The Expert Podcast

🔍 Episode Description / Show Notes: 
  • We recently attended a presentation by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners titled "Asset Tracing: Finding the Truth Behind the Numbers."
  • This refresher course inspired us to explore a common question:
     What is the difference between asset tracing and asset searching?
  • At first glance, the two may seem similar—but they are significantly different in scope and purpose.
đź’ˇ Key Points Covered in This Episode:
  • Asset Search:
    • A snapshot in time
    • Shows current assets held by an individual or entity
    • Often used in cases involving debtors, lawsuits, or alleged fraud
    • Helps identify what assets exist at the moment of the search
  • Asset Tracing:
    • Goes back in time to track the history and movement of assets
    • Useful for identifying asset transfers, conversions, or concealment
    • Helps uncover if someone once had millions in assets and now shows significantly less
    • Reveals changes in asset class (e.g., cash to crypto, corporate assets to personal property)
  • Why It Matters:
    • Asset tracing can reveal hidden or transferred wealth
    • Essential in fraud investigations, lawsuits, and judgment recovery
    • May identify third parties who now hold the assets
    • Tracing can result in stronger recovery actions and better legal outcomes
  • Example Scenarios:
    • Someone had $300,000 in 2018 and now appears broke—where did the money go?
    • Assets were used to purchase real estate, stocks, or cryptocurrency
    • Tracing reveals whether assets increased in value or were shielded under other names
  • Conclusion:
    • An asset search gives you a static view
    • Asset tracing provides a dynamic, historical trail
    • Tracing offers deeper insight and better tools for recovery
đź“ž For More Information:
Visit activeintel.com to learn more about asset tracing, asset searches, and investigative tools for financial recovery.

What is The Expert Podcast?

The Expert Podcast brings you firsthand narratives from experts across diverse industries, including private investigators, general contractors and builders, insurance agencies, vehicle specialists, lawyers, and many others.

We recently attended an excellent presentation by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, of which we're a member, that had to do with asset tracing. It was called Asset Tracing: Finding the Truth Behind the Numbers, and while attending this refresher course, it was an excellent reminder to review with our viewers what is the difference between asset tracing and asset searching. Many times it seems like an asset search and asset tracing are the same thing, but there are some very significant differences between the two.

An asset search, which many people are familiar with, is a single point-in-time search of what are the assets at that moment. So, if we do an asset search for an individual—let's say that's a debtor in a judgment, maybe somebody who owes money from a lawsuit or an alleged fraud perpetrator—what you're going to do is you're going to find assets at that moment of what is held by the person. However, asset tracing goes back further. It finds out what the assets were in history.

Did they convey assets away? Did they have two million dollars in assets a year and a half ago, and now they have $200,000 in assets? Where did that flow of assets go? Tracing the flow of funds—tracing the assets—can also show the change in asset class. If the person or company changed their assets from cash to real estate, or maybe they changed their assets from corporate assets to digital currency or cryptocurrency, that might make a difference in what is recoverable to a debtor or to a creditor to get back money from a fraud or a scam.

For example, let's say that your creditor—somebody who owes you money—had $300,000 in assets in 2018, and you have a judgment against them for a million dollars. Well, if you follow those assets and they went to purchase real estate or purchase stocks or purchase other assets like crypto, and now the assets went up in value, you may be able to collect your judgment. On the other hand, if the person has taken assets and put them in other people's names, you may think you don't have collectible assets, but if you trace where those assets went, you may find that there's other third parties that you can recover from.

So asset tracing is taking that asset search and then flowing it backwards to find out where the value went, where the value increased, and if the debtor changed the class of assets from one type to another—for example, from cash to real estate or from real estate to vehicles, and so on. Tracing the history of assets can give you a lot more intel than just a static asset search, which is a place in time as of a certain date, as of a certain type of judgment.

If you have questions about asset searching or asset tracing, you can reach us at our website at activeintel.com.