Prior to founding James Earp & Associates, James was a Managing Director in Kroll’s Investigations and Disputes practice. James has over 20 years’ experience in financial investigations, criminal investigations and insolvency related fraud. James’ range of investigative experience spans forensic accounting, asset tracing, litigation as an Insolvency and Proceeds of Crime office holder and freezing and recovery of funds across complex corporate structures and multiple jurisdictions.

Professional Experience

• Financial Sector - investigated and initiated claims against directors and third parties for the insurance subsidiary of a global corporate leading to recoveries through mediation processes. Appointed by a UK Regulator as Provisional Liquidator and subsequently as Liquidator to take control of assets and investigate a Foreign Exchange based Ponzi scheme. Investigated a significant shortfall in the asset base of a UK/Nigerian commodities trader. James also was appointed joint Receiver of a Cayman based fund which was the subject of investigation and claims following the identification of a significant, unexplained asset deterioration.
• Asset Tracing - Appointed as Receiver, Trustee in bankruptcy and liquidator to trace and identify assets in multiple overseas jurisdictions. Appointed as liquidator of a UK holding company with Spanish subsidiary to identify assets and trace recipients of funds leading to recovery action; appointed as Interim Receiver over a Spanish resident, previously subject to Spanish criminal proceedings, to identify and recover assets in Spain, Gibraltar, Portugal, USA, Bahamas and The Channel Islands; appointed as Administrative Receiver to trace and recover funds following a Spanish based telecoms fraud.
• Proceeds of Crime Investigations - James has been retained by UK Government agencies to investigate the provenance of assets subject to Proceeds of Crime legal actions. In his capacity as Receiver he has led covert operations to recover and protect assets pending court hearings. The cases involved managing a range of businesses – many with overseas entities – which necessitated commercial diligence and litigation processes. James has also acted as Expert in cases where appropriate. In one case James was appointed Receiver and subsequently liquidator of over 300 service companies where the Inland Revenue had been defrauded and assets dissipated overseas.
• Telecoms - asset tracing, litigation for recoveries and investigation of multimillion pound frauds against major telecoms providers. The work involved tracing money flows through many jurisdictions, asset freezing orders, passport orders and search orders prior to obtaining judgment.
• Litigation Support - supervision of worldwide investigation into the financial status of a prominent individual and associated corporate entities to support litigation and to identify the most appropriate jurisdictions. Forensic examination of accounting records and financial statements over a ten year period in multiple offshore jurisdictions emanating from East European counter parties to support ongoing recovery action.
 

Education & Certification

• Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ACA)
• Licensed Insolvency Practitioner
• CFE (Certified Fraud Examiner)
• MBA (Ashridge)
• BSc (Econ) London School of Economics