We’ve written here many times about how tough (i.e. slow and expensive) it can be to track down overseas assets. In short, you need to be going after serious money to make it worthwhile, and you can often get clues to the location of offshore money right here in the U.S. That’s helpful if you
The Offshore Asset Search Starter Kit
This blog has been pretty clear over the years that an offshore asset search is not for the faint of heart or anyone on a tight budget.
We have recommended that even if you think there are assets outside the U.S., you could get a better idea of where they may be by searching U.S.
The College Admissions Scandal: Another Teachable Moment
The college admissions scandal has been full of wonderful teachable moments – about ethics, humility, greed and corruption. Now for asset hunters there is a new nugget today: overpaying on purpose.
As the Boston Globe reported yesterday, a municipal home assessor found it odd that a home in Needham, Massachusetts (near Cambridge, where Harvard
What to Expect from a Divorce Asset Search
At some point with nearly every asset search our firm conducts, we end up telling clients that finding assets is often more than a one-step process.
The one step some people think we need to take is to consult some databases, and voila! A pot of gold they can easily seize.
While there have been
Using Forensic Accountants in Divorce Searches: Don’t Forget the Investigator Piece
One of the most frequently-asked questions new divorce-related clients ask us is: “If I need a forensic accountant can you do that?”
The answer we give is that we are not forensic accountants, but you probably need us anyway because forensic accountants don’t do what we do. And, you may need a forensic accountant as
Way After Madoff Ponzi Schemes Are Still With Us: How to Avoid Them
Nearly ten years on since the arrest of master Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff, the Ponzi fraudsters are still with us. Maybe not with as much money as Madoff’s billions, but powerful enough to do a lot of damage.
Being devoted to finding assets, this blog doesn’t usually talk about ways to lose them. But we
The Missing Piece in an Asset Search
Clients who hire us for asset searches always want to know what we find. As often as not, the big news after an asset search is when we don’t find something we should be seeing but are not.
When someone is concealing the truth, they often put in place a lie to throw you off.
The Right Questions in Discovery
Finding assets can be satisfying work, but frustration sometimes comes in realizing that a client’s lawyers haven’t been asking the right questions in their depositions.
We have written repeatedly that getting bank account information without a court order is illegal (other than discovering it on a shared computer or in records lying around). When we
How to Read Email Headers: Where Did That Email Come From?
Just as it’s nice to know what number someone is using when they call you, wouldn’t it be useful to see where someone was when they sent an email? That information is often contained in the “fine print” of an email known as the “header.”
In brief, the header describes the route an email takes
“Offshore” Assets Here at Home
We’ve written plenty about why it makes sense to do an onshore search within the U.S. when you’re looking for offshore assets. See for instance our Offshore Assets Playbook and here.
What comes as news to many clients is how secretive people are allowed to be with their assets right here in the U.S.