Civil fraud and asset recovery

We have extensive expertise in acting in fraud litigation and asset preservation and recovery, including in complex commercial fraud cases, both onshore and offshore. Our members include recognised leaders in the civil fraud field and have been involved in cases which have made significant developments to the law in this area.

We act across the full spectrum of civil fraud claims including those based on misrepresentation, breach of duty, conspiracy, and accessory liability and at all stages in bringing or defending a claim. Our work includes:

  • freezing, search and disclosure orders (whether against a cause of action defendant or third party)
  • receivership orders (pre- and post-judgment)
  • committal proceedings (pre- and post- judgment) brought on allegations of contempt
  • jurisdictional issues
  • all advisory and interim stages
  • trial
  • enforcement, including insolvency proceedings

Our experience in related areas such as company, insolvency, banking and financial services, property and trusts law ensures expert and comprehensive representation and advice.

Rankings and recognition

Wilberforce is ranked as a leading civil fraud chambers in both Chambers & Partners and The Legal 500.

Chambers & Partners UK 2024: Wilberforce Chambers houses a strong bench of experienced barristers who are regularly instructed in high-value and multi-jurisdictional civil fraud disputes. The team is noted for its expert handling of cases involving offshore jurisdictions such as the Cayman Islands and the BVI, as well as matters arising in Asia and Europe. Members offer expertise in claims stemming from allegations of misrepresentation, conspiracy and breach of duty. Cases involving complex jurisdictional issues and contempt proceedings are also key areas of strength for the set. Recent work handled by the set’s tenants includes acting in Bourlakova & Others v Borulakov & Others, a USD3 billion fraud claim alleging defrauding of creditors and dishonest breaches of fiduciary duty in the drawing up and execution of an oligarch’s will.

The Legal 500 UK 2024: A ‘wonderful full-service set that engages in a modern and commercial way with instructing solicitors‘, Wilberforce Chambers‘ civil fraud work is closely aligned to the set’s enviable offshore practice. In Bourlakova v Bourlakov, Alan Gourgey KC acts for the principal defendant in a high-profile claim concerning ownership of approximately $3bn of assets. John Wardell KC represented a shopping centre magnate in his defence of a €55m claim brought against him by the Bank of Ireland, which claimed that he had lied about his assets and liabilities in a statement of affairs. Clare Stanley KC also routinely acts in major fraud cases; and in a boost to chambers, Thomas Grant KC, an expert in obtaining and defending freezing and related interim orders, joined from Maitland Chambers in October 2022.

Chambers Bar Awards 2023: Wilberforce wins Set of the Year and Chancery Set of the Year

Chambers Bar Awards 2023Tim Penny KC wins Chancery Silk of the Year

The Legal 500 Bar Awards 2022: Wilberforce wins Chancery Set of the Year

Chambers Bar Awards 2022Clare Stanley KC wins Chancery Silk of the Year

Chambers Bar Awards 2021Thomas Grant KC wins Chancery Silk of the Year

Notable cases

Wang v Darby [2024]

[2024] EWHC 1394 (Comm)

The Defendant was sentenced to 18 months immediate imprisonment following the trial of a contempt application on 4 June 2024. The Court found that the Defendant had breached the asset disclosure provisions of a worldwide freezing order by giving inaccurate asset disclosure and that he had given false evidence seeking to verify that disclosure.

Read the full judgment

Gordiy v Dorofejeva & another [2024]

[2024] EWHC 1273 (Comm)

The Claimant advanced fraud claims in deceit, the tort of causing loss by unlawful means and unlawful means conspiracy arising out of the failure of a share purchase agreement. The judgment addresses the Second Defendant’s challenge to jurisdiction on the basis that the claims did not satisfy the merits threshold that the Claimant had to show a real prospect of success on the claim. Having considered the contemporaneous documentation, the judge found that the Claimant had no real prospect of establishing the factual allegations that underlay her claims. Permission to serve out of the jurisdiction was therefore refused. The case shows that, in appropriate circumstances, a court will find that a claim has no real prospect of success even where allegations of fraud are made.

Read the full judgment

Cowan v Equis Special LP and others [2024]

Cause No. FSD 22 of 2018 (RPJ)

Judgment handed down, following a 3-day hearing, in Cowan v Equis Special LP by Parker J sitting in the Financial Services Division of the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands. Some interesting observations about the meaning of ‘written agreement’ for the purpose of amendment of statements of case, the Cayman law of security for costs, and the identification of funders.

Read the full judgment here

Navigator Equities Ltd & Vladimir Chernukhin v Oleg Deripaska [2024]

[2024] EWCA Civ 268

The claimants brought an application seeking to commit the defendant for breach of an undertaking he had given to the court. At a trial in March 2023 HHJ Pelling KC, sitting in the Commercial Court, dismissed the application. The Court of Appeal dismissed the claimants’ appeal, emphasising the need to focus on the breach as actually alleged in the application notice and the importance of procedural fairness when a defendant is facing a committal application.

Read the full judgment

Lim and others v Ong [2024]

[2024] EWHC 373 (Ch)

The Defendant was sentenced to 22 months immediate imprisonment in respect of a vast array of contempts of court, including dealing and dissipating assets in breach of a worldwide freezing order, providing inaccurate ancillary asset disclosure inflating his true asset position, providing false affidavit evidence seeking to justify dissipation, and 59 breaches of the standard form weekly living allowance.

The underlying claim pertained to a property investment fraud perpetrated by the first defendant, and orchestrated through a group of companies (some, but not all of which, were defendants to the proceedings). The defendants were the subject of a wide ranging worldwide freezing order and other injunctions including a quia timet injunction with respect to directorships of certain SPVs.

Read the full judgment

JSC BTA Bank v Sabyrbaev and others [2024]

Claim No. BVIHCM2021/0171

Judgment handed down by the BVI Commercial Court in what is the latest episode in the global Ablyazov litigation; in this claim against 54 defendants, Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank alleges it has been the victim of a fraudulent scheme involving the issue of high letters of credit resulting in losses of approximately US$230 million.

The judgment provides a comprehensive survey of the law applicable to service out of the jurisdiction in the BVI, including the duty of full and frank disclosure, and provides a salutary warning to litigants seeking to use BVI incorporated ‘Anchor Defendants’ as a hook through which to bring their real targets within the jurisdiction of the BVI courts.

Read the full judgment

Navigator v Deripaska [2023]

Successfully appeared at the trial of the contempt application against the well-known businessman, arising out of very high-profile litigation which has dominated the Commercial Court for many years.

Suppipat & Others v Narongdej & 16 Others [2023]

[2023] EWHC 1988 (Comm)

  • One of The Lawyer’s Top 20 cases of 2022, which also went into 2023

Leading Counsel for D1 (the main defendant) and D17 in this US$1Bn claim for damages under Thai law and relief under s.423 Insolvency Act 1986 arising from an alleged fraud and asset-stripping in connection with dealings in the shares of a Thai Wind Farm Company. The trial of the Claim lasted 20 weeks before Calver J in the Commercial Court between October 2022 and March 2023.

Read the full judgment

Invest Bank v El-Husseini and Others [2023]

[2023] EWCA Civ 555

In a judgment handed down on 20 September 2023 following the trial of preliminary issues, the Deputy Judge of the Commercial Court held that it is not a rule of private international law that a final and binding foreign judgment on the merits must be enforceable in the foreign jurisdiction before it could be the subject of an application to ‘enforce’ the foreign judgment in this jurisdiction by a claim at common law, and dismissed the sixth defendant’s application to set aside a default judgment the claimant had obtained against the first defendant, as (i) there was accordingly no arguable defence, and (ii) the sixth defendant had not satisfied the Denton criteria.

Read the full judgment

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC v Shetty & others [2022]

[2022] EWHC 529 (Comm)

A US$1 Billion damages claim, which arose out of the collapse of NMC PLC, a former FTSE 100 company, and its operating subsidiaries in the UAE, all of which are now in administration in England and Wales and the UAE. The claimant is an Abu Dhabi-based bank, and the first to third defendants are the former private shareholders in NMC PLC. The Bank alleged that the defendants are responsible, with others, for a serious fraud that appears to have taken place within the NMC Group of companies. The defendants all deny involvement in the fraud.

Read the full judgment

Raiffeisen Bank v. Scully Royalty Ltd & Others [2022]

Cause No. FSD 162 of 2019 (RPJ)

A multi-million euro, multi-faceted fraud claim in the Cayman Islands that made new law on the Cayman Fraudulent Dispositions Law.

Read the full judgment

Steenbok Newco and another v Formal Holdings and others [2022]

[2021] EWHC 1415 (Comm)

South Africa’s largest ever private sector accounting fraud scandal. Alleged payments totalling approximately €95 million are said to have been made fraudulently. The case raises issues of German, Austrian, Swiss and BVI law.

Read the full judgment

The Libyan Investment Authority v Credit Suisse and others [2021]

[2021] EWHC 2684 (Comm)

The latest chapter in the long running and high-profile litigation instigated by the LIA seeking to recoup funds invested during the Gaddafi dictatorship in Libya. Successfully defended fraud and corruption claims to the value of £200m.

Read the full judgment

Akhmedova v Akhmedov [2021]

[2020] EWHC 3006 (Fam)

Proceedings across multiple jurisdictions and involve inter alia efforts to enforce against a yacht formerly owned by Mr Abramovich which is currently under arrest in Dubai. Case also involved alleged transactions in defraud of creditors contrary to section 423 of the Insolvency Act. After successfully representing Mrs Akhmedova in this case, Alan Gourgey KC was named Times Lawyer of the Week.

Read the full judgment

AHAB v SAAD [2021]

[2022] CIFsd 25

One of the largest frauds ever perpetrated involving some 118 banks which together lent a total of $126 billion over two decades.

Read the full judgment

Meridian Trust v Eike Batista [2020]

[2018] CIFsd 23

A case involving the first statutory free-standing worldwide freezing order in Cayman. The first common law case in which a freezing injunction was granted over claims for American treble damages under RICO. Fraud resulted in losses of $5bn, with the lead claim being for $60m.

Read the full judgment

Lemos v Blue Diamond Corporation and Stegasis Corporation [2020]

[2017] EWHC 3595 (Ch)

A complex multi-jurisdictional case involving one of Greece’s largest shipping families and their ownership of shares in two Liberian Corporations, which raises multiple conflicts of law issues and matters relating to fraudulent misappropriation of shares.

Read the full judgment

Gerald Metals v Frank Timis and others / Gerald Metals v Cape Lambert / Gerald Metals v Red Metal [2020]

Gerald Metals, a trading company which brought a claim in deceit and in unlawful means conspiracy (based on s.423 Insolvency Act 1986) against a large number of trustees and individuals. The dispute was very significant and worth around £100 million.

 

Takhar v Gracefield Developments Limited [2019]

[2019] UKSC 13

Supreme Court case establishing that a person who applies to set aside an earlier judgment on the basis of fraud does not have to demonstrate that the evidence of this fraud could not have been obtained with reasonable diligence before the earlier trial.

Read the full judgment

Libyan Investment Authority v JP Morgan and others [2019]

[2019] EWHC 1452 (Comm)

Acted for one of the successful defendants in his jurisdiction challenge – a Libyan businessman against whom a claim had been brought by the Libyan Investment Authority alleging fraud and corruption in relation to transactions that it had entered into with Bear Stearns bank in 2007.

Read the full judgment

Takhar v Gracefield Developments [2019]

[2019] UKSC 13

Supreme Court case establishing that a person who applies to set aside an earlier judgment on the basis of fraud does not have to demonstrate that the evidence of this fraud could not have been obtained with reasonable diligence before the earlier trial.

Read the full judgment

National Trust Bank v Yurov & others [2019]

[2020] EWHC 100 (Comm)

US$1billion claim for dishonest breach of duty against the shareholder directors arising from the collapse of Russia’s 16th largest bank.

Read the full judgment

JSC BM Bank v Kekhman [2018]

[2018] EWCH 791 (Comm)

A claim made by a Russian Bank against a “banana oligarch” for damages for deceit and unlawful means conspiracy in respect of a loan made to a Russian group of companies. The judgment is of note by identifying principles for inferring fraud.

Read the full judgment

 

Pensions Regulator v PAYAE and others [2018]

[2018] EWHC 36 (Ch)

The Pensions Regulator’s first fraud claim to go to trial.

Read the full judgment

 

Insights View all thought leadership

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    Recent Cases

    Cayman Court makes Indemnity and Interim Costs Awards – Cowan v Equis Special LP

    International / offshore, Civil fraud and asset recovery

    Thomas Grant KC
    Wednesday 28 August 2024

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    Recent Cases

    Committal to prison: Wang v Darby

    Cryptocurrency, Civil fraud and asset recovery, Commercial disputes

    Daniel Scott
    Friday 26 July 2024

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    News

    Wilberforce nominated in multiple categories including Set of the Year for third year running at Legal 500 Bar Awards

    Wilberforce Chambers is pleased to share that we have been nominated in multiple categories at Legal 500’s 2024 Bar Awards. Wilberforce Chambers has been nominated for ‘Set of the Year’ for the third year in a row as well as ‘Chancery... Read more

    Wednesday 10 July 2024

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    Articles

    A hidden gem? The ‘sufficient connection with the jurisdiction’ test under s.423 of the Insolvency Act 1986 in the light of Suppipat v Narogdej [2023] EWHC 1988 (Comm)’

    Tim Penny KC and Daniel Petrides have written an article for TL4’s FIRE Starters magazine entitled “A hidden gem? The ‘sufficient connection with the jurisdiction’ test under s.423 of the Insolvency Act 1986 in the light of Suppipat v Narogdej... Read more

    By Tim Penny KC | Daniel Petrides
    Monday 3 June 2024

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Upcoming events View all events

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    Events / Webinars

    Wilberforce Civil Fraud Conference 2024

    Wednesday 6th November 2024 | 12.30pm - 5.30pm, followed by drinks
    The Westin London City

    Price TBC

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Past events View all past events

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    External Conferences

    Through a glass darkly: the use of inferences in litigation

    Monday 9th September 2024 | 5.30pm - 7pm
    BVI Arbitration Centre

    1.0 CPD

    Speakers:
    Tim Penny KC | Daniel Petrides

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    Events / Webinars

    Wilberforce Fraud, Trusts & Asset Recovery Conference 2024

    Thursday 4th July 2024 | 12.30pm - 5.25pm, followed by drinks and canapés
    The View at The Royal College of Surgeons

    £135 + VAT | 3.5 CPD

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    External Conferences

    Asset Recovery International 2024

    Thursday 29th February 2024
    The Conrad, Dublin

    Speakers:
    Emily McKechnie

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    External Conferences

    TL4 – KC Surgery: Asset Recovery

    Tuesday 28th November 2023
    Central London

    Speakers:
    Thomas Grant KC | Tim Penny KC | Jessica Brooke | Elizabeth Houghton

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