Alex Jay

Practice Areas

Alex is a global asset recovery specialist who leads the contentious insolvency and asset recovery team, focusing on disputes arising from fraudulent conduct and distressed or insolvent situations, often involving allegations of breach of duty, misuse of powers and dishonesty. Alex focuses on maximising returns to his clients, and recovering substantial assets quickly and efficiently. Alex has recently represented liquidators in a claim for over $450m against an offshore bank and its former owner, relating to suspected widescale tax frauds affecting numerous insolvent entities.

Career

Alex started his career with Eversheds Sutherland in 2004, before joining what is now Gowling WLG in 2008, and becoming a partner of that firm in 2014. He joined Stewarts in 2021.

Alex is also qualified separately as a Certified Fraud Examiner, through global anti-fraud body, the ACFE.

Professional Memberships

- R3: Association of Business Recovery Professionals

- Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, sitting as a member of the UK board since 2015

- Fraud Advisory Panel

- UK Cabinet Office adviser for fraud on cross-sector advisory group

- The International Academy of Financial Crime Litigators Fellow

Personal

Alex enjoys most sporting activities, recently tennis and running. He also plays the guitar.

Industry Sector Expertise

Alex has experience acting for a wide range of clients, including insolvency practitioners, corporates, individuals, family offices, financial institutions as well as governments and public bodies. Alex has led a number of successful cases on behalf of his clients in a wide variety of sectors, securing the recovery of many millions in the process.

Work Highlights

Alex’s recent experience includes acting for:

- liquidators in a claim for over $450m against an offshore bank and high net worth individual, relating to a widespread VAT carousel fraud operation

- bondholders with debt of over $1 billion, in a corporate group that collapsed because of alleged fraudulent business activity

- liquidators of a BVI company, seeking to recover over $800m of investor funds dissipated in a multi-jurisdictional Ponzi scheme

- asset managers with significant holdings worth in excess of £100m, held by a party placed into special administration following an FCA investigation

- a major multinational, defending a claim by liquidators for over £100m relating to a group restructuring and disposal of a lease on landmark London premises

- liquidators of Stanford International Bank, in connection with the second largest Ponzi scheme in history, with creditor-victims of over $7bn

- a sovereign island state, and a major African state, in both cases investigating wide scale corruption and misappropriation of state assets

- a major UAE retail and distribution company in connection with misappropriation of monies and assets within a corporate group

- a variety of Brazilian corporates and insolvency officeholders on asset recovery actions relating to substantial corporate asset stripping, corruption and fraud

- liquidators of UAE entities incorporated in the Dubai International Financial Centre, including obtaining one of the first disclosure orders against former advisers in that jurisdiction