Fraud unravels everything – how the BVI Courts can assist

Christopher Pease (+1 284 852 4385, christopher.pease@harneys.com) and Paula Kay (+852 5806 7879, paula.kay@harneys.com) are partners and Strachan Gray (+852 5806 7818, strachan.gray@harneys.com) an associate with Harneys.

Fraudsters sometimes choose offshore vehicles in their illegal schemes under the mistaken belief that the misappropriated assets will not be found or that the victims will not be able to identify the perpetrators. This is completely wrong, say Christopher Pease, Paula Kay and Strachan Gray of Harneys. The BVI Courts apply a well-known legal maxim originally developed by the English Courts in Lazarus Estates v Beasley [1956] 1 QB 702 at 712: “No Court in this land will allow a person to keep an advantage which has been obtained by fraud... fraud unravels everything.”