Nicholas Bortman

Practice Areas

Nicholas has acted in a wide range of matters over a 19-year career in corporate investigations. He has significant experience in commercial and investor-state arbitration, corruption investigations, evidence gathering in jurisdictions with minimal disclosure requirements and supporting the enforcement of judgements and arbitral awards. Prior to co-founding Raedas, he spent six years in the Middle East developing a regional practice and working to integrate investigations into litigation strategy in matters heard before local courts and tribunals.

Nicholas has participated in matters before DIFC, UAE, Lebanon, Singapore, UK, France, Cayman Islands, BVI, and US courts and arbitration centres as well as private disputes among Middle Eastern merchant families and royalty. He has acted for UHNW, corporate, sovereign and supranational clients and given evidence before multiple arbitral tribunals and in US federal proceedings.

Nicholas has been cross examined on his evidence in multiple proceedings, most notably as a fact witness in DIFC LCIA arbitration and related proceedings between Iraq Telecom (a joint venture between Agility and Orange Telecom) and a Middle East telecommunications company and its owners. His work was explicitly cited as instrumental in the success of the claimant’s primary claims and the resulting award of USD 1.65 billion.

In 2016 Nicholas was asked to consult for the International Criminal Court of The Hague, evaluating the Court’s financial investigation practices and advising the Office of the Prosecutor on asset recovery in Africa. In 2020 he co-founded FIND, a not-for-profit investigations practice to support civil society groups seeking justice for victims of human rights abuses, war and environmental crime. To date FIND has helped 17 organisations pursue a range of accountability strategies involving 45 jurisdictions and is funded by Open Society Foundations among others.

Nicholas serves on the expert roster Justice Rapid Response, an intergovernmental facility for the global deployment of criminal justice professionals trained to investigate genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and serious human rights violations. He is also a member of the UN Security Council Affairs Division’s roster of experts.

Nicholas was trained by a former Manhattan District Attorney’s Office trial prosecutor, providing investigative and analytical support in tobacco and pharmaceutical counterfeiting and smuggling investigations.