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 of fraud will not be able to
identify the fraudsters. This is completely wrong. 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."
When can fraud cases be brought in the BVI?
To secure assistance from the BVI Courts in tackling fraud,
there must be a nexus to the BVI that engages the Court's
jurisdiction. This will invariably involve one or more BVI
companies participating in the fraud. The role of the entities
located in the BVI and the circumstances of the individual case
will dictate the extent to which the BVI Courts can assist.
