Overview
Financial and investment fraud typically carries two parallel dimensions, a criminal track aimed at holding the responsible party accountable, and a civil track aimed at recovering the funds affected, and coordinating both together achieves the best outcome for the victim.
Acting quickly after discovering fraud matters, since the chances of recovering funds decrease the longer time passes, giving the responsible party an opportunity to conceal or dispose of the assets involved.
Regulatory Basis
The criminal dimension of financial fraud falls under fraud and financial crime regulations, while a civil claim to recover funds falls under general civil liability provisions.
How We Handle Fraud Cases
We begin with careful documentation of available evidence and tracing the path of funds involved in the fraud, since successful recovery depends heavily on the speed and quality of this documentation.
We coordinate between the criminal track for reporting the fraud and the civil track for recovering funds, ensuring neither track weakens the other.
Who Needs This Service
A company that discovers it's a victim of financial fraud from a party it dealt with, whether an employee, business partner, or outside party.
An investor who discovers their investment was fraudulently directed and needs a quick assessment of the chances of recovering their funds.
From the cases we've handled, investment fraud typically targets investors seeking unrealistically fast returns, relying on time pressure to prevent the investor from doing enough due diligence before transferring funds. Acting immediately upon discovering suspicion, even before full certainty of fraud, generally preserves more options for tracing the funds than waiting for complete certainty.
Additional Considerations
Investment fraud often carries a criminal dimension requiring coordination with our bribery and money laundering service when the fraud is connected to an organized financial scheme.
The civil claim to recover funds connects with our litigation and advocacy team to pursue this path alongside any criminal action.
Common Questions
What's the most important step upon discovering financial fraud?
Documenting available evidence immediately and assessing the path of funds before the responsible party has a chance to move them, since acting quickly significantly increases the chances of recovery.
Can funds be recovered and the responsible party held criminally accountable at the same time?
Yes, and we coordinate between the civil and criminal tracks together to achieve the best outcome, rather than handling each track in isolation.