Asset Actions

California's Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. has filed a civil suit against former California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) Board Member Alfred Villalobos, his company ARVCO Capital and former CalPERS CEO Federico “Fred” Buenrostro, charging them with fraud.

This morning, ASIC obtained emergency orders against three individuals freezing assets up to the unencumbered value of AUD14.6 million. Read on for due diligence information.

The Supreme Court in Thailand is scheduled to issue its order in the government's action to confiscate more than USD2,000 million accumulated by previous Prime Minister Thaksin.

In the USA, in rem actions are often used to confiscate property used in the commission of an offence; it's nothing to do with proceeds of crime, a distinction which is often missed and which few other countries test. In fact, Western Australia has passed a law that specifically authorises confiscation in certain cases. And that's causing protests in some quarters.

Trevor G. Cook, who lives near Minneapolis in the USA, has never been convicted of a crime, and a case brought against him by the Securities and Exchange Commission has not come to trial. But Cook is now in jail for failing to deliver up assets frozen in contemplation of success by the SEC in a serious twist to the Civil enforcement regime.

A statement made 3 December 2009 relating to allegations that the District Attorney's Office maintains secret accounts.

Louisiana Federal Court has frozen assets of William Guidry of Florida, Matthew Pizzolato of Louisiana and Louisiana Company Capital Funding Consultants, charged by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) with Operating a USD2 Million Commodity Pool Fraud.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has obtained an emergency court order freezing the assets of a self-proclaimed Minneapolis-based money manager, a nationally syndicated radio presenter and four companies they controlled in a foreign currency trading scheme that raised at least USD190 million from more than 1,000 investors. And they did it in names that suggested links to respectable companies.

The investigation into the Port Klang Free (trade) Zone has come a step closer to serious investigation with the announcement that the Malaysia Anti Corruption Commission has created a special team to conduct the investigation: and staffed it with 30 people. Already things are happening.

The Economic Crimes Unit at Leicestershire Constabulary proves there can be profit in crime.