Civil Fraud, Asset Recovery and Enforcement

We have built up a specialism in fraud through years of hard-earned experience. 

We advise individuals, businesses, financial institutions, investors and sovereign states on civil fraud claims, asset recovery and cross-border enforcement. Our team acts for both claimants and defendants in state court litigation and arbitration. 

Many of our cases are fast moving and international in nature. We regularly coordinate cross-border litigation strategies, working with our global network of trusted independent law firms, investigators, forensic accountants, PR advisers and litigation funders to build the right team for each matter, wherever that support is needed.

Our work includes:

• bringing or defending cases involving allegations of fraud, dishonesty and conspiracy;
• cross-border asset identification and recovery;
• enforcement of judgments and arbitral awards;
• obtaining or defending urgent interim relief, including worldwide freezing orders and worldwide asset disclosure orders, in support of litigation or arbitration in England or elsewhere;
• obtaining or challenging domestic or international discovery orders;
• use of domestic and cross border insolvency processes;
• dealing with sham trusts, illusory trusts and trust recovery strategies;
• jurisdictional challenges in state courts and arbitration; and
• parallel civil, criminal and regulatory proceedings.

Our experience spans disputes involving commercial fraud, financial services, private wealth and tax-related disputes, often involving overlapping proceedings that are highly sensitive and which potentially involve significant reputational damage. 

Work highlights include:

• representing a fund in liquidation in connection with mismanagement and misappropriation of assets;
• successfully discharging a $350m worldwide freezing order against a businessman in a dispute involving parallel proceedings in England, Hong Kong, Norway and Russia, including a private prosecution and contempt proceedings;
• acting for lenders against a businessman in an LCIA arbitration, supported by a $100m+ freezing order. The case involved early insolvency processes and asset-tracing across Ukraine, Cyprus, Latvia, Belize, the BVI and the US;
• obtaining discovery from a major law firm under the fraud/iniquity exception to privilege;
• acting for a businessman on the recognition and enforcement of a foreign judgment in England accompanied by a $1.25bn worldwide freezing order;
• acting for a private bank on the recovery of misappropriated funds using cross border civil and criminal processes;
• acting for a businessman in connection with allegations of criminality based on forged documentation;
• acting for businessmen challenging the jurisdiction of the BVI court in connection with a $1bn conspiracy claim; and
• representing businessmen in the successful strike out of a conspiracy claim.