Hudson Intelligence

Yes, we are available to serve as expert witnesses. Our primary investigators have joint expertise as both Cryptocurrency Tracing Certified Examiners (CTCE) and Certified Fraud Examiners (CFE) with 20+ years of experience in complex financial fraud investigations. We have published extensively on these and related topics. We have coordinated on past investigations with the FBI, SEC, CFTC, U.S. Attorney’s Office, U.S. Secret Service and state and foreign securities regulators.

Please drop us a line (contact@fraudinvestigation.net) with some general details about the proposed engagement and we will be glad to review and revert.

We have decades of experience assisting litigants and their legal counsel in locating assets for civil lawsuits, judgment enforcement and divorce proceedings. Traditionally, this has included efforts to identify bank, brokerage, mutual fund and retirement accounts, in addition to other asset classes, both domestically and abroad.

When it comes to cryptocurrency, it can be possible to locate undisclosed – or underreported – assets through forensic investigation, especially if there is a thread to pull on (from an investigative standpoint) such as details on a past transaction or wallet address used by the defendant or opposing party.

We can also help develop a strategy for gathering information on crypto assets through legal discovery, and advise on the meaning and significance of records obtained through subpoena of commercial exchanges.

Hudson Intelligence is a licensed investigative agency specializing in cryptocurrency forensics and financial investigations. We help our clients figure out what happened, who was responsible, and where their money went.

We effectively support our clients’ financial recovery efforts by developing critical information and evidence to support their claims in criminal or civil actions.

We also provide guidance to increase the odds of successful recovery, such as recommending appropriate agencies to notify at the federal, state and local level.

Recovery from cryptocurrency fraud, theft and hacking incidents typically requires formal legal intervention through criminal or civil proceedings. Hudson Intelligence provides information – investigative findings and expert insights – to support recovery efforts through these legal processes. Our investigative reports are clear, concise and courtroom-ready. We prepare roadmaps of relevant evidence for criminal prosecution and civil lawsuits, including suitable targets for subpoenas, warrants and asset seizure. We coordinate on behalf of our clients with legal representatives, financial regulators and law enforcement.

We do not recover funds unilaterally. We are not aware of any legitimate investigative services that operate in that manner.

It is possible to recoup losses from cryptocurrency fraud schemes — but the odds are not always favorable. Outcomes vary considerably from case to case, depending on the technical sophistication of the fraudsters and the foreign jurisdictions where they are operating, among other factors. Partial recovery is more likely than full restitution.

Recovery efforts often depend on cooperation from law enforcement agencies and virtual asset service providers, including commercial exchanges used as ‘exit ramps’ to trade tainted crypto for less-traceable fiat currency like euros and dollars.

No. Hudson Intelligence is headquartered in New York, where professional licensure for private investigators does not allow billing on a contingency basis.

We work on a retainer basis with hourly fees. Our billing practices are consistent with other professional services firms such as attorneys and accountants.

At the outset of a client engagement, we provide a written proposal that describes the billing rate, retainer amount and investigative scope. Upon client’s approval of the proposal, and payment of the retainer, we will proceed with the investigation. Our time and expenses are then billed against the funds on retainer. Any unused portion of the retainer is refunded at the conclusion of the case.

Typically, we assist clients who have lost at least $100,000 USD.

The anticipated costs of an investigation must be weighed against total losses and the likelihood of potential recovery. This rarely pencils when losses are less than six figures.

We recommend filing a report with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Consortium (IC3). You should also contact local law enforcement, although most municipal police departments do not have the technical resources to conduct their own cryptocurrency investigations. If you sent funds to the scammers from an account at a major exchange, such as Coinbase or Crypto.com, it may be worth notifying their compliance departments. These complaints – on their own – are unlikely to result in a satisfying outcome, unless the facts of your case align with other victims in an active investigation.

In the private sector, there are very few legitimate firms – less than we can count on one hand – capable of handling cryptocurrency forensic investigations. These cases tend to be time-intensive and require specialized tools, training and resources. Investigative experts are not inexpensive. If your case is too small for us, our colleagues at other forensic firms will likely offer a similar assessment.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Secret Service have technical resources and well-trained agents for tracing illicit transactions and securing restitution for victims of cryptocurrency crimes. However, with certain exceptions, active intervention by federal law enforcement is typically predicated on minimum losses of $1.0 million.

Even seven-figure losses aren’t always enough to persuade agencies to initiate an investigation, particularly if the evidence is poorly presented, or the fact narrative is too convoluted to follow, or the information, once submitted, is simply swallowed in silence. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, in particular, can seem like a black hole for fraud victims.

Many clients with multi-million-dollar losses have come to us after receiving no response to such complaints. We can’t promise to make an FBI Special Agent open a new case file, but we can offer some useful guidance on approaching and following-up with law enforcement. Presenting a cryptocurrency fraud investigation report – one that is concise, complete and supported by incontrovertible evidence – can be quite helpful for starting a conversation at a local field office of the FBI or Secret Service.

For clients who have sustained losses under a million dollars, Hudson will endeavor to collect and report any evidence developed during our investigation that shows aggregate losses (from all victims) exceeding that threshold, to support an argument for federal agency involvement.

Local and state law enforcement can also be effective partners and should not be disregarded. Hudson Intelligence provides our clients with clear, evidenced-based reporting that can be followed by financial crimes detectives at municipal police departments, including those without prior experience in cryptocurrency casework. Local detectives are often highly motivated to work on behalf of fraud victims in their own community.

Yes, perhaps. We have worked cases in which each member of a large group of fraud victims pays a portion of the total investigative costs. We tend to coordinate these cases through one or two primary representatives of the group.

This can be an appropriate solution if individual investors losses are relatively small, but the group’s collective investment totals more than $1 million, which is a minimum loss threshold for involvement of various federal law enforcement and regulatory agencies in the U.S.

There are special considerations in any crowd-funded case. Among them is the real possibility that the fraudsters themselves might pose as victims and participate in order to monitor the progress of the investigation. Not everybody you meet on Telegram is telling the truth.

Fraud victims should be extremely wary of anyone who promises they can recover lost tokens or cryptocurrency for an up-front fee. Many people have been re-victimized by fake “crypto recovery” specialists. These charlatans – who are not licensed investigators or credentialed forensic experts – are increasingly prevalent online. They are in the business of selling false promises for a high price.

To confirm you are dealing with a reputable firm, it is worth taking the time to check professional licenses, insurance, corporate records, social media and publication history.

We did not contact you about recovering from a financial fraud – unless you contacted us first. We don’t cold-call prospective clients. We don’t approach people randomly on Telegram, WhatsApp, etc. (We are far too busy for that sort of thing.)

If you received an unsolicited offer of assistance from someone pretending to be John Powers or another investigator from Hudson Intelligence, please let us know, so we can report them to the authorities.