Proprietary claims by constructive trustees

Abstract

If a fraudster obtains money by deceit, breach of trust or breach of fiduciary duty and seeks to launder that money by passing it through a chain of companies, the victim of the fraud will generally have an equitable proprietary claim to the proceeds in the hands of the ultimate recipient. But what of the companies involved in laundering the money? If they are put into liquidation, can they, by their liquidators, also make a proprietary claim to the proceeds? The answer to this question may be important, particularly in complex fraud litigation where the identity of the claimant can have far-reaching substantive, jurisdictional and tactical consequences.