Bangkok 2024

This session will look at an investigation by a small U.S. short-seller, Hindenburg Research, into Indian industrialist Gautam Adani, who at the time was considered to be Asia's richest person (and the third richest person in the world), a position he lost when his estimated net worth plummeted from $120 billion to $46 billion within three weeks of Hindenburg's allegations of accounting fraud and stock manipulation, while his Adani Group's market value fell by $134 billion during the same period.

This session will look at the proliferation in Southeast Asia of 'Sha Zhu Pan' scams, a.k.a. 'Pig Butchering', by Chinese organized crime groups, which swindle billions of dollars annually from victims around the world.

Our session will look at:

• Where did online scam syndicates come from?;


• How, when and why did they become so endemic in Southeast Asia?;


• How do the scams work and how have they evolved?;


• Who are the kingpins?;


• How do the perpetrators protect themselves?;


• How big are the profits and the scale of trafficking?;


• How and where do perpetrators clean their money?;


• Where are the fraud and trafficking victims from?;


• What action has been taken to stop this?; and


• What action needs to be taken?

This session will look at how 'Operation Tropicana', a joint operation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and IFW Global, an Australian intelligence, investigation, and asset recovery firm, that brought down a billion dollar boiler room gang without a single police officer being involved.

The presentation will identify the key players, how they laundered billions through Hong Kong banks, went undetected for 15 years, and millions of dollars in cash was seized by the MACC Anti-Money Laundering unit.

Twenty bank employees were also arrested and questioned about allegedly turning a blind eye to suspicious transactions.

In a survey conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce of Hong Kong in 2021, more than 40% of expats indicated they were planning to leave Hong Kong or were considering it.

This session will discuss Hong Kong's future as a global financial centre, and whether regional rivals like Singapore have benefited from its problems.

This session will look at the use of offshore structures in the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, and others by Asian High Net Worth Individuals and large corporations, as well as what goes on in regional Offshore Financial Centers like the Cook Islands, Labuan, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, and Vanuatu.

This session will cover:

• Global Enforcement Strategies, as well as common pitfalls that practitioners/clients sometimes overlook;


• Identifying and Executing on a counterparty’s assets: The “What, Where and How”;


• Case Studies; and


• How Third Party Funding can help to unlock the value of a claim/judgment/award.

This session will offer a practical guide to conducting investigations in Asia, including China, Hong Kong, and Singapore, including looking at data privacy laws, regional sensitivities, risks, and best practices.

Leading experts in crypto investigations and recovery will offer tips and guidance on investigating and recovering crypto - an emerging industry that is awash with fraud.

A demonstration of Internet-based and Artificial Intelligence tools to help you find, monitor, and understand information on targets.

Leading international fraud and value recovery specialists discuss emerging and dominant issues that impact your ability to be successful and effective. This session is intended to be informal and interactive and represents an opportunity for you to have your questions answered by experts who have 'been there, seen it, done it'.

Leading international fraud and value recovery specialists discuss emerging and dominant issues that impact your ability to be successful and effective. This session is intended to be informal and interactive and represents an opportunity for you to have your questions answered by experts who have 'been there, seen it, done it'.

Just as the 1MDB debacle, which claimed the licenses of two banks and culminated in multiple prosecutions and sanctions, appeared to be in its rear view, Southeast Asia has had to come to terms with a massive $3 billion money laundering investigation and the crackdown of multiple sophisticated scam operations across the region.

This session will look at the modern face of international money laundering – the sophisticated techniques by which proceeds are disguised and moved even through the most tightly-regulated of economies, the multi-jurisdictional crimes which are involved, the emergent risks faced by institutions and individuals alike, and perhaps most importantly, the trailblazing methods and tools by which practitioners uncover culprits and recover assets.