Do so-called ?secrecy laws? really make it nigh on impossible to obtain details of fraudulent activity in an offshore jurisdiction?

Not according to a panel of lawyers and investigators who regularly dig through offshore transactions to try and pin down alleged con artists.

The panel, speaking at a due diligence conference in Miami yesterday, outlined the various ways to track down evidence, and intelligence that can be used as a stepping stone to gathering information that will hold up in a court of law.

Some of the means used follow standard legal channels like court orders allowing for discovery or a search of public files. Other more innovative ways used by professional investigators are also used to turn up harder-to-obtain information ? including going through the trash.

Cheryl Cartwright, a partner with Bahamas law firm Callenders & Co., said there are numerous public channels now to source information, but she would also do what she could to solicit the help of any institution involved, say a bank, in the case under investigation.

?I would suggest they be careful with any transfer of funds etc. as they could be held liable as a constructive trustee,? she told the audience.

Various initiatives in recent years pushing for greater transparency of corporate information, especially banking and property records, has gone a long way to create greater information access in the so-called offshore world, the group said. But you have to have legitimate grounds for seeking the information, especially if it isn?t publicly available.

?You have to make a specific request, it cannot be a fishing expedition,? said Mario A. Vlieg, a Panama-based lawyer with Mossack Fonseca & Co.

Offshore, a term that generally makes regulators in these domiciles see red because of its negative connotations, is defined by US tax authorities as a jurisdiction that offers financial secrecy laws, securing the privacy of client information, in an effort to attract investment from outside its borders.

The term continues to be used, many would say unfairly, despite efforts by a significant number of the so-called jurisdictions, including Bermuda, to follow the letter of international regulations, making investments from dodgy dealers unwelcome. The tag may continue to be applied, usually to small island territories, because fraudsters have not stopped trying to hide or ?clean up? ill-gotten gains through bank accounts with financial institutions based in these locations.

A con-man may not use offshore accounts so much anymore because privacy is assured but because it is possible to create a web of transactions across borders that may, because of its complexity, throw off any regulators or sleuths hired by a corporation, pension fund or government body.

But information to recover money that has been obtained through fraud can be tracked down by ?well-concerted legal and investigative actions?, said Edward H. Davis, Jr., who conducts financial fraud investigations in the Americas and Caribbean through his company, Astigarraga Davis.

?Speed is of the essence,? said DC Page, a former Special Agent with the US Customs Service who now is the managing partner of global investigative and security consulting firm Verasys LLC.

One has to move quickly, he said, to both track down the funds taken fraudulently, but also to find the parties who are allegedly behind the fraud.

Peter Broadhurst, a senior partner with Cayman Islands law firm Broadhurst Barristers, said he would be compelled to file a suspicious activity report with regulators if there appeared to be some questionable activity going through the Caymans, but he would not then sit back and depend on the authorities to take action first.

?We have to move quickly if we want to takeover the funds,? he said.

And Mr. Page said if you established that the party has fled home for an offshore jurisdiction that can help the case, including a request to freeze assets that may have been banked in several countries, or even turned into real estate.

And depending on the jurisdiction, it may be possible to obtain a gag order, at least temporarily banning bankers, and authorities from revealing an investigation is underway.

The Fourth annual OffshoreAlert Due Diligence Conference was held Monday and Tuesday in Miami Beach. It is organized by David Marchant, an investigative reporter and publisher of Offshore Alert, which produces a number of Web-based newsletters, including InsideBermuda.