Несостоятельность и конкурсное производство

Отслеживание и возврат активов

Investigative tracing of concealed and dissipated assets across borders, using tools such as Section 1782 to locate value and position it for recovery.

When value disappears; diverted through layered corporate structures, secreted in offshore accounts, hidden behind nominee owners, moved through cryptocurrency, or otherwise placed beyond the easy reach of creditors and victims; the work of locating and recovering it is a specialized practice in its own right. It combines forensic investigation, legal authority, and global coordination. It is not an administrative extension of litigation; it is litigation of a particular kind, with its own substantive law, its own procedural tools, and its own demands on counsel.

Seiden Law’s Asset Tracing & Recovery practice helps clients recover value, whether lost to fraud, misconduct, judgment debtor obstruction, or cross-border asset diversion. In an era when digital finance, offshore structures, and complex corporate layers are the norm, identifying, preserving, and reclaiming assets requires legal precision, investigative depth, and global coordination.

Why Asset Tracing Is Its Own Discipline

Most lawyers’ approach enforcement as a procedural exercise that follows the substantive case. The judgment is obtained, then collection efforts begin. In practice, that sequence frequently produces unenforceable judgments; paper victories against debtors whose assets have already been moved, restructured, or obscured by the time enforcement counsel arrives. Effective asset recovery typically requires investigative work that starts much earlier, often while the underlying merits case is still being developed.

The firm’s approach starts from the recognition that recovery depends on knowing where the assets actually are, not where the debtor claims they are. Forensic financial analysis, beneficial-ownership investigation, blockchain tracing, and coordinated work with foreign counsel can identify value that conventional asset searches miss. That intelligence then drives legal strategy: pre-judgment remedies to preserve assets at risk of dissipation, alter-ego and veil-piercing theories developed during merits discovery, and enforcement proceedings calibrated to reach the assets that have been identified.

Recovery Strategy with Relentless Focus

  • Immediate action in urgent situations. Whether responding to fraud, insolvency, or asset concealment, timing is critical. The firm moves quickly to assess exposure, preserve value, and deploy targeted legal and investigative tools that prevent dissipation of assets.
  • Integrated investigative intelligence. The firm’s multidisciplinary team; including investigators, forensic accountants, and analysts; uncovers financial pathways and ownership structures, finding assets that might otherwise evade discovery. This intelligence informs legal strategy and strengthens enforcement efforts.
  • Global reach, local impact. Asset tracing often extends across jurisdictions, requiring nuanced understanding of local laws, enforcement mechanisms, and recovery tools. The firm coordinates with counsel and professionals around the world to map assets, enforce judgments, and execute recovery plans that are both practical and enforceable.
  • Strategic litigation and enforcement. Where litigation is required, the firm pursues remedies that support recovery; including attachment, garnishment, receivership, injunctions, and post-judgment enforcement; with an eye toward securing assets tied to judgments or settlements.

The Seiden Distinction

The firm’s Asset Tracing & Recovery practice integrates legal authority, forensic investigation, and cross-border enforcement.

  • Forensic and investigative rigor. Detailed financial analysis, tracing methodologies, and investigative support uncover complex asset-concealment schemes; including layered ownership through nominee directors and beneficial owners, trust and foundation structures designed to obscure control, intercompany transfers used to move value across borders, and the increasingly common use of cryptocurrency to attempt to evade conventional enforcement.
  • Global enforcement coordination. The firm leverages international tools, including mutual legal assistance treaties, foreign court enforcement, and coordinated execution, to preserve and recover value across borders. The firm has enforced judgments totaling more than $1 billion worldwide using these tools.
  • Litigation and judgment-enforcement experience. Seasoned litigators use legal leverage, pre-judgment remedies, and equitable tools to secure recoverable assets. Every engagement is driven by a results-oriented mindset that prioritizes real, enforceable recoveries over theoretical outcomes.

Core Practice Areas

  • Asset tracing and investigative mapping. Comprehensive investigations to identify hidden or diverted assets; beneficial ownership through opaque structures; electronic and digital financial footprints; and intermediary and offshore relationships.
  • Pre-judgment remedies and preservation. When assets are at risk of dissipation, the firm pursues legal tools to preserve value, including freeze orders and injunctions; temporary restraining orders; and attachment and garnishment where authorized.
  • Judgment enforcement and recovery execution. After favorable rulings, the firm turns judgments into recoveries through foreign judgment recognition; enforcement proceedings in multiple jurisdictions; and receiverships, turnover orders, and asset repatriation.
  • Complex financial-instrument recovery. The firm traces and recovers value tied to securities and investment proceeds; intellectual-property value streams; trust and escrow assets; and fraudulently diverted corporate funds.

Представительские дела

  • Multi-billion-dollar offshore fraud recovery. Located and recovered offshore assets tied to a multi-billion-dollar fraud scheme, coordinating enforcement across three continents.
  • Pre-judgment preservation order matter. Secured pre-judgment preservation orders to protect client assets threatened by dissipation, including freeze orders against bank accounts and corporate structures in multiple jurisdictions.
  • Complex multi-jurisdictional enforcement. Executed complex judgment enforcement involving foreign bank accounts, corporate subsidiaries, and beneficial-owner structures; including parallel proceedings designed to maximize recovery against the debtor’s identifiable holdings.
  • $1 billion-plus enforcement record. Cumulative judgment enforcement exceeding $1 billion worldwide through asset tracing, alter-ego and veil-piercing actions, receivership appointments, and coordinated cross-border execution.
  • Hidden-asset identification for fugitive matter. Representation of a major investment company in identifying and exposing the hidden assets of a high-profile fugitive, including the identification of a New York apartment, a yacht, and aircraft.

Industries and Clients

Financial institutions and investment funds; corporate plaintiffs and defendants; trustees, fiduciaries, and insolvency practitioners; individuals with recoverable asset claims; multinational corporations confronting cross-border asset concealment.

Common questions

Frequently asked questions

На каком этапе следует начинать розыск активов?

В идеале — еще до подачи иска. Работа по отслеживанию активов, проводимая в ходе судебного разбирательства по существу, дает лучшие результаты, чем работа, начинающаяся после вынесения решения, как потому, что заявляемые правовые позиции могут быть скорректированы с учетом выявленных активов, так и потому, что сами активы могут быть сохранены до того, как у должника появятся годы на их перемещение. Если отслеживание активов до начала судебного разбирательства не представляется возможным, эту работу следует начать не позднее ранних стадий судебного процесса по существу. Поиск активов, который начинается только после вынесения решения, часто приводит к обнаружению того, что самые ценные активы уже перемещены в недоступные места.

Можно ли вернуть криптовалюту при взыскании долгов?

Да, при правильном сочетании следственных и процессуальных инструментов. Анализ блокчейна обычно позволяет отследить движение криптовалюты даже в тех случаях, когда должник пытался скрыть право собственности с помощью множества кошельков, миксеров или бирж. Доходы, хранящиеся на кастодиальных регулируемых биржах, могут быть взысканы посредством судебных повестки-субпопен, наложения ареста и приказов о передаче активов, направленных бирже. Активы на не кастодиальных (аппаратных) кошельках представляют большую сложность, но к ним также можно получить доступ, если ключи удается обнаружить в результате принудительного раскрытия информации или физического поиска.

В чем разница между теориями преодоления корпоративной вуали (veil-piercing) и альтер-эго (alter-ego)?

Ответственность альтер-эго рассматривает одно юридическое лицо как юридическое альтер-эго другого, как правило, в тех случаях, когда корпоративные формальности не соблюдались и организации функционируют как единое предприятие. Снятие корпоративной вуали позволяет суду обойти корпоративную форму для возложения ответственности на собственников или аффилированных лиц, как правило, в тех случаях, когда корпоративная форма использовалась для совершения мошенничества или несправедливости. Обе теории требуют доказательств, полученных в ходе расследования и раскрытия доказательств (дискавери), и обе наиболее эффективны, когда подтверждающие факты закладываются в основу дела по существу, а не восстанавливаются на этапе исполнения.

Как на самом деле работает трансграничный возврат активов?

Трансграничный возврат активов обычно требует скоординированных разбирательств в каждой юрисдикции, где находятся активы, при поддержке сети зарубежных юристов фирмы и с использованием механизмов признания, доступных в каждой юрисдикции. Распространенные пути включают инкорпорацию решений судов США в юрисдикциях с развитыми процедурами признания, ведение прямых судебных разбирательств в юрисдикциях, где должник имеет активы, но решение суда США не может быть легко признано, а также параллельные иски, направленные на оказание одновременного давления в нескольких инстанциях.

Сколько обычно времени занимает розыск и возврат активов?

Timelines vary substantially based on the complexity of the underlying structures, the cooperation of the debtor, and the jurisdictions involved. Some matters resolve relatively quickly when the asset structure is comparatively simple, or the debtor’s leverage points are clear. Others extend over multiple years where the recovery requires coordinated enforcement against sophisticated obfuscation strategies. The firm provides realistic timeline estimates at the start of each engagement.