Part V Financial Wrongdoing and Private International Law, 13 Introduction

Subject(s):

Anti-terrorist financing — Insider dealing — Money laundering — Regulated activities — International financial system

Private international law plays an important role in determining whether victims of corruption and commercial fraud can obtain private redress in the national courts. If the principles and rules of private international law are incoherent or parochial in design or in application, then private remedies against fraudsters may be jeopardized merely because the fraud has transnational elements. The chapter asks: can a fraudster avoid the jurisdiction of the victim’s courts by planning and implementing the fraudulent scheme in an ‘offshore’ territory? It also asks: can a victim trace misappropriated funds which have passed through accounts in different jurisdictions if the national law of one of those jurisdictions does not recognize the victim’s right to trace such funds? The answers to such questions are provided by private international law.