Asset tracing
SFC provides asset tracing services to law firms and their clients globally.
Asset tracing strategies
We work with law firms and their clients both before and after arbitral and court proceedings. We develop and implement asset tracing strategies to identify and locate recoverable assets worldwide.
Robust methodologies
We specialize in tracing hard-to-find assets by disentangling complex ownership structures across jurisdictions. We use robust research methodologies and extensive local sources in onshore and offshore financial centres to uncover the clues that eventually lead to actual assets.
Global expertise
We always work in close conjunction with the lawyers involved to ensure that any asset we find is recoverable in the jurisdiction concerned. We have extensive experience in cross-border cases and have traced assets in all shapes and forms, from sailing boats and real estate properties to works of art and bank relationships.
Recent assignments
Identification of assets for post-award enforcement
In the perspective of post-award enforcement, we conducted inquiries in Switzerland in relation to the defendant, a foreign businessman with Swiss residence. We identified his current address and had it officially confirmed. A site visit brought further evidence of his presence at the address in question.
As a next step, we searched for the Subject’s assets in Switzerland. A property in the name of a close relative was identified at one of his previous residential addresses. The defendant himself was found to be the beneficial owner of a holding company that controlled real estate corporate entities in France. Our research allowed our client to initiate enforcement proceedings targeting directly the assets held by the defendant thus improving the chances of recovery.
Mapping the assets of a high net worth individual in the perspective of a succession
We were instructed jointly by lawyers acting for an elderly ultra-high-net-worth individual and his son. The individual and the son were discussing an estate plan in preparation for the individual’s eventual passing. The son suspected that his father was not disclosing, or did not know, the full extent of his assets.
We conducted a full review of the individual’s assets, which amounted to several hundreds of millions, using both information provided by his advisors and conventional asset tracing techniques. In the end we were able to confirm the existence of most of the individual’s assets but we also identified additional assets and disabused the son who erroneously thought that his father still held certain assets.
Helping bank liquidators locate debtors’ assets
Our client (a law firm) was appointed as liquidator of a bank that was part of a wider foreign group. The bankruptcy estate held some claims against a number of corporate entities and individuals. The liquidators wished to determine the chances of recovering funds through court proceedings by assessing the extent and nature of the assets held by the debtors.
We conducted research aimed at determining whether the latter were insolvent or, on the contrary, still held substantial assets. Our research was based on a comprehensive review of publicly available information, as well as targeted interviews, across several jurisdictions in the Caribbean, Luxembourg, a Southern European country and a Latin American country.
