Law Enforcement

You’ve been told about the importance of social networks ad nauseum, but between casework, your personal life and actual in-person networking, finding the time to tend to these profiles can be demanding. However, any asset recovery^* and financial crime professional trying to build a name in the field – even if your position precludes you from being prominent – should know the basics.

The traditional mindset of investigators when it comes to the use of nominees by the subjects of their investigations is connected to the ownership of assets; and that only trusted individuals or companies, that they can exercise some type of dominion and control over, will be used to hold title to their assets.

At least one lawmaker seems to want the Securities and Exchange Commission to become irrelevant. The regulator has had its problems. But a Republican bid to reshape it seems meant to hinder, not help. There’s room for improvement, but with its duties growing, the watchdog needs more staff, more money and a buffer against Congress. The New York Times, Thursday, August 4, 2011

While the News of the World phone hacking investigation is still in its early stages, the possibility of parent company News Corp. being forced to make restitution to victims, families, shareholders and even the UK and US governments through civil and criminal litigation, and the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, is very real.

Citigroup Inc. asked a bankruptcy judge to throw out a $430 million lawsuit brought by the Trustee in the Bernard Madoff bankruptcy^*. The trustee doesn’t allege and can’t claim that Citigroup defendants had actual knowledge of the insolvency^* of Madoff’s firm or that any transfer they received was made with a fraudulent purpose, the New York-based bank said in a filing yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy^* Court in Manhattan.

A Manhattan federal judge has frozen the assets of three Swiss asset managers accused of illegally profiting from trades made ahead of the $1.2 billion sale of Arch Chemicals to the Lonza Group, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced on Monday. The S.E.C.

What does a declassified British security service's report have to do with the South African government's utter lack of political will to pursue corruption proceeds? Many onlookers are saying it is indicative of an endemic problem experienced by those who try to recover assets on behalf of the country. Meanwhile, billions of dollars in potential restitution hang in the balance.

Investigating corruption? Get ready to be investigated yourself.

Switzerland has blocked Syrian assets worth 27 million Swiss francs ($32 million), Swiss news agency SDA reported on Sunday, citing a Swiss newspaper report that the Swiss Secretariat for Economics (SECO) confirmed. The news agency said SECO declined to comment on whether the assets of President Bashar al-Assad had been frozen. Reuters, Sunday, July 3, 2011