Multi-jurisdiction structural analysis for counsel instructing on civil fraud recovery, matrimonial discovery, and insolvency matters. Court-ready exhibits. 12-hour first response.
Asset tracing is the structural work of reconstructing what a subject actually owns across the jurisdictions they have used to obscure it. It is rarely about a single document or a single transaction. It is about the overlap between five or more layers of corporate structure, intermediary counterparty, banking relationship, and asset registry, and the time-stamped audit trail that demonstrates how one connects to the next.
Coldstorm's tracing work is instructed by counsel for civil recovery matters, by trustees for insolvency discovery, by family law counsel for matrimonial disclosure, and by private offices for pre-transaction verification. Every engagement begins with a scoping brief. Urgent matters receive a first response within twelve business hours. Longer engagements begin with a paid scoping consultation under privilege where counsel instructs.
Our methodology prioritises Tier-1 evidentiary sources. Official registries, court records, and regulated intermediary disclosures are the foundation of every assertion that reaches an exhibit. Tier-2 commercial datasets corroborate. Tier-3 open-source signal is never cited alone. A well-scoped tracing report has roughly 70 percent of its attributive assertions anchored in Tier-1 sources. That is the evidentiary standard counsel can cite in civil procedure.
Pursuing a judgment debtor or fraud subject with concealed assets across multiple jurisdictions.
Discovering undisclosed debtor assets for the estate, including marine, real-estate, and private equity positions.
Running high-net-worth divorce matters where non-disclosure of assets is suspected or evident.
Verifying asset schedules before distribution, restructuring, or retitling.
Confirming target or counterparty declarations before close.
Supporting referrals where a subject's disclosure is materially incomplete.
Matter summary and source materials received. Conflict check complete. Scoping brief issued within 48 hours, covering proposed workstream, fee estimate, SLA, and initial preservation list. Counsel instructs.
First 72 hours. Registry snapshots, corporate filings, intermediary disclosures locked in. Time-stamped and cryptographically hashed. No attribution conclusions at this stage.
Weeks 2–6 on standard engagements. Beneficial-ownership chain mapped outward from the subject. Counterparty overlap, nominee patterns, and operating-entity links documented. Tier-1 sources anchored.
Weeks 6–10. Identified structures cross-referenced against asset registries (real estate, marine, aircraft, securities, private-equity positions). Off-chain and on-chain assets mapped into a single schedule.
Final report with chain-of-custody ledger, source-tier citations for every assertion, and optional expert-witness availability. Report aligned to English, Swiss, or New York civil procedure by default.
| Matter type | Scope profile | Timing |
|---|---|---|
| Civil fraud recovery | Across 3 jurisdictions | 10–14 business days to scoping brief · 8–12 weeks to final report |
| Matrimonial asset discovery | UHNW profile | 12 hours first response · 6–10 weeks to schedule delivery |
| Insolvency trustee discovery | High-value estate | 14 days to preservation brief · 10–14 weeks full |
| Pre-transaction verification | PE / family office | 72-hour flash brief · 3–5 week full EDD |
Every engagement is quoted after a confidential scoping call. Fees reflect matter complexity, jurisdictions in scope, and delivery timeline. Engagements instructed by counsel are treated as privileged work product and delivered to the retaining party only.
A scoped first-pass trace across three to five offshore jurisdictions typically lands within 10 to 14 business days. Urgent matters produce a first response within 12 hours and a preliminary map within 72 hours. A full final report with schedule of assets and chain-of-custody ledger typically takes 8 to 14 weeks.
A named subject, a known counterparty or triggering transaction, and at least one documented anchor (a bank, a filing, a regulator submission, a court document). With less, the engagement begins as open-source scoping rather than attribution.
Yes. We produce exhibits aligned to English, Swiss, and New York civil procedure by default. Chain-of-custody documentation is built during the engagement to survive cross-examination. We adapt to other jurisdictions on instruction.
Forensic accountants reconstruct flows from documents counsel provides. Investigators discover and attribute assets that counterparties have actively concealed. The work is adjacent and frequently sequenced together, not redundant.
Engagements instructed by counsel are treated as privileged work product. Our findings are delivered to the retaining party only. No external contact is made without counsel's written authorisation.
Urgent matters receive a scoped response within twelve business hours. Longer engagements begin with a paid scoping consultation under privilege where counsel instructs.
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