeds are traced and recovered from accounts and trusts and other financial vehicles, as well as real property, on behalf of a wide range of clients, including companies defrauded by their own executives or subsidiaries. This also includes the collection of significant judgments where judgment debtors seek to secrete assets beyond the reach of judgment creditors.

Ponzi Schemes:

In pursuing recovery for Ponzi scheme victims, ICC FraudNet members have represented Chapter 11 trustees for a looted investment firm (and its 26 debtor affiliates) concurrent with representing the firm’s US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC)-appointed Receiver. ICC FraudNet members work seamlessly across jurisdictions on some of the largest international cases. This includes advising the Antiguan liquidators of Stanford International Bank, the commercial bank operated by R. Allen Stanford, as the instrument of an $5.5 billion international Ponzi scheme — the second largest in history. Additionally, members currently represent a Chilean liquidator in cross-border insolvency proceedings stemming from Chile’s largest Ponzi scheme and involving the United States, United Kingdom, Switzerland, the Isle of Man and Australia, among other jurisdictions.

Bankruptcy, Insolvency & Receivership:

Many ICC FraudNet members are recognised bankruptcy and insolvency practitioners who routinely access insolvency regimes around the world. They represent creditors, creditors’ committees and estate fiduciaries, such as trustees in bankruptcy and court-appointed receivers, in the pursuit and recovery of the proceeds of fraud. ICC FraudNet members recently pursued assets shielded in shell companies incorporated in multiple offshore wealth havens on behalf of the Receiver for a German GmbH that had perpetrated major investment fraud.

Complex Commercial Fraud:

All ICC FraudNet members are recognised specialists and routinely engage in representing victims of complex commercial frauds. For example, ICC FraudNet members represented the Hong Kong office of a major international accountancy firm in litigation over the use of offshore trusts.