In November 1979 the US government froze over $14 billion of Iranian assets in response to the Iranian revolution and the seizure of US hostages. Since then, freezing sovereign assets has become an increasingly frequent and highly effective economic sanction. It has been used against Nicaragua, Libya, Panama, Kuwait and Iraq. This book is a comprehensive study of asset-freezing as an economic sanction and a political weapon. It analyses the international financial, legal and political implications of asset-freezing. It concentrates on the freeze against Iran to discover the initial motivations and mechanisms of asset-freezing. The book examines its political, economic and legal basis: beginning with the US International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977; through the legal implications of the extraterritorial application of the freeze order and the litigation in European courts; and ending with an examination of the political agreement that resolved the Iranian crisis in 1981. It shows how this agreement superseded litigation in the US courts which would have produced judgments far more favourable to Iran. Finally, there is a comparative analysis of freezes after the Iranian case and suggestions for the ways in which countries vulnerable to asset-freezing can protect themselves against this unilateral instrument of hegemony by a major financial power.

Because of the rise in cross-border disputes – and due to the ease with which assets can be moved around the world with the help of online banking and fiduciary service providers – parties are increasingly finding themselves suing or being sued outside their home jurisdictions. This book is about how to find out whether a defendant has any assets before initiating costly litigation, arbitration, or insolvency proceedings, and if so how to freeze such assets with the aim of eventually enforcing a judgment or award. Nineteen country chapters by lawyers with decades of hands-on experience in helping their clients find, freeze, and attach defendants’ assets provide practical guidance to legal professionals representing parties in cross-border commercial lawsuits, international arbitration proceedings, simple debt collection matters, enforcement proceedings, divorce proceedings, inheritance matters, and other legal matters where the assets in dispute are thought to be located abroad. Each contribution offers an overview of the pre-trial asset tracing techniques and rules regulating freezing orders and enforcement methods in the jurisdiction covered, describing not just what the law says but how the law actually works. The jurisdictions covered include several of the offshore havens that are frequently used to hide assets in. The authors attend to such issues and topics as the following: • investigating whether a potential counterparty owns vessels, aircrafts, motor vehicles, real estate, or intellectual property rights; • locating offshore trusts; • discovering assets transferred to a family member or corporate entity; • exposing sham investments designed to generate a (fictitious) loss of assets; and • invoking remedies available to a party facing asset shielding manoeuvres. This book will quickly become an indispensable tool for international litigators, arbitration lawyers, and lawyers involved in cross-border insolvency and debt recovery proceedings, as well as for academics and scholars involved in legal research projects or law reform programs. Renowned litigator Robert Shapiro says in his Foreword: 'The authors provide the reader with practical guidance into the complex area of cross-border asset tracing and do so in a very down-to-earth way, without the academic hyperbole that generally burdens modern legal textbooks.'

The Act under review gives the Treasury power to freeze the assets of individuals and groups thought to be involved in terrorism, whether in the UK or abroad, and to deprive them of access to financial resources. It implements UN Security Council Resolution 1373 and is one of a number of measures at the Government's disposal for preventing the financing of terrorism. At the end of the review period in September 2011: 30 individuals and 8 groups were designated by the Treasury under the Act. This is much reduced from the figure in previous years, owing largely to the removal of duplicate designations. Each of the designated groups had been listed since 2001, as had some of the designated individuals. No individual or group was designated during the review period. No individual or group associated with Northern Ireland was designated, despite continuing terrorist activity there. The prohibitions in the Act applied also to 22 individuals and 25 groups listed by the EU under Regulation 2580/2001. The total quantity of assets frozen, taking the Treasury and EU lists together, was some £100,000. Many of those designated had few if any assets in the United Kingdom. These and other facts make TAFA 2010 is an ancillary rather than a central part of the fight against terrorism. A number of conclusions and recommendations are set out in sections 10 and 11

Drawing on data collected between 2006 and 2012, the report provides recommendations and good practices regarding stolen asset recovery, and suggests specific actions for development agencies.

The aim of this book is to make a significant contribution to guide countries in the financial war on terrorism. It is published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development on behalf of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the ...

The monetary and financial dimensions of economic sanctions have become critical components of sanctions strategies. A wider range of monetary and financial assets, entities (including central banks), and services are now targeted. Financial institutions, infrastructures, regulators and central banks play an increasingly influential role in shaping sanctions channels. Furthermore, sanctions may have significant impacts on financial obligations. This book, prepared under the auspices of the International Monetary Law Committee of the International Law Association (Mocomila), is the first to focus on the unexplored financial and monetary law aspects of economic sanctions and examine their impact on central banks and payment systems.

This title provides a practical, comprehensive guide to domestic anti-money laundering law and regulation, increasingly seen as key weapons in the fight against serious and organised crime.

Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world and, after decades of ongoing conflicts and strife, it is still at an early stage of developing its legal and institutional framework. Measures have been taken to fight crime, including financial crime. Smuggling and fraud are other major sources of illegal funds. In addition, terrorism and its financing remain a major concern. A framework has been established to allow for international mutual legal assistance but it falls short of the standard and is rarely used.