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"If you live or work in an offshore financial center, have business or investments interests in one, or are seeking to recover concealed assets, this is a must-attend event," said Marchant. "It brings together some of the most influential figures in the private and public sectors who have an interest in offshore jurisdictions under one roof to exchange credible and meaningful information, which is the cornerstone of due diligence."
If ever a year emphasized the importance of financial due diligence and exposed the fact that some of the world's biggest financial institutions, fund managers, and highest net worth individuals need help with it, it was 2008.
They bought investment products whose risks they didn't understand (mortgage-backed securities) and invested in schemes that had red flags plastered all over them (Bernard Madoff), the consequences of which are global losses on a scale that is scarcely believable.
"It emphasizes what we have been preaching at our financial due diligence conferences for six years," said David Marchant, publisher of OffshoreAlert newsletter, which organizes an annual conference designed to help businesses and individuals reduce their exposure to serious financial crime.
"Don't take anyone on their reputation and don't rely on regulators to do what you should be doing yourself, which is accumulating credible information and understanding what it means in order to make better decisions."
Marchant added: "There's nothing wrong with making mistakes, as some of the financial industry's most senior people clearly have in recent years. However, the smart people will learn from what has happened and take steps to ensure that the odds of it happening again are greatly reduced, if not eliminated. A good place to start is our conference.
"When it comes to protecting your principal and trying to make it grow, the saying 'half an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure' is never more apt. As we are seeing now with the Bernard Madoff case, a relative pittance spent on due diligence prior to making an investment could have saved investors from losing their fortunes and the emotional devastation that comes with it."
A look at what red flags were missed by investors in Madoff's Ponzi scheme will form one of the sessions at the 7th Annual OffshoreAlert Financial Due Diligence Conference, which will be held at the Eden Roc Resort & Spa, in Miami Beach, Florida, on April 26-28, 2009. As investigators start to look offshore in the hunt for Madoff's assets, the OffshoreAlert conference will also show attendees how to go about locating, freezing and seizing assets that are concealed offshore.
Our 2009 event focuses on fraud detection and prevention, anti-money laundering, financial compliance, asset recovery, investigative research, intelligence-gathering and general risk management, with an emphasis on Offshore Financial Centers.
"If you live or work in an offshore financial center, have business or investments interests in one, or are seeking to recover concealed assets, this is a must-attend event," said Marchant. "It brings together some of the most influential figures in the private and public sectors who have an interest in offshore jurisdictions under one roof to exchange credible and meaningful information, which is the cornerstone of due diligence."
Speakers at our 2009 conference include Jeffrey Owens, Head of Tax at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development; Bob Roach, Chief Counsel on the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations; Martin Kenney, one of the world's leading asset recovery attorneys; Sir Ronald Sanders, a former Caribbean diplomat; and tax defense attorneys Edward Robbins, Jr. and Bob Bernhoft, whose clients have included UBS client Igor Olenicoff (in the case of Robbins), and actor Wesley Snipes, and 'Girls Gone Wild' video producer Joe Francis (in the case of Bernhoft).
The 7th Annual OffshoreAlert Financial Due Diligence Conference is taking place on April 26 - 28, 2009 in Miami Beach, Florida at the Eden Roc Resort & Spa. For more information visit www.OffshoreAlertConference.com or contact Naomi Comerford, Conference Manager, by telephone on +1 (305)372-6296.
