Identifying and immobilizing assets in a timely fashion can be paramount to asset recovery cases ranging from an ultra- high net worth divorce to a forced collection proceeding against a debtor.

The abstract about “Suspending Suspicious Transactions” ¹ similarly mentions the “timely identification and immobilization” of  assets.  The abstract discusses this with regard to money laundering and terrorist financing:

“Seizure and confiscation of proceeds of crime, and funds intended to finance terrorism, are key objectives of the global initiative to combat money laundering and terrorism financing. The timely identification and immobilization of such funds are critical to permit the action necessary to prevent the flight of illicit assets beyond the reach of national law enforcement and prosecutorial authorities.”

Suspending Suspicious Transactions was published during July 2013 by the World Bank.  It examines the role Financial Intelligence Units, (“FIUs”), can have in freezing assets and/or postponing financial transactions at banks.

Suspending Suspicious Transactions also supplies fact patterns showing how FIUs work under anti-money laundering/countering financing of  terrorism, (“AML/CFT”), laws.  One of these fact patterns at pp.76-77, zeroes in on the way determined criminals utilized nominees, a sham loan and the purchase of  real property  to conceal assets in a money laundering scheme:

Page 76-77: Stroligo, Klaudijo, Horst Intscher, and Susan Davis-Crockwell. 2013. Suspending Suspicious Transactions. World Bank Study. Washington, DC: World Bank. doi:10.1596/978-0-8213-9917-0 License: Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0
Page 76-77: Stroligo, Klaudijo, Horst Intscher, and Susan Davis-Crockwell. 2013. Suspending Suspicious Transactions. World Bank Study. Washington, DC: World Bank. doi:10.1596/978-0-8213-9917-0 License: Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0

¹ Stroligo, Klaudijo, Horst Intscher, and Susan Davis-Crockwell. 2013. Suspending Suspicious Transactions. World Bank Study. Washington, DC: World Bank. doi:10.1596/978-0-8213-9917-0 License: Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0

Copyright 2014 Fred L. Abrams