Tank Jowett Solicitors specialise in crypto currency fraud cases.
This is a new and developing area, and many matters take several years to come to court as a result of extensive investigations, often requiring the involvement of numerous international law enforcement agencies to prosecute such cases.
The firm currently have a number of cases of varying size and complexity working their way through the criminal justice system.
Some crypto currency cases are aligned with other criminality, such as drug dealing and money laundering.
The main forms of crypto currency fraud schemes are:
- Bitcoin investment schemes, where reportedly reputable organisations offer investment schemes, which offer to hold bitcoin in a ‘safe’ location, before disappearing with the funds.
- Rug pull scams, where non existent investment projects are launched, coins are purchased, which become worthless when the ‘team’ taking the investment monies fail to progress the project, and had no intention of progressing it. Coins become worthless and the funds are lost.
- Phishing. Frauds are committed when crypto owners are encouraged to hand over personal details to gain access to funds. Wallet addresses are never enough, but the back up information is, and funds can be dissipated in minutes with the correct details.
- Accessing wallet information through public wifi, where fraudsters gain access to such information before stealing funds.
- Ponzi schemes. This is a particularly old form of fraud, in existence long before the advent of crypto, but the principle remains the same: pay earlier investors back with the funds from new investors. Eventually these schemes are discovered when substantial funds are lost.
- Fake crypto currency exchanges. Investors are lured in by the promise of bonuses for trading on an exchange, and transfer funds to the relevant addresses before discovering that the exchange is not legitimate, and the funds are not recoverable.
Law enforcement agencies around the world have had a limited impact on the growth of crypto currency, and the industry is largely unregulated.
Large scale failures of certain cryptocurrencies, sometimes for perfectly legitimate reasons, can nevertheless prompt over zealous reactions from law enforcement agencies in different jurisdictions. The need for strong legal representation is ever present. In short, simply because there is loss does not automatically mean that there is fraud.
Tank Jowett Solicitors are regularly consulted to represent defendants globally in a variety of prosecutions and have substantial links with law firms around the world, bringing in the right representation, and overseeing that representation, to ensure one single objective: that the client receives value for money and yet best possible representation.
Such representation includes:
- Representation in the UK where necessary
- Consultation with foreign lawyers and selection and referrals to foreign lawyers to ensure the correct level of representation where appropriate in the relevant foreign jurisdiction
- Liasing and negotiation with law enforcement agencies globally where necessary
Legal representation in the UK is governed by the SRA (Solicitors Regulatory Authority) principles as follows: in a way that upholds the constitutional principle of the rule of the law, and the proper administration of justice; in a way that upholds public trust and confidence in the solicitors’ profession and in legal services provided by authorised persons; with independence; with honesty; with integrity; in a way that encourages equality, diversity and inclusion; and, arguably most importantly, in the best interests of each client.
Tank Jowett Solicitors deal with multiple crypto currency investigations and prosecutions on a yearly basis, and are best placed to ensure that a client prosecuted in the UK and abroad can receive the best quality representation by a variety of lawyers with one overriding principle: to act at all times in the best interests of the client.