Fraud, Asset Recovery & Investigations

Fraud & Asset Recovery

• Defended a US$4 billion fraud and asset recovery claim brought before the Singapore Courts relating to an alleged fraud perpetrated by once the fourth richest Turkish family involving multiple jurisdictions including U.S. and Hong Kong.
• Advised and acted for the liquidators and creditors’ committee of an insolvent international company in respect of a civil action in Singapore for a US$1 billion fraud perpetrated on the company, including obtaining search and seizure and freezing orders against multiple parties.
• Acted in a US$500 million dispute before the Singapore Courts relating to an alleged fraud perpetrated in respect of the financing of solar power plants in Europe between a US company and a Shanghai-based company, which involved proceedings in Singapore and England.
• Advised and acted for a leading Brazilian bank in respect of misappropriation of over USD200 million and fraud and tracing claims arising therefrom against multiple parties in various jurisdictions, with worldwide freezing and disclosure orders obtained in various jurisdictions, including Singapore, Hong Kong, England, Switzerland, Nigeria, and the U.S.
• Acted for a state-owned trading company in investigations into a USD125 million fraud perpetrated by officers and controllers of that company in relation to its oil trading activities, and represented the state-owned company in civil claims brought before the Singapore Courts and related criminal complaints.
• Represented one of the largest Indonesian conglomerates in claims for the recovery of secret commissions and bribery monies paid to an agent in relation to a project for the construction of a pulp and paper mill in Indonesia.
• Represented liquidators in their efforts to recover, on behalf of a consortium of both local and offshore banks, more than $140 million in missing equipment, machinery and other company assets that have been dissipated in jurisdictions as diverse as Indonesia, Malaysia, China and Madagascar.

Investigations

• Leading investigations into various allegations of wrongdoing concerning potential fraud and misrepresentation over the disbursement of financing by a leading European Bank through a convoluted Cayman corporate structure, channeling funds to entities involved in the construction of retail shopping projects in Indonesia which were in default of a US$300 million loan.
• Advised in the cross border tracing of assets amounting to US$350million arising from fraudulent mismanagement of the Dressel Investment Funds set up in various cities in Indonesia, including Bandung, Surabaya, Bali and Jakarta with trail of assets reaching into Asia and the USA.
• Appointed as legal counsel for independent auditors to conduct an internal review and investigation into various transactions involving a listed marine and bunkering company, focusing on related party transactions within the core group of companies spanning 5 related entities engaged in marine fuel supplies, gas and oil supplies, bunkering, chartering and ship building activities with total contract values exceeding US$120 million in total.
• Advised on cross border investigations into the dissipation of assets amounting to more than US$100 million by a listed company with subsidiaries in the region, including Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and China, dealing with various allegations including the fabrication of fictitious invoices, phantom suppliers, wrongful use of company funds for related parties' benefit without proper or any disclosure, board mismanagement and breaches of directors' duties.
• Advising on concurrent investigations into fraud perpetrated by a listed company arising from misrepresentations to financial institutions in order to procure funding for phantom construction projects in the Philippines and Indonesia involving more than US$40 million, applying to Court to examine ex-company directors for leads on the tracing of missing monies, advising on cross border tracing of directors' assets and applications to overseas jurisdictions for leave to examine directors and freeze assets.
• Advised the Judicial Managers of a listed company with a multi-million dollar business conglomerate with interests in Costa Rica, India and the United States, including investigations into a cover up of the true extent of the company's liabilities, improper dissipation of assets by directors in breach of their statutory obligations and advising on the commencement of arbitration proceedings in the UK and other jurisdictions to claw back company assets.
• Advised an auditing firm which had been appointed as special advisors by Court, in their investigations into suspected wrongdoings and financial irregularities amounting to more than US$50 million by an investment holding company with several subsidiary companies in Shantung, China.
• Advised in various investigations into mismanagement, fraud and wrongful disposal of funds involving listed companies with interests and assets in China, working closely with the SGX and leading accounting firms on several high profile matters including the press-covered investigations of Advanced Modules Limited (involving complex fraud and round tripping to disguise the true nature of transactions), Zhonghui Ltd, and Sino-Environment Ltd.

Crisis Management

• Represented a leading Bank which had been defrauded of more than $100 million in a complex fraud scam, advising on issues arising from the fraud including setting up of protocols to prevent recurrence of fraud by senior management, proper governance protocols to ensure adequate checks in place to fraudulent applications for financial assistance and credit.
• Representing a wide ranging portfolio of clients who require general advice and the drafting of corporate governance reports, including undertaking such projects for multinational corporations, pharmaceutical companies, financial institutions and companies with a multi-jurisdictional presence, focusing on crisis management, internal control and protocols to enhance best practices for corporate governance

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