Fred L. Abrams, Attorney At Law (LexBlog Switzerland)

Ohio lawyer David Keith Roland was recently disbarred for using a Swiss bank account in a scheme to help a divorcing wife hide marital assets from her divorcing husband. The divorcing wife in this alleged scheme was chiropractor Denise M. Carradine of Boardman, Ohio. Mr. Roland had represented Ms. Carradine in a divorce action commenced...

Based In Basel & Zürich, Switzerland, UBS is “recognized as the largest and fastest-growing large-scale wealth manager in the world.” Source: UBS Annual Review 2013, p. 12. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ Swiss Leaks project, (“the Project”), arises out of whistleblower tips from Mr. Hervé Falciani who worked as a software technician at HSBC in...

The City of Zürich has a website that says “[a]s the largest city in Switzerland, Zürich is the economic motor of the surrounding region and indeed the whole country.”  This 13th post in the “Divorce & Hidden Money” series examines what a divorcing spouse might do if marital assets are concealed in a Zürich bank account or...

Mr. Pascal Gossin is the head of Switzerland’s Mutual Legal Assistance Unit, (“the Unit”), which is part of the Federal Office of Justice.  Mr. Gossin was a fellow speaker at the Carmelite Chambers International Fraud & Asset Recovery Conference, which I attended last month. If the Unit suspects a dictator or other Politically Exposed Persons,(i.e. individuals...

Interdicting assets parked in Switzerland and forgeries– “Mubarak sons own assets worth $340 mln in Switzerland: official” examines the seizure of Mubarak family assets at Swiss banks.  Legal remedies for seizing assets in Switzerland range from criminal law tools to civil attachment.  Articles featuring these remedies are: Recovering Assets In Switzerland Hidden By Dictators and...

“The Americans & Swiss Target The Kleptocrats” contains an article discussing the Swiss Restitution Of Illicit Assets Act (“RIAA”). This act could be passed next month by the Swiss Parliament. It would be used to freeze the proceeds of public corruption schemes which some dictators and other politically exposed persons might transfer from a foreign...

Assets hidden in an offshore tax haven which are  the subject of a divorce, forced collection proceeding, etc., can sometimes be uncovered by eliciting evidence from a bank witness residing in that offshore tax haven.  This is true because letters rogatory or other legal proceedings can usually be brought against an offshore bank  witness in...

A former Criminal Intelligence Specialist at Scotland Yard confirmed that the divorcing husband was hiding millions from his wife by using bank accounts in Switzerland.  The husband’s true beneficial ownership of these funds had been concealed by a nominee (i.e. intermediary).  This nominee had opened the Swiss bank accounts in the names of shell corporations. ...