At Carmelite Chambers International Fraud & Assert Recovery Conference, I met Advocate & English Barrister Stephen Baker of Baker & Partners from St. Helier, Jersey.  During the Conference, Mr. Baker presented his slideshow with case studies about recovering suspected corruption proceeds or other assets.

Some of Mr. Baker’s slides reveal how foreign bank accounts; multiple jurisdictions and nominees, (i.e. intermediaries), could be used as elements in suspected laundering schemes:

 

One topic Mr. Baker’s slideshow covers is the investigation of the late Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha.  As Baker & Partners’ webpage explains: “Baker & Partners were central to the successful Jersey investigation into the alleged laundering of the proceeds of the corrupt Nigerian Dictator General Abacha’s crimes through Jersey. This investigation has already resulted in over USD $160,000,000 being returned to Nigeria.”

The slideshow also focuses on Brazilian PEP, (“politically exposed person”), Mr. Paulo Maluf.  In 2007 Mr. Maluf and his son Flavio were indicted in New York for allegedly possessing stolen monies from a Brazilian public corruption scheme.  Interpol Red Notices which are similar to arrest warrants, had then been issued for the two of them.  Although Paulo & Flavio Maluf tried to have their indictment dismissed and their Red Notices lifted, their efforts failed.

Mr. Baker represented the Brazilian government in Jersey litigation to recover Mr. Paulo Maluf’s alleged corruption proceeds.  In the litigation, the Jersey Court determined the Brazilian Municipality of Sao Paulo had been the victim of a fraud.  Paragraph 229 (ii) & (iii) of the Court’s November 16, 2012 Judgment, found in relevant part:

“that Paulo Maluf was a party to that fraud at least to the extent that in the course of January and February 1998 he or others on his behalf received or were credited in Brazil with a series of fifteen secret payments to the value (in total) of R$ 13,512,885.34…that Flavio Maluf, knowing of the nature of such payments, on the instructions of Paulo Maluf or with his concurrence, arranged for funds equivalent in value to at least thirteen of the fifteen such payments to be transferred out of Brazil, for their conversion into US dollars to the value of US$10,500,055.35 at then-current rates of exchange (probably via one or more doleiros) and for their payment into bank account no. 6100546 known as Chanani with Safra International Bank of New York, that account being controlled by Flavio Maluf and beneficially owned by him and/or Paulo Maluf…”

 

At the Conference, Mr. Baker noted that a tipster played a critical role in the investigation of Mr. Paulo Maluf.  This particular investigation is depicted at a chart from Mr. Baker’s slideshow:

 

Copyright 2014 Fred L. Abrams

Slideshow & Chart Courtesy Of Advocate & English Barrister Stephen Baker