Investor frauds never go away
Non-professional investors are often enticed by promises of high returns to place money into schemes that turn out to be scams. These schemes adopt many guises and forms. But do they ever change, and how likely are they to emerge as the expected post-Covid economic uncertainty takes effect? Head of Insolvency and Asset Recovery Alex Jay examines investor fraud and how the insolvency process can help victims recover some of their money.
Increases in fraud and insolvency predicted
Derivatives specialist Louise McCoach has authored the 2021 Australia chapter of the ‘International Comparative Legal Guide - Derivatives 2021’, which summarises the laws and regulations of derivatives in Australia. The chapter covers documentation and formalities, credit support, regulatory issues, insolvency/bankruptcy, close-out netting, taxation and bespoke jurisdictional matters and market trends in the Australian derivates market.
We anticipate a more assertive regulatory enforcement program under the Biden administration, particularly focused on fund managers’ conflicts of interest, advisers’ codes of ethics, and related policies and procedures relating to material nonpublic information. These concerns may be heightened for fund managers participating in bankruptcy proceedings, where competing fiduciary obligations arise, particularly in the context of serving on creditors committees.
Background
The European Union (Insurance and Reinsurance) (Amendment) Regulations 2021 (2021 Regulations) will come into operation on 30 June 2021, giving effect to Directive (EU) 2019/2177 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2019 (2019 Directive).
The 2019 Directive amends the Solvency II Directive (2009/138/EC), the MiFID II Directive (2014/65/EU) and the 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (2015/849/EU).
In Sun Electric Power Pte Ltd v RCMA Pte Ltd (formerly known as Tong Teik Pte Ltd) [2021] SGCA 60 (“Sun Electric”), the Singapore Court of Appeal (per Justice Judith Prakash) addressed in its written ground of decision (“GD”) the questions of: (i) what is the applicable test for the purpose of determining insolvency under s 254(2)(c) of the Companies Act (Cap 50, 2006 Rev Ed) (“Companies Act”); and (ii) who should be the appropriate party to control the conduct of the appeal, as well as to bear the responsibility of any costs incurred during and after the appeal, following a company’s right
- Victims of fraud often face an uphill battle in seeking restitution for their loss.
In Short
The Situation: Insolvency officeholders increasingly find their investigations into a company's affairs frustrated by the comingling of records on a "group" server. Claims to privilege by other group entities (or even third parties) are then advanced as an obstacle to delivering company records to the officeholder, leading to expensive and logistically complex inspection and review processes that can be a burden on insolvent estates.
Scope of Duty
Few things go together as naturally as fraud and insolvency. The pattern is now well rehearsed: scams pile up unnoticed while money flows in the good times, but when recession hits, increased scrutiny from lenders, counterparties and the tax man – not to mention insolvency practitioners – means fraud is far more likely to be discovered.
This article first appeared in Business Brief magazine, May 2021 edition.
Across the world, government support has kept insolvency rates down but as jurisdictions look to loosen restrictions and ease back into some kind of normality, governments can't foot the bill forever.
As financial support is withdrawn, restructuring, insolvency and corporate recovery practitioners will likely see a spike in activity, and offshore firms in the Channel Islands are braced for an increase in demand from clients.