IAAR expert panel to dissect case study fact pattern during annual conference

As regular followers of IAAR know, the association’s annual conference is less than a week away, and in anticipation IAAR has released its fact pattern for the closing general session, Tracing the Assets of Your Target and His Fronts Through Bank Records, Social Media and ‘Commodities Flow’ Analysis. The case study will feature a slew of top thought leaders in asset recovery^* with a wide array of backgrounds, including:

• Former IRS Special Agent Mike McDonald, a long-time IAAR Advisory Board Member and former Executive Director.
• Don Semesky, who spent many years as a Special Agent with IRS Criminal Investigation where he constructed sophisticated cases against financial criminals of all types
• Tracy Coenen, a top-tier forensic accountant^* who has investigated numerous high-level frauds and Ponzi schemes.
• Edmund Rahming, a Managing Director for Krys Global who brings a broad range of experience in insolvency^*, fraud and forensic accounting investigations and litigation-related financial analyses.

This team of experts will “track” the ruined empire of “Mr. X” as they showcase all the latest legal and investigative techniques at an asset recovery^* specialist’s disposal. The panel will be moderated by our own esteemed president, Charles Intriago, and will featured dedicated Q&A time for attendees to throw their own case curveballs at the panel. There is still time to register and room for this can’t miss panel, so follow this link to sign up now. Here is the fact pattern:

Mr. X is the subject of our investigation. During the economic boom he made much money from his Las Vegas real estate and development firm, X-DEV. Mr. X also solicited US investors with the promise of similar developments in foreign markets.

With the collapse of the US housing market, X’s firm was exposed as a Ponzi scheme^*. His international projects were fabrications and he had never begun the costly process of getting licensed. More than 2,500 investors came forward, each claiming losses. His scam took in about $250 million in principal investments and was responsible for about $1.2 billion in on-paper losses.

X-DEV has few tangible assets. Financial reports show most of its revenue was used to pay a Grand Cayman consultancy, En-Drun. Getting information about En-Drun’s beneficial owners has proved challenging. The firm shares an address with 500 other businesses in a three story George Town building.

Mr. X has some assets, but a creditor has a lien on his homes and three brick-and-mortar office buildings in three cities. The creditor is not a registered victim of the Ponzi scheme^*. The IRS seized $4.5 million in accounts at JP Morgan Chase, UBS and HSBC, and $2 million held in the name X-DXC at Nevada State Bank.

Mr. X was convicted, but the effort to regain assets for victims is ongoing. A team of top lawyers, forensic accountants and investigators have convened to try to recover money for victims, and here is what they know:

• Financial advisors steered commercial customers to funds that included investments in X-DEV.
• Mr. X’s facilitators include partners at his New York based firm, wealthy friends who acted as "feeders" for his fraud and trusted confidants who helped attract new "clients".
• Mr. X sponsored the local university’s basketball team to curry favor with prospects and officials.
• The SEC received warnings about Mr. X's activities from members in his facilitators' organizations.
• Mr. X led an extravagant life, and for asset recovery^* purposes many of his are dissipated. 

Using these facts, our team of asset recovery^* professionals will divine a strategy to make their victims as close to whole as possible.