EMM are experts in bringing and defending civil proceedings involving fraudulent conduct, corruption and the misappropriation of all forms of assets.
Civil fraud can take many forms. It can be crude and involve the simple theft of money and other property. But it can also be highly sophisticated, and involve dishonest statements made by one party to induce another to sign a contract or invest in a company; a conspiracy between multiple parties to defraud or injure another by unlawful means; or “cyber fraud”, where a party is duped into transferring assets through “push payment”, “vishing” or “phishing” scams.
In cases of civil fraud, it is essential to act immediately to freeze, trace and recover assets before they are gone. Time is of the essence. We are specialists in rapid asset-tracing and recovery strategies, including urgent “ex parte” injunctions to obtain “world-wide freezing orders” to lock down bank accounts and other property; “Norwich Pharmacal” and “Bankers’ Trust” applications to reveal the flow and whereabouts of money; and “dawn raid” search and seizure orders to preserve and inspect physical and computer evidence of fraudulent conduct.
Our team of civil fraud lawyers are genuine experts in their field with a wealth of hard-earned experience of litigating complex and heavyweight cases against the toughest of opposition. Within our fraud team, we have lawyers who have trained and worked in some of the leading domestic and international law firms. But in addition, we also have our own in-house team of specialist fraud investigators and prosecutors, who have enjoyed former careers with the SFO, the FCA, the Police and the criminal bar, and who are adept at breaking down complex frauds and corporate structures and devising recovery strategies.
We believe that the depth of our in-house civil fraud experience and capability gives us a unique advantage over our opponents and other firms operating in our space. We work with the very best firms of forensic accountants, foreign lawyers and barristers and are innovative, rigorous and committed to achieving the best results for our clients at the earliest possible opportunity.
Within our civil fraud team, we also have a dedicated crypto and digital assets unit, which specialises in frauds involving crypto currencies, “non-fungible tokens” and exchanges.
Here are some examples of our recent civil fraud work:
- Acting for the founder of a $85 million tech company in a high-value global shareholder dispute. In this case we investigated, obtained evidence and advanced claims in relation to fraudulent misrepresentations, misstatements and/or omissions and defamatory statements made by our client’s opponent.
- Acting for an ultra-high net worth individual and his associated investment vehicle in a high stakes crisis dispute concerning our client’s £multi-million investment in a high profile international sports team.
- Acting for the executors of an estate in successful High Court fraud and related freezing injunction proceedings to recover £3.6m of funds which had been transferred to a Swiss discretionary trust.
- Acting for a billionaire and philanthropist in respect of a fraud arising out of a luxury property development in London. In this case, EMM’s civil team were instructed to make applications for Norwich Pharmacal orders and bankers trust orders against multiple third parties to secure evidence for use in a criminal prosecution.
- Successfully tracing and recovering stolen crypto currency from foreign crypto exchanges (including the Seychelles) through the use of Norwich Pharmacal and proprietary freezing injunctions (Joseph Keen Shing Law v Persons Unknown & Huobi Global Limited [2023] 1 WLUK 577).
- Representing a US client in a complex, multi-jurisdictional, dispute before the London Court of International Arbitration arising out of an attempt to misappropriate the shares of a UAE-based SPV holding company.
- Advising and representing the Football Foundation, the largest sports charity in the UK, in a claim to investigate and recover several hundred thousand pounds of monies which had been misappropriated through fraudulent grant applications.
- Acting for the Attorney-General of a nation state in high-profile civil fraud proceedings against a former Government legal advisor and Attorney-General for alleged breach of fiduciary duty, bribery and breach of trust.
What our clients say about us…
“Whilst EMM’s lawyers are extraordinarily clever and equally tenacious, the reason they achieve such success for us is that their depth of experience in investigating and pursuing fraud cases is unrivalled, and their interpersonal skills are exceptional, which in fast moving frauds will often be the difference between success and failure.”
Bob Browell, Macmillan Cancer Support
