ASSET TRACING / RECOVERY
Asset identification and recovery is a key tool for international businesses and law firms engaged in complex litigation. Guardian provides asset services ranging from verification of claimed holdings by potential partners, suppliers and customers to deep dives that peel back through complex shell corporations, numbered accounts and straw-man entities. Guardian’s tailored services can help clients to differentiate between nominal and beneficial ownership of real estate holdings and the full range of tangible assets. Guardian intelligence services can point clients to hidden assets and adopt successful legal strategies to find, freeze and repatriate funds from off-shore accounts even in once sacrosanct tax havens.
ASSET TRACING CASE STUDIES
Asset Tracing
Guardian was hired by the wife in a high-net worth, front-page tabloid divorce in London to identify assets she suspected had been withheld from the court in an attempt to cheat her out of her fair share of the marital estate. Guardian’s Financial Intelligence Team identified over two billion dollars in previously undisclosed real estate, bank accounts and other assets located in the U.K., U.S. Asia as well as numbered accounts in a number of “tax haven” financial institutions. Confronted with the confidential findings, the husband agreed to a substantial settlement that stands as one of the largest ever in the U.K High Courts.
Guardian was hired by another wife in a high-net worth divorce case in New York to identify assets the husband had illegally failed to disclose in New York State Supreme Court proceedings. Guardian identified tens of millions of dollars held in numbered bank accounts in jurisdictions around the world. The investigation also found that the husband had ongoing illegal business relationships with prohibited entities listed on the U.S. Treasury Department Office of Financial Asset Control (OFAC). At the client’s request a referral was made to U.S. law enforcement to assist in further identification and recovery of hidden money.
Guardian was hired by a wife as part of a divorce proceeding who believed her ex was involved in ongoing criminal enterprises with Russian organized crime groups and had created complex networks of dummy corporations to shield the husband’s substantial financial holdings not only from divorce court but also from other government authorities. Preliminary findings allowed the wife to negotiate a favorable financial settlement.
Guardian was hired by a commercial client involved in a civil dispute with a former business partner who defrauded the partnership through a complex series of double billing schemes involving real and fictitious entities around the world. Guardian identified millions of dollars hidden in numbered accounts in Mauritius, Bangkok, Singapore, and the Channel Islands. The findings led to a favorable settlement for the client.
Guardian personnel were hired by a wife in a pending divorce case. She believed her husband had created an illegal billing scheme to hide illegal deflate the value of a multi-national family business. Guardian identified a number of ghost transactions with shell corporations under the control of her husband’s brother and other relatives. The findings resulted in a substantial increase in the husband’s settlement offer.