AI & Crypto Fraud and Asset Recovery

Successful asset recovery depends on understanding the full process, knowing what to look for, and engaging the right advisors and more stakeholders. Missteps can lead to delays, losses, or failure to return value to victims, especially when misled by poor information or dubious actors.

Crypto asset recovery involves much more than simply seizing assets; seizure is just one pillar of a larger complex process.

During this opening session, the distinguished speakers will discuss new and emerging trends through the lens of the key pillars of asset recovery:

• Identification: Trends in identifying the assets and determining the asset recovery strategy
• New Developments in Asset Seizure: Maintaining the value of the asset and ensuring that it is maintaining its yield
• Realization (Liquidation):
  • How to legally sell the asset
  • Overcoming regulatory and compliance hurdles

This session will cover the legal obligations of crypto exchanges and lessons learned in the wake of exchange collapses. Key topics will include:

• Dissecting recent cases and regulatory developments affecting the outcome of pending and future matters
• Is crypto deposited with exchange held on trust for depositor or an asset of the exchange?
• When an organization falls apart, is everyone entitled to the funds, or does it all belong to the exchange?
• Your crypto or the exchange’s crypto? Whose is it?
• Strategies for achieving transparency
• Navigating compliance standards and consumer protections

Deepfake technology, capable of producing highly realistic fake videos, audio and still photos of real people, is increasingly being used in crypto scams and Know Your Customer (KYC) fraud. In this session, we will explore the latest digital tools that can help prevent this fraud from happening, along with other digital tools for fraud prevention, asset tracing and recovery.

• The use of mixers to move transactions and the impact on the investigative process
• Utilizing block chain analytics and clear tracing methods
• The lengths and limits of AI in accelerating investigations, reducing data analysis costs and identifying connected actor and victim cluster

Digital assets are maturing and expanding, including Bitcoin, Ether exchange-traded products (ETPs) and the rise of stable coins.

This highly anticipated session will serve as a case study on D’Aloia v Persons Unknown Ors and other cases. Key topics will include:

• Navigating the status and treatment of crypto currency and the potential liability of exchanges to compensate victims of crypto fraud
• Key takeaways from D’Aloia v Persons Uknown Ors (2024)
• How exchanges deal with crypto currencies being used as assets to hide money (liabilities and duties of care with crypto exchanges)
• Utilizing block chain analytics and clear tracing methods
• Red flagging accounts with soul bound tokens
• Utilizing asset tracing technologies, best practices and techniques

Join Breakout Luncheon Roundtables On:

In this lunchtime networking session, pick the jurisdiction of active crypto fraud which you would like to discuss:

• Central Asia
• Singapore
• USA and Canada
• UK
• Estonia and Lithuania
• Malta and Cyprus
• Caribbean

The burn and reissue mechanism enables Tether to destroy stolen USDT tokens and mint new ones for authorized wallets, keeping criminals from profiting from illegally acquired funds. Tether has approximately 70% of the stablecoin market, can destroy tokens (burning) and issue new ones (reminting). Key topics of discussion include:

• The scope of law enforcement’s ability to combat crypto connected crimes and recover assets for victims
• Navigating the freezing and seizing powers of an updated section of the UK Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to apply a “silver bullet” for law enforcement asset recovery
• Examining technical and cooperative mechanisms with coin issuers to reissue assets to victims proposed under the US GENIUS Act (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins)
• Understanding the timeframes available to execute on burn and remint remedy
• When and how UK authorities can compel Tether’s cooperation
• Overcoming victim identification and enforcement hurdles

• How the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 has introduced sweeping new seizure and freezing powers for crypto assets
• The scope of “UK-connected crypto asset service providers” and the practical impact of s.303Z36(8) and (9)
• Critical lessons from recent frontline cases—both in applying for recovery in a first of its kind case in 2024, and resisting wrongful freezing
• Examining whether the Magistrates’ Court is the right forum for complex, high-value Part 5 proceedings
• Hear practitioner-led perspectives from both sides of the courtroom on how these powers can be a “silver bullet” for enforcement

Smart contracts are self-executing digital agreements built on blockchain technology, designed to automatically enforce contract terms once specified conditions are met. Decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms utilize smart contracts, along with other technologies to process transactions, manage data and facilitate agreements between multiple parties. In this session, we will discuss:

• Navigating contracts on the blockchain from formation to breach to termination
• Awareness of potential flaws and manipulations by adopting a security-first mindset
• Best practices for contracts drafts that reduce interpretation issues
• Resolving disputes and enforcing remedies: Is arbitration the go-to?
• Overview of smart contracts case law

In this eye-opening account, hear directly from a victim of a new, increasingly widespread cryptocurrency investment scam known as “pig butchering.” In these schemes, scammers pose as romantic partners to gain trust before luring victims into investing in fake crypto investments. This case stands out not only because of the emotional toll (including the tragic loss of the victim’s mother and the breakdown of her marriage), but also because her assets were fully recovered.

In this session, gain first-hand, real-life insights on burn and remint and POCA through the eyes of someone personally affected. This case highlights the power of collaboration between law enforcement and private sector partners, and how the burn and remint process with Tether can work across borders, including the U.S. and El Salvador.