She will work with the firm’s commercial litigation, blockchain, and fraud and anti-corruption groups
Commercial litigator Maureen Ward has joined the partnership at WeirFoulds LLP, bolstering its commercial litigation, blockchain and digital assets, and fraud and anti-corruption groups.
She is an expert in cross-border fraud litigation, asset recovery, and complex financial disputes. In particular, she has tackled high-stakes, multi-jurisdictional disputes involving commercial fraud, cryptocurrency, enforcement of foreign judgments and arbitral awards, and regulatory investigations.
Ward has worked on matters involving anti-money laundering and corruption compliance, offshore banking, bank liability, data breaches, investment disputes, and tracing hidden assets in contentious divorce proceedings. She spearheaded recognition proceedings in Ontario for the joint liquidators of cryptocurrency platform Three Arrows Capital, which was valued at over $5 billion.
She was lead counsel for the joint liquidators of Stanford International Bank in the trial involving the bank’s $5.5 billion collapse – described by WeirFoulds as the world’s second-biggest Ponzi scheme. She assisted a Chicago-based venture capital fund on a cross-border investment fraud matter worth $22.5 billion, helping the fund to secure a freeze order and Anton Piller order.
Ward advised on a multi-billion-dollar Brazilian fraud case where $1.3 billion was misappropriated and laundered through Canadian public markets, including international asset tracing. She also acted for the US SEC court-appointed federal equity receiver in Texas in litigation and asset recovery involving the “Chinese Warren Buffet” Ponzi scheme. Moreover, she represented the court-appointed receiver in Canada’s largest Ponzi scheme.
She is vice-chair of the International Bar Association’s asset recovery committee and is a founding member of the Cryptocurrency Fraud and Asset Recovery Network’s North American chapter. She is on the International Fraud Group’s steering committee.
Ward co-wrote the Association of Certified Forensic Investigators of Canada Certification Manual’s legal chapter and is a regular speaker at international conferences.
WeirFoulds chair Denise Baker highlighted Ward’s expertise in cross-border fraud and asset recovery and her leadership in cryptocurrency disputes as assets for the firm.
