Our Contentious Insolvency team specialises in pursuing recoveries in such situations. It offers the speed of action and experience that are essential in these cases.
Experienced team
Our experienced team of professionals utilise a combination of statutory insolvency powers, forensic skills and investigation techniques to swiftly formulate the optimum recovery strategy.
Insolvency powers
We focus on statutory insolvency powers to capture data, recover key documents from third parties and, if appropriate, interrogate individuals under oath in Court.
Litigation
We employ a wide range of litigation powers to both safeguard assets and to overturn bogus transactions. These include freezing orders and claims which are unique to Insolvency Practitioners, such as transactions to defraud creditors and fraudulent or wrongful trading.
Investigations
We have access to sophisticated forensic and data analysis software to critically assess and map data. With the global reach of the PKF Network and our strong links with international law firms, we are ideally placed to deal with multi-jurisdictional matters.
Funding
We frequently work on a contingent fee basis and have access to a network of litigation funders and advisors who provide invaluable resources to fund contentious claims.
Example assignments
Insolvency
- Trustee in Bankruptcy in several cases appointed by regulatory authorities where authorised professionals have been struck off following allegations of fraud and dishonesty and where assets have been hidden.
- Liquidator of a computer distributor involved in a VAT and false invoicing fraud trading in Spain, France, USA and the UK. We identified the hidden system for concealing the fraud and successfully litigated against the directors.
- Liquidator of a major service industry group of companies. We led a forensic investigation of a £30m fraud perpetrated against HMRC, followed by recovery of assets from entities in BVI, Switzerland and Italy.
- Appointed as Provisional Liquidator by the Financial Services Authority (now FCA) to investigate a Foreign Exchange-based Ponzi Scheme.
- Following an administration appointment, we carried out forensic investigations to support litigation claims against directors and third parties in respect of a £100m turnover insurance broker.
Proceeds of Crime
We have been appointed by the UK authorities in the following receivership cases, amongst others:
- Led high profile investigation cases including the investigation of drug dealing, money laundering, financial crime, mortgage fraud and tax evasion.
- Appointed on a case, where the investigation and expert witness report to Court spanned a period of 20 years in 12 different jurisdictions with a successful outcome in the Supreme Court.
- We gave expert evidence during the three week trial in the High Court and are currently appointed as Trustee in Civil recovery over the overseas properties.
- Appointed over a £100m commercial property portfolio (UK, Dubai and Morocco) involving contentious litigation in the UK and Dubai.
