EBIS
Insights

Insights informed by practical experience.

Our Insights draw on situations encountered in our work to illustrate the challenges faced, the approaches taken and the outcomes achieved. They provide additional context on the kinds of situations we help clients navigate and the thinking behind our approach.

Maritime

Organised criminality

Organised criminal interference with maritime assets

An organised criminal group registered a fictitious mortgage against an unencumbered tanker using fabricated documentation, then presented false evidence to a local court to secure the vessel’s detention — the first stage of a multi-million dollar settlement demand.

Working alongside the owners’ legal team and insurers, Ebis identified the individuals behind the scheme, mapped their pressure points and built the evidential picture needed to secure a resolution without capitulating to the demand.

Outcome The matter was resolved without payment being made to the organised criminal group.
Crisis response

Release of vessel and crew

When an armed militia seized a tanker amid disputed allegations over cargo payment, owners instructed Ebis to open and hold direct negotiations for the release of the vessel and crew.

Ebis investigated the underlying payment dispute in parallel with the negotiation, giving the team a factual basis to counter the militia’s claims, while maintaining close liaison with owners, legal representatives and senior personnel aboard throughout.

Outcome Vessel and crew released unharmed, without payment of the disputed sum, avoiding a major insurance claim and ongoing risk to life and property.

Investment & Transaction Risk

Transaction exposure

Preventing a £650 million transaction exposure

Ahead of completing the acquisition of a substantial commercial property portfolio, the buyer instructed Ebis to resolve concerns over the ownership history and financing behind the assets.

Tracing financing arrangements across multiple European jurisdictions uncovered a circular pattern of borrowing in which the same assets had been repeatedly pledged as collateral, obscuring the portfolio’s true financial exposure behind layers of intra-group lending.

Outcome Client withdrew before completion, avoiding exposure of approximately £650 million.
Investment dispute

Insider activity and investment dilution

After a substantial investment in a corporate group was diluted through transactions the investor had not sanctioned, Ebis was instructed to trace the transactions and identify who stood behind them.

Unravelling a network of entities spanning several European and offshore jurisdictions linked the transactions directly to members of the group’s own senior management.

Outcome Findings exposed undisclosed conflicts of interest and governance failures, giving the client the leverage to secure a commercially satisfactory resolution.

Fraud & Misconduct

Financial misconduct

Undisclosed diversion of investment capital

A routine document review turned up the signature of a former employee on company records that had never been disclosed to the fund — the detail that opened the wider investigation.

Following that thread through corporate structures in Luxembourg and Malta, Ebis traced unauthorised transactions that had diverted tens of millions of euros from an investment fund, and built the evidential record needed to support recovery.

Outcome Tens of millions of euros recovered; evidence developed in support of both civil and criminal proceedings.
Trade credit fraud

Concealed ownership and fabricated trade activity

A substantial trade credit claim raised concerns over the legitimacy of the underlying transactions, prompting underwriters to instruct Ebis before the claim was paid.

Investigating counterparties across several jurisdictions established that supposedly independent entities shared common ownership and control, operated from fictitious business addresses, and had fabricated the purchase orders, bills of lading and invoices underpinning the claim.

Outcome Evidence enabled insurers to deny the claim, avoiding significant financial loss.

Asset Recovery & Disputes

Asset tracing

Tracing misappropriated investment funds

Ebis was engaged to trace substantial funds misappropriated from investments in companies controlling significant assets in Eastern Europe.

Following the money through a network of offshore entities built specifically to obscure beneficial ownership, Ebis identified the ultimate recipients and the assets they had acquired with the misappropriated funds.

Outcome Combination of asset tracing and negotiated settlements delivered full recovery of the funds.
Sovereign-linked recovery

Sovereign-linked asset recovery

Following a trade credit default linked to a foreign sovereign state, underwriters instructed Ebis to identify assets against which recovery might realistically be pursued.

Working within the constraints of sovereign immunity, Ebis mapped commercial interests connected to the state and narrowed the search to jurisdictions offering a viable route to enforcement.

Outcome Findings supported a favourable settlement, mitigating a substantial financial loss.

Ownership, Sanctions & Hidden Exposure

Sanctions exposure

Ownership, trading patterns and sanctions exposure

A shipping client instructed Ebis to conduct advanced due diligence on its ship-owning structures in support of compliance with applicable sanctions regimes.

Analysing ownership structures, beneficial owners and vessel trading patterns identified specific areas of potential compliance risk and gaps in the client’s existing due diligence controls.

Outcome Recommendations strengthened due diligence processes, reducing sanctions-related, reputational and commercial exposure.
Market abuse allegations

Public information and market abuse allegations

Facing allegations of insider dealing, the client instructed Ebis to examine the provenance and availability of the information said to have informed the trading activity in question.

Reconstructing how information sources and access methods had evolved over the relevant period showed that a static, retrospective assessment could not fairly characterise what the trader knew and when.

Outcome Findings proved significant in challenging certain allegations of market abuse.

The matters differ in geography, sector and circumstance.

Common thread

Understanding exposure before decisions are made.

What these matters share is the need to understand what sits beneath the apparent facts — ownership, control, incentives, relationships, information and dependencies.

Significant consequences rarely arise from a single event. More often they emerge from connections that go unnoticed until they become material.

Conclusion Understanding exposure before decisions are made remains less costly than understanding it afterwards.