Margot is the managing director of Grant Thornton’s insolvency, restructuring and asset recovery business in the Cayman Islands. Margot is a CPA, chartered accountant, certified fraud examiner and a certified anti money laundering specialist.

Margot has over 25 years of experience working with offshore companies and global structures in financial distress or where stakeholders have been the victims of fraud. She has led numerous asset tracing and recovery cross-border cases where embezzlement, mismanagement or fraud have resulted in multi-million-dollar losses to the company and its stakeholders.

As a board member of the IWIRC International and co-chair of the New Networks committee, and board member of IWIRC in the Cayman Islands, what are your goals for the next few years?

To support the organisations in building a global presence to further the support of our international community of women in insolvency and restructuring. IWIRC is focused on developing and advancing women in the field by providing a strong network of women that can be relied on for support and growth.

What is one thing you wish you knew before practising as an insolvency and investigations expert?

The addictive nature of the work! It is so easy to get engrossed in the dynamic, complex, and more challenging cases which can be a threat to maintaining work-life balance!

In what ways does Grant Thornton distinguish itself from competitors in the asset recovery space?

Grant Thornton’s global footprint and access to skilled, well-connected resources. Grant Thornton’s creative solutions keep them at the forefront of the market and able to tailor their services to the needs and developments within the market.

To what extent do you see a need to reform current laws for them to be in pace with the growing sophistication of cybercrime?

Reach and response time are both critical factors in finding a positive outcome in response to cyber-attacks. The cross-border nature of cybercrime demands the harmonisation of laws that will enable public and private sector investigators and insolvency office holders to effectively keep up with the speed and geographic dispersion of these crimes.

What are some of the common challenges you come across in cross-border asset recovery cases and how can practitioners best tackle these challenges?

The common challenges to recovery are speed, access to judicial systems where enforcement steps are required, access to funding, and time to bring the action. Too often there are attempts by non-asset-recovery experts to try and resolve the matter before it is passed to an asset-recovery specialist, which can result in steps and opportunities being missed to maximise recovery.

What kinds of assets are typically subject to recovery efforts in your experience, and how have these changed since you started practising? How might these change in the future?

The assets haven’t changed, but the structures through which the assets are held or transferred (as part of a fraudulent scheme) have changed and are often more complex whether it’s the legal form of the structure and vehicles or the jurisdictions in which they are incorporated or held. This can further strain or complicate the funding and timelines for the route to recovery.

If you could introduce a legal reform to aid asset recovery experts, what would it be and why?

While there are, in practice, significant challenges to enacting and implementing a uniform set of laws designed to prevent and respond to financial crime and aid in the asset recovery process, increased flexibility and collaboration between governments, private sector entities and cybersecurity experts are fundamental to the development of comprehensive and effective legal frameworks to protect individuals and businesses.

You have enjoyed a very distinguished career so far. What would you like to achieve that you have not yet accomplished?

I can never have too much of a good thing. My career has been varied, interesting and downright fun. I’m focused on building opportunities for the incredibly talented and capable group of people that I work with. I’d like the opportunity to continue to work internationally, be exposed to new challenges and witness the difference and impact of the value that doing this work brings to those who need it.