International investors and other claimants have long struggled to enforce cross-border claims in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the wider Middle East.
Debtors frequently deploy tactics such as fraudulent conveyance to transfer their assets out of reach.
A recent precedent-setting decision in Dubai’s High Court, secured by Kobre & Kim and local co-counsel, shows another avenue for global creditors to battle recalcitrant debtors and increase their chances of a swift and significant recovery on their cross-border claims.
International creditors are seeing more opportunities in the United Arab Emirates and wider Middle East as courts continue to signal openness to recognizing and enforcing overseas judgments.
This includes overcoming a fraudulent conveyance, as a UAE court recently decided in what may be an unprecedented judgment in favor of a judgment holder represented by Kobre & Kim.
The judgment demonstrates that there are a rapidly growing number of creditor tools available in the region to combat recalcitrant debtors.
Debtor-friendly Delaware has strong asset protection laws that make it a destination of choice for global entities and individuals looking to hold their assets in a trust.
This creates a headache for international creditors – recovering assets in a Delaware trust can seem like an insurmountable challenge.
By adopting a creative, aggressive and multijurisdictional strategy, however, creditors can crack even Delaware’s notoriously tough trusts.
The Middle East is opening up to cross-border investors, creditors and claimants, as Saudi Arabia’s adoption of rules based on the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency demonstrates.
The openness is not limited to that country – the United Arab Emirates has also made strides that gives more tools for creditors considering a global enforcement campaign.
We explain what these developments mean for creditors.
As a key economic center in the region, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is increasingly the place where many international creditors go as they pursue their debtor’s assets.
However, some recalcitrant debtors may try to transfer their assets away to avoid payment in a fraudulent transfer.
Our team explores what strategies are available in the UAE to restore a creditor’s interests.
Debtor-friendly Delaware has strong asset protection laws that make it a destination of choice for global entities and individuals looking to hold their assets in a trust.
This creates a headache for international creditors – recovering assets in a Delaware trust can seem like an insurmountable challenge.
By adopting a creative, aggressive and multijurisdictional strategy, however, creditors can crack even Delaware’s notoriously tough trusts.
Victims of large-scale and sophisticated fraud in Brazil may struggle to recover their assets by only using tools available in the domestic legal system.
However, a growing interest in fighting cross-border crime by U.S. authorities, together with the power of tools in the U.S., provide victims with a potentially better path to success.
Our cross-border team explains what strategies victims can deploy to achieve results.
When crypto and blockchain companies, funds or exchanges find themselves the target of a sophisticated, large-scale fraud or cyber attack, speed through global reach is key.
Companies often make impulsive decisions that imperil their recovery chances and business interests.
The pseudonymous and borderless nature of cryptocurrency means companies need to take a cross-border and nontraditional approach to maximize success.
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.
Prevailing case law in BVI and Cayman has historically not allowed injunctions to be granted by the offshore courts unless there is an existing claim against the defendant within the jurisdiction of the Court granting the injunction.
Fortunately, that position has changed in the Cayman Islands and now in BVI, with claimants, including those from onshore jurisdictions such as Hong Kong and the People’s Republic of China, able to obtain “free-standing” injunctive relief in both offshore jurisdictions.
With the advent of the new law in BVI, and the continuing willingness of the Cayman Islands’ Courts to make protective orders, victims of fraud are now in a better position than they have ever been to guard against a defendant’s dissipation of its offshore assets whilst they are waiting for a judgment.
International creditors continue to face significant challenges when monetizing claims against debtors based in the People's Republic of China.
Actions such as a standalone freezing injunction can be used in English common law jurisdictions to freeze assets that are held by innocent third parties.
Injunctions and receiverships can be made without giving notice to the debtor, bestowing the "element of surprise."
One of the most common forms of fraud affecting businesses worldwide is Business Email Compromise (BEC).
Often based in Asia, BEC fraudsters are known to use a network of underground moneychangers to move stolen funds rapidly beyond the reach of victims.
When affected, victims need to match the speed of the criminals, acting across multiple jurisdictions and with the full set of legal tools necessary to trace, freeze and recover assets effectively.
