Question

Anna and Jorge Peleo are in the middle of a bitter divorce. Anna’s attorney called Sam Blakely, a forensic accountant, because he suspected that Jorge was hiding assets from the divorce. Anna claimed that Jorge secretly owned a beach condominium on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. He had frequently traveled there on business trips, and about a year ago, she received a mysterious call from a woman living in Costa Rica. The woman claimed that she was Jorge’s ex-girlfriend and that he had bought a condo for her to live in. The caller seemed very angry because Jorge had left her for another woman and had thrown her out of the condo.

The alleged ex-girlfriend left only her first name (Nora). She did mention the city where the condo was located, but it was a long Spanish name that Anna could not recall.

Anna’s attorney deposed Jorge and asked him many questions about the girlfriend and the condo. Jorge claimed it was all crazy talk, and he completely denied any knowledge of a condominium or girlfriend.

During the 20 years of marriage, Jorge worked as the vice president of marketing for a large machine parts company. Anna knew only that he was very highly paid, but she had never worked or paid much attention to their finances. Now she feels she is completely at his mercy in the divorce.

Explain how you think Sam Blakely would proceed with his investigation.

Assuming that there is a secret condo in Costa Rica, what do you think Sam’s chances are of discovering it?

Answer 1

Here are the strategies that would be used by Sam Blakely to proceed with his investigation:

• Analysis of Jorge's fiduciary and business tax returns.
• The examination of Jorge's personal and business financial statements or loan applications and public records searches.
• Detailed forensic review of disbursements made from bank and brokerage accounts can prove valuable in identifying situations where Jorge has attempted to dissipate marital assets in anticipation of the separation.
• Sam Blakely can even employ asset locator techniques to identify hidden accounts established by Jorge.
• Computer Imaging : Sam can make use of specialized software that allows the hard drive of a computer to be imaged. This image reveals deleted files, memos and emails that cannot be accessed by ordinary means. This allows for a search for evidence of hidden assets including bank statements, settlement sheets and email correspondence.

if there is a secret condo in Costa Rica, Sam may succeed in discovering it.