Our People

Daria
Plakhova-Freshville

Managing Director

Europe, Middle East & Africa | London office

Headshot of Daria Plakhova-Freshville

Based in London, Daria Plakhova-Freshville has over two decades of investigative experience with specialist focus on sanctions and asset tracing.

Daria is expert in international asset tracing and judgement enforcement, fraud investigations, complex litigation support, disputes, integrity, competitor and reverse due diligence, reputation management, and political analysis. She has particular expertise in conducting global asset tracing investigations for leading law firms, high-net-worth individuals, international financial institutions, and major corporations. With a primary focus on Russia and the FSU, Daria’s geographical expertise spans the wider EMEA region and North America as well as multiple offshore jurisdictions.

According to Chambers and Partners, clients have said Daria “effectively leads an excellent team in complex and high stakes multi-jurisdictional investigations” and “I can’t speak highly enough about Daria. She is a no-fuss, supremely competent individual, who gets on with things and never fails to deliver.”

Prior to joining the firm, Daria worked for two leading international business intelligence companies where she assisted multinational corporations, law firms, and high-net-worth individuals on matters including, inter alia, contentious legal disputes, asset tracing, and reputation management matters. Earlier in her career, Daria was a radio producer and presenter for the BBC World Service, and an investigative documentary filmmaker.

Representative matters

  • Led an asset trace in support of a multi-million-dollar arbitral award against a group of collapsed petrochemical companies and their owners. In addition to inventorying the post-collapse asset base, the investigation scrutinised the dissipation methods employed by the owners and identified the new owners of certain assets. Working in various jurisdictions, including India, the Middle East, the UK, Denmark, Africa, and offshore jurisdictions, Daria’s team built a portfolio of evidence for court proceedings that allowed the client to bring legal action in previously unconnected jurisdictions.
  • Led an investigation on behalf of a European energy corporation to identify the global assets of a prospective award debtor – a fellow energy giant – at the pre-judgement stage. Given its favourable conditions for enforcement, the search centred on the Netherlands, where a debtor’s assets can be attached prior to a judgement being handed down. Daria and her team successfully identified hundreds of millions of dollars in assets, comprising receivables owed to the prospective award debtor by a locally domiciled trading partner and the debtor’s contractual, yet unexercised, rights to use a Dutch storage facility. Regarding the latter asset, ascertaining the agreement terms was fundamental in allowing the client to determine whether the debtor still held ultimate rights to use the facility.
  • Led on a global asset trace in support of enforcement of a multi-million-pound arbitral award against an individual who defaulted on payments to a Western business. Armed with Daria’s findings, the client was able to devise a more informed and effective legal strategy for the recovery of the award.

Languages spoken

  • English (Fluent)
  • Russian (Fluent)
  • Spanish (Intermediate)
  • Ukrainian (Reading)
  • French (Basic)

Education

  • BA, Spanish & Economics, Queen Mary College, University of London

Certifications

  • International Asset Tracing & Recovery Program, Queen Mary College, University of London

Publications

  • Article: Managing Reputation Through Investigations, with Chris Morgan Jones and Alan Kennedy (Global Investigations Review, 2024)
  • Article: Moscow Rules: Asset Tracing Investigations During Wartime in Ukraine, with Jenna Burton, Richard Bowles, Nicholas Peck, and Warren Feldman (Global Investigations Review, 2023)

Recognition & awards

  • Chambers and Partners 2026 Litigation Support Guide: Band 3