Alaco

Overview & History:
Established in 2002 by experienced industry practitioners, Alaco is a leading business intelligence consultancy. Its principals remain active in case work supporting an international, multilingual team with backgrounds in law, finance, professional services, government and journalism. Alaco collects and analyses critical information to enhance the efforts of clients in a range of situations, from disputes and investigations to risk and compliance.
Alaco’s disputes practice is engaged in a range of contentious matter ranging from litigation and arbitration support, to enforcement matters and regulatory issues faced by corporates or individuals.Alaco’s work in the context of disputes is supplemented and complemented by the firm’s non-contentious risk and compliance practice.

Litigation and Arbitration Support
Alaco provides support during the full life cycle of a case, providing admissible evidence to support proceedings across several onshore and offshore jurisdictions. Their work is particularly relevant when issues of corruption and misconduct are at the heart of a dispute.

• The presentation of evidence of corruption– including kickbacks paid to senior government officials by a rival party – that led to the expropriation of the client’s assets in a former Communist state. Alaco’s evidence was submitted in front of an International Arbitration tribunal.

• Acting on behalf of an investor in a shareholder dispute, Alaco demonstrated undisclosed financial arrangements between the other side and a group of parties that were subject to a criminal probe by the US government. The firm's findings were submitted in court proceedings in the US and elsewhere.

Judgement Enforcement and Asset Recovery
Alaco assists clients prior to launching claims by determining the enforceability of a future award.To this end, the firm maps out attachable assets, assists third party funders to address collection risks, and conducts long term enforcement campaigns post-award.Throughout its work, Alaco never loses sight of the need to identify points of commercial or political leverage that could be deployed to secure a swift resolution.

• Instructed by external counsel in the US and the UK, Alaco executed an enforcement strategy against an African state by targeting outstanding receivables held by government agencies engaged in commercial work. Alaco worked alongside counsel and lobbyists to apply international pressure on the debtor government to honour its obligations.

• Acting on behalf of a sovereign wealth fund, Alaco identified recoverable assets – largely real estate across Western Europe – and traced financial flows through several countries in close collaboration with local Financial Intelligence Units.

• Provided an affidavit to a Singapore tribunal on issues of asset dissipation arising from a cancelled dividend payment from a local party that would have been vulnerable to enforcement

FCPA and Other Investigations
Alaco supports clients facing regulatory investigations by independently assessing allegations of corporate malpractice and working with clients to remediate those problems.

• Instructed by the Client’s General Counsel, Alaco gathered evidence which demonstrated that accusations of bribery in an emerging market were materially false and that the client had actually been the victim of fraud and extortion by local parties including government officials.

• Investigation into one of the world’s largest extractive groups which demonstrated that the company was engaged in anti-competitive behaviour by manipulating key price indices for certain commodities.The output of Alaco’s work formed part of submission to relevant bodies within the US government.

International Private Client
Alaco works in collaboration with law firms on behalf of High Net Worth clients to protect their assets, reputation and freedom of movement–both in response to actions and pre-emptively.

• Safeguarded a client’s assets by demonstrating that a legal campaign launched in a number of offshore jurisdictions by a government agency and related commercial parties constituted corporate raiding.

• Acting as a disclosed expert and working alongside a team of barristers, Alaco supported an asylum petition to the UK Home Office by providing expert testimony and evidence that the actions of law enforcement bodies in the home jurisdiction were politically motivated.

Alaco’s work product is evidence-led, and findings are frequently submitted in front of tribunals and courts. Alaco regularly works as part of a broader team of advisors which, in addition to counsel, can include lobbyists, media professionals, political experts and others. Across the full range of investigative services Alaco brings creativity, sound judgement and commercial sensitivity to its work.