At the recent London International Investigations and Asset Recovery Conference (LIIARC), Managing Directors Daria Plakhova-Freshville and Paul Nash joined a panel of experts to examine one of the most complex challenges facing practitioners today: identifying and recovering assets concealed across offshore financial centers. Moderated by Paul, this discussion explored shifting political scrutiny, evolving transparency requirements, new legal tools, and the geopolitical forces reshaping global wealth movement.
Daria brought a critical investigative lens to the discussion, outlining how geopolitics and sanctions regimes now directly influence asset diversion patterns. She highlighted how the war in Ukraine has triggered not only unprecedented sanctions activity, but also secondary effects—such as new Russian tax rules in Dubai—that motivate high-net-worth individuals to shift assets in unpredictable ways. Daria also addressed emerging challenges such as “zombie trusts” in Liechtenstein, where sanctioned or politically exposed individuals hold substantial wealth in structures that present legal and practical hurdles to tracing and recovery.
In a practical case-study segment, Paul and Daria walked the audience through the early steps of an offshore investigation. After explaining the benefits of involving investigators at the outset to help inform legal strategy, Daria outlined the first questions her team asks—Who controls the assets? What jurisdictions are involved? What commercial relationships may reveal hidden links? When answering, she emphasized the powerful techniques available: public records analysis, corporate registry work, network mapping, financial profiling, etc., and explained the legal boundaries within which reputable practitioners must operate. She also noted that even when initial inquiries hit a wall, further tracing, alternative jurisdictions, or identifying overlooked third-party connections often reveal new avenues.
The panel concluded by addressing multi-jurisdictional enforcement, where early planning is essential. Tools such as Norwich Pharmacal Orders, freezing injunctions, and the appointment of provisional liquidators can provide critical visibility into hidden structures. However, the speakers cautioned that without a coordinated enforcement strategy from the beginning, practitioners risk missing recoverable assets or facing costly, fragmented efforts across multiple countries.
As Daria and Paul underscored, today’s asset recovery landscape demands strategic coordination between investigators, counsel, and funders, when litigation funding is in play, from the earliest stages of a matter. Offshore structures are becoming more complex, geopolitical and regulatory pressures are mounting, and enforcement hurdles are higher than ever. But with the right intelligence and an integrated approach, meaningful recovery remains achievable.
