Top Global Commercial Fraud Lawyers and Investment Professionals Plan Launch of Asset Recovery Fund

The $150 Million Echemus Fund Will Underwrite Investigations, Seizures and Recoveries of World-Wide Assets for Fraud Victims

BALTIMORE & BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A team of top global commercial fraud lawyers and investment professionals is launching a $150 million investment fund, named Echemus, to underwrite the investigation, seizure and recovery of world-wide assets for victims of fraud.

“As an investment, the market for financing asset-recovery claims is vast and substantially untapped”

The team is led by Martin Kenney, a renowned commercial fraud lawyer and asset recovery specialist currently engaged in unwinding billions of dollars connected to the Bernard Madoff investment scheme.

Called a "top international asset chaser" by The Financial Times, Kenney will serve as managing director of the fund and will oversee all of its investigation, collection and litigation activities.

Kenney has personally underwritten multi-jurisdictional asset recovery claims since 1993, but said the growth and complexity of global fraud has outpaced the means of individual investors. The International Monetary Fund estimates that purportedly fraudulent, “black transactions” account for 5 to 10 percent of the world’s gross domestic product each year, and data from the International Chamber of Commerce shows more than $1 billion in high-value commercial fraud is reported every month worldwide.

“Many victims have nowhere to turn to recover assets, and corporations or governments often lack the incentive or the political will to prosecute perpetrators, who might be former high-ranking officials from their own organizations,” said Kenney.

“To unravel the world’s largest and most complicated frauds, and to recover the assets for victims requires an array of forensic accountants, investigators and specialized law firms,” he said. “Echemus will provide fraud victims the financial and human resources they need to mount such an operation, in exchange for a portion of the assets recovered.”

Echemus aims to finance a portfolio of approximately 25 high-value commercial fraud, asset recovery and third-party liability claims. Echemus will finance and help manage the asset recovery process for claimants in exchange for an average of 30 percent of what they recover.

“As an investment, the market for financing asset-recovery claims is vast and substantially untapped,” said Echemus co-founder and private equity veteran, Jim Little. “We already have over $5 billion in high-value claims on our desks requiring funding. On average, asset recovery claims typically cost $5 million to pursue, so the multiples here are very attractive.”

Prior to launching Echemus, Kenney has led the prosecution of more than $600 million in asset recovery claims in more than 50 countries. Among his pursuits have been an $80 million Ponzi scheme in the Caribbean, a $240 million telemarketing fraud in Canada and a $135 million predatory insurance claim in Africa. He is currently working for a European bank to recover more than $10 billion invested in the Bernie Madoff scam through two Virgin Islands feeder funds.

A recent feature in the magazine Wired UK called Kenney and his associates “The world’s sharpest fraud busters.” Offshore Alert of Miami said Kenney is "one of the world's leading authorities on the legal aspects of freezing and seizing assets in multiple jurisdictions." The Canadian Lawyer Magazine said he “just may be - considering his Robin Hood reputation and his bulldog legal tactics - one of the most determined and trusted lawyers around." The Fund’s recovery efforts will be supported by the International Chamber of Commerce’s FraudNet, a select network of 50 asset recovery lawyers in 43 jurisdictions from around the world.