Cullen Commission Inquiry: Unidentified Wealth Orders and the Future of Civil Forfeiture

The Anti-Corruption Law Program is pleased to announce a four-part webinar series to explore the key recommendations arising from the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering in British Columbia (Cullen Commission Report). The 1,800-page Cullen Commission Report was released in June 2022, and represents a watershed moment for anti-corruption law reform efforts in Canada.

Watch the first webinar in this four-part series, Implementing the Cullen Commission Recommendations to Improve Private Sector Self-Regulation to Combat Money Laundering, here. Watch the second webinar, What Does the Cullen Commission Mean for Beneficial Ownership Transparency in Canada, here. Watch the third webinar, Unidentified Wealth Orders & the Future of Civil Forfeiture, here. 

The Cullen Commission heard from 199 witnesses, received thousands of exhibits plus written submissions, sponsored research, and archived live recordings of oral evidence. This four-part Webinar Series is designed to help participants to distill the key issues raised at the Commission and to evaluate its recommendations so that organizations and individuals can effectively address and combat anti-corruption within their own operations and activities in Canada and abroad. Each webinar panel will feature nationally and internationally-recognized anti-corruption and anti-money laundering experts.

Session 3: Cullen Commission Inquiry: Unidentified Wealth Orders and the Future of Civil Forfeiture

The goal of Session 3 is to explore the topic of Unidentified Wealth Orders and Civil Forfeiture in the context of anti-money laundering initiatives in Britch Columbia. Civil forfeiture is being actively pursued in some, but not all Canadian jurisdictions. Justice Cullen recommended that consideration be given to inclusion of Unidentified Wealth Orders (UWO) among the tools available in civil forfeiture schemes. UWOs have been the subject of much debate since becoming law in the United Kingdom. Their intent is to require persons in possession of large sums of unidentified wealth, to explain its origin, or face forfeiture. They raise many questions in terms of constitutional protections and practical problems regarding the cost of litigation. The panel represents experts from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, all possessing extensive knowledge of civil forfeiture. The webinar will develop the topic of UWOs and discuss the broader topic of civil forfeiture and its rightful place vis-a-vis criminal forfeiture.

Watch the recording

This event qualifies for 2 CPD credits from the Law Society of British Columbia (ethics credits included).

Panelists:

• Peter Dent, Partner, Deloitte Forensic
• Stefan Cassella, Principal, Asset Forfeiture Law LLC
• Andrew Dornbierer, Senior Asset Recovery Specialist, Basel Institute on Governance
• Maria Nizzero, Research Fellow, Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies, Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies
• Jeffrey Simser, Esq, Former Legal Director, Ministry of Attorney General

Peter Dent - Moderator 

Peter is a Partner in the Deloitte Forensic practice. Peter has over 25 years of financial crime experience working with clients conducting internal investigations and providing advice around anti-fraud and anti-corruption compliance frameworks, to enhance accountability, transparency and governance. Peter’s specialties include working with international organizations on financial crime risks, having worked in over 35 countries. Between 2000 and 2004 Peter was the Team Leader of the Forensic Services Unit within the Department of Institutional Integrity of the World Bank Group in Washington, DC leading international fraud and corruption procurement investigations into World Bank financed projects.

Peter is the past-Chair of Transparency International – Canada. During this time, TI Canada released its first report on the vulnerability of real estate in Canada being used to launder the proceeds of crime, focused on the Greater Vancouver Area. Currently, Peter is part of TI Canada’s Beneficial Ownership Transparency Working Group, which released its second report on Canadian real estate and money-laundering, focused on the Greater Toronto Area.

Peter has experience working with the United Nations (UNDP and UNPS) evaluating and strengthening the accountability and transparency of their procurement processes. In the case of UNDP, Peter was specifically tasked with advising and assisting UNDP leadership in the wake of the Tsunami of December 26, 2004. In the case of UNPS Peter was responsible for the evaluation of their procurement processes in the wake of the Oil For Food investigation. In addition, Peter was a faculty member for 15 years with the Director’s Education Program at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, where he lectured on a Director’s responsibility with respect to governance and oversight regarding internal investigations and financial crime prevention. Early in his Deloitte career, Mr. Dent was on retainer to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commercial Crime Unit for 3 years. Mr. Dent provided advice on the conduct of financial analysis related to a wide spectrum of white-collar crime investigations.

Stefan D. Cassella - Panelist

Stefan served as a federal prosecutor in the US Department of Justice for 30 years. He specialized in money laundering and asset forfeiture and served in a number of posts before concluding his career as the Chief of the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section of the US Attorney’s Office in Baltimore, Maryland. He is author of over 50 law review articles on these topics and of two treatises: Asset Forfeiture in the United States and Federal Money Laundering: Crimes and Forfeitures. Upon concluding his federal career in 2015, Mr. Cassella formed a consulting company, Asset Forfeiture Law, LLC, through which he serves as an expert witness, provides training and legal advice for law enforcement agencies, private law firms and financial institutions, and publishes a monthly digest of developments in the law. His website is www.assetforfeiturelaw.us.

Andrew Dorbierer - Panelist

Andrew is a Senior Asset Recovery Specialist with the International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) at the Basel Institute on Governance. Andrew has worked with the Legal & Case Consultancy team within ICAR since 2012. He has held positions in both Switzerland and Tanzania, where he was embedded as an investigations advisor for three years with Tanzania’s anti-corruption law enforcement agency, the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau.

Andrew's work with ICAR focuses on financial investigations, illicit enrichment investigations, and international cooperation. He is the author of the open-access book, Illicit Enrichment: A Guide to Laws Targeting Unexplained Wealth, which provides a comprehensive overview to illicit enrichment laws around the world and explains how these laws have been used to target unexplained wealth and recover proceeds of crime. Andrew was admitted as a lawyer of the Supreme Court of Western Australia in 2012.  

Maria Nizzero - Panelist

Maria is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Financial Crime and Security Studies at Royal United Services Institute, a security think tank in London. Her research examines the UK economic crime landscape, asset recovery, with a focus on sanctioned frozen assets and proceeds of kleptocracy, and the foreign policy dimension of illicit finance. She holds a Master’s Degree in International Relations from the Barcelona Institute of International Studies, a Master in Criminology and Criminal Justice Policy from the University of Barcelona. Prior to moving to London, Maria was an Associate Professor of EU Politics and Institutions at the University Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, where she is completing her PhD in International Public Law and International Relations.

Jeffrey Simser - Panelist

Jeffrey served as a lawyer and legal director at the Ministry of the Attorney General in Toronto, Canada for over thirty years before retiring in 2022. He is one of Canada’s leading experts on asset forfeiture and money laundering law. He holds law degrees from Queens University at Kingston and Osgoode Hall Law School. Mr. Simser is the author of two published books, Civil Asset Forfeiture in Canada (loose-leaf) and Canadian Anti-Money laundering Law: the Gaming Sector. He is currently working with co-authors on another book, Money Laundering in Canada. He has published dozens of articles. Mr. Simser was twice qualified as an expert witness at the Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering in British Columbia (the Cullen Commission) and has provided training and support to law enforcement and to jurisdictions across Canada and around the world (including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Philippines, Guatemala and Kenya).

This webinar series is being presented by the Anti-Corruption Law Program, which is a joint continuing professional educational initiative of the Centre for Business Law at the Peter A. Allard School of Law at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Transparency International - Canada Chapter, and the Vancouver Anti-Corruption Institute at the International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy, also at UBC.