A cross-border asset-tracing mandate.
- 01$740mAssets traced
- 029Jurisdictions covered
- 0318 monthsEngagement length
- 04High CourtSupervising court
Our team was instructed by the fund’s counsel after the collapse of a co-investment vehicle to trace misappropriated capital through a web of offshore entities—a mandate turning on reconstructing fund flows from fragmented banking records across nine jurisdictions.
The question
Investors had committed capital to a vehicle whose manager subsequently disappeared. Counsel needed to know where the money had gone, which assets remained recoverable, and whether the evidence would support freezing orders in the jurisdictions where those assets now sat.
Our approach
We reconstructed the vehicle’s ledger from bank statements, payment messages and corporate filings, linking more than two million documents into a single transaction graph. Each flow was traced to a terminal asset and tagged with the strength of evidence behind it, ready for use in court.
The findings
The analysis identified a pattern of round-tripping through shell companies and nominee directors, ultimately landing in real estate, private equity stakes and a yacht. Our tracing reports supported worldwide freezing orders and disclosure applications in several jurisdictions, each built on a common evidential spine.
The outcome
A substantial proportion of the traced assets has been frozen or recovered, and proceedings continue against the remaining holders. The client credited the single, consistent tracing model with allowing counsel in each jurisdiction to act quickly and in step.
In asset recovery, the speed of the first freezing order often decides what is left to recover.