Partner Jane Colston and associate Theodore Elton co-wrote a chapter about international asset tracing and the English courts for the 2024 edition of the CDR Fraud, Asset Tracing & Recovery.
In the chapter, published on April 9, they explored the relationship between the English courts and international asset tracing, looking at certain examples of civil or criminal tools that aid in asset recovery, such as mutual legal assistance, unexplained wealth orders and Norwich Pharmacal orders.
The English courts have shown a willingness to adapt quickly and proactively to new asset classes, particularly cryptocurrency, they noted. Some of the key concerns the authors identified include the lack of transparency in accounting as to the book, balance and value of the cryptoassets of a business, Issues surrounding the practical seizure and control of cryptoassets, the volatility of cryptoassets and the impact of any decision to sell or hold and issues of applicable governing law and jurisdiction of assets.
Inadequate anti-fraud systems compound the problems of money laundering, asset misappropriation and insider trading, which are ever present in financial institutions and across other sectors, they noted.
"The legal profession is faced with the ever-increasing international nature of investigations in areas such as money laundering and data breaches, and a rise in cross-border misconduct means that more complex investigations are being conducted by more regulators in more jurisdictions," they wrote. "In this regard, it is abundantly clear that AI will be useful in disclosure exercises and for thematically categorizing documents for human review, mapping communications between certain people to show how often they might be communicating and helping to identify areas of interest. Regulators such as the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the courts are already recognizing the usefulness of AI in investigating fraud, and this trend is sure to continue."
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