Offshore and blockchain: How to avoid a bad romance

At the OffshoreAlert Conference in London later this year, attendees will be shown how to identify warning signs so that they can prevent and detect crypto-fraud and, where money has already been lost, recover coin for victims

25 July 2018, 10:57am

2 min read

Offshore financial centres like Malta have great expectations that blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies will be their next big earners. Laws are being passed and a battle for jurisdictional dominance is underway.

While the rewards for jurisdictions that get it right are huge, there are significant reputational and financial risks for jurisdictions that get it wrong by not properly vetting participants and products.

At the OffshoreAlert Conference in London later this year, attendees will be shown how to identify warning signs so that they can prevent and detect crypto-fraud and, where money has already been lost, recover coin for victims. The session will be presented by David Haas and Dan Eckhart, both of Global Asset Allies, and Pawel Kuskowski, of Coinfirm, which specializes in the safe adoption and use of blockchain.

It's one of 17 sessions on financial intelligence and investigations, with an emphasis on offshore finance, that make up the 7th Annual OffshoreAlert Conference Europe, which will take place at the Grange St Paul’s Hotel, in London, on November 12-13th, 2018.

There will be sessions for investigators, providers and buyers of financial products and services. All are designed to help attendees better understand and operate more effectively in the world of high-value international finance – an industry that seldom forgives mistakes.

The focus will be on techniques to avoid and detect serious financial crime, particularly investment fraud; recover assets or other forms of value if you've already been swindled, and identify and evaluate money-making opportunities. There's even a session on how to scrub negative information from Internet websites, search engines, and social media.

Speakers include the criminal heads of the IRS in the United States and HMRC in the United Kingdom and the owner and editor of OffshoreAlert, which has put countless fraudulent schemes out of business since it was launched in 1997.

The OffshoreAlert Conference is so significant that The Wall Street Journal profiled it in 2009. When asked to describe the conference, prominent Washington, DC-based attorney Jack Blum told the WSJ: “It's like that famous bar in 'Star Wars' where they all come together - the good guys, the bad guys, the seriously guilty - and they all exchange information on neutral territory.”

Full details about The OffshoreAlert Conference Europe can be found at www.oaclondon.com