Lawyers

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.

As an attorney^* defending corporations and banks, Boaz Weinstein began to feel as though he was on the wrong side of the fight. The graduate of Columbia Law School and former clerk for federal judge Robert P. Patterson Jr. admits that the concept of litigating on behalf of the investor was more appealing during his time at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton. Today, Weinstein is Director and Chief Underwriting Manager at BlackRobe Capital, an investment group that funds litigation attempts on behalf of investors.

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.

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.

After surviving an early attempt to blunt the legislation, the soon-to-be-released European Order for the Preservation of Assets and its sister law, the European Order for the Disclosure of Assets, could be effective in the cross-border fight to take back assets, if they are enacted.

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