Insights | Kobre & Kim — Disputes and Investigations

The United Kingdom is pushing its overseas territories, including offshore centers such as the British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands, to publicly identify ultimate beneficial owners of corporate structures.
This loss of privacy for ultra-high-net-worth individuals with legitimate needs could see their reputations and interests threatened by unwarranted scrutiny.
Proper preparation can help individuals and their advisors to not only limit potential damage, but also allow them to react expediently if a crisis arises.

The U.S. Department of Justice is continuing to extend its long arm jurisdiction into aggressively scrutinizing individuals in Latin America.
Many targets may become embroiled in what can be overstated allegations, threatening their assets, liberty and reputation.
Targets need to work with cross-border counsel knowledgeable in the DOJ’s tactics to push back as early as possible.

Distressed debt investors who are beneficial owners or contingent creditors of bonds face uncertainty when bond issuers stop paying.
Courts in key jurisdictions are beginning to answer the question of whether creditors can wind-up issuers but are offering diverging decisions.
We explain how a recent ruling in the BVI opens the offshore jurisdiction to creditors considering a cross-border enforcement campaign.

Governments have increased focus on third parties – including offshore trustees – as they look to enforce their sanctions regimes.
This increases the risk trustees could become embroiled in an accusation of violating sanctions.
Trustees should take proactive, globally comprehensive measures to reduce their risk and avoid a cross-border crisis.

The U.S. Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), part of the recently-passed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), has broken new ground by requiring beneficial owners of U.S. corporate entities to register with U.S. government authorities.
While the CTA appears to shut out private parties – such as creditors and victims of fraud – from accessing such information, there may be potential creative ways to work around this roadblock, bringing creditors one step closer to a substantial recovery of their assets.
Nevertheless, creative creditors and their counsel might be able to obtain this information through certain channels to cut off escape routes for debtors and fraudsters, and obtain more complete recoveries.