For solicitors

For litigation teams

I produce the on-chain evidence that cryptoasset claims are built on, and I work to your requirements rather than handing you a report and leaving you to translate it.

Most of my instructions come from civil fraud and asset recovery practitioners, insolvency practitioners, and in-house teams at cryptoasset businesses. The work is usually urgent, usually pre-action, and usually needs to support an application within weeks rather than months.

See a specimen evidence package →

What I produce

Evidence packages for disclosure applications

Structured to support applications for Norwich Pharmacal or Bankers Trust relief and their equivalents in other jurisdictions: unbroken transaction schedules, attribution of terminal deposit addresses with the basis of each attribution stated, timing data precise enough for a respondent to search its records, and an explicit limitations section.

Proprietary tracing support

Where funds have been commingled, I set out balances before, during and after each mixing event, in the granularity counsel needs to run the tracing argument. I do not express a view on what the Claimant can assert a proprietary interest in — that is a legal question. I make sure the ledger data allows you to answer it.

Freezing and proprietary injunction support

Evidence of the current on-chain position, the risk of dissipation, and the value at relevant dates.

Responsive work

Reviewing an opponent's expert material, answering queries from counsel, preparing specific exhibits an application requires, and attending conferences with counsel to explain the technical position.

Quantum and timeline reconstruction

For pleadings and schedules of loss.

Multi-victim consolidation

Where you act for several clients defrauded through common infrastructure, I establish the on-chain connection between them and build one file. Where you act for one, I can tell you whether their loss connects to a wider scheme. More →

What I need from you at the outset

Transaction identifiers, or the client's own records from which they can be derived
Evidence connecting the originating addresses to your client
The application you have in mind, if you know it — a report built for a Bankers Trust order is not the same as one built for a Norwich Pharmacal order, and knowing which changes what I document
Your deadline
Any jurisdictional constraints already identified

If you do not yet know whether there is anything worth pursuing, that is a normal starting point. The assessment is free.

How I work

Scope agreed in writing before work begins, with the deliverable specified.

My fee is contingent on recovery — between 3% and 10% of funds actually returned to the client, depending on the complexity of the work, agreed in writing before the engagement begins. There is no retainer, no hourly billing and no upfront cost. Third-party disbursements are not covered by the percentage and are charged separately, at cost.

That gives me an interest in the outcome, and it is disclosed on the face of every report. An investigator paid on recovery is a weaker witness than one paid regardless, and you are entitled to weigh that when you read my conclusions. I would rather you had it in writing at the outset than have it drawn out in cross-examination.

Fact and inference distinguished throughout, with the heuristic identified wherever an inference rests on one, and a confidence level attached to every attribution.

Limitations set out in full. If the trail dies at a mixer, a privacy protocol, or a jurisdiction that will not respond, I tell you and stop rather than continuing to bill.

Data handled properly. Original exports retained unmodified and hashed, working analysis kept separate, contemporaneous notes, chain of custody logged for anything received from you or your client.

Turnaround

State real figures and meet them. Suggested structure once you can commit — initial assessment within [N] working days of receiving transaction data; single-loss trace report within [N] working days; complex or multi-victim matters by agreement. Urgent instructions accommodated where the timetable requires it.

Speed matters in these matters more than in most. Exchange records are not retained indefinitely, accounts close, and assets move. Where an application is contemplated, the interval between instruction and issue is often the variable that decides whether it succeeds.

Coverage

Assets: Bitcoin · Ethereum and ERC-20 · Tron and TRC-20 · Solana
Instructions accepted from: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, European Union, Switzerland, Norway, Australia, Singapore.Confirm and amend once licensing advice is in — some jurisdictions regulate investigative work for compensation.
Working languages: English, Swedish, Finnish. Client interviews, source material and correspondence can be handled in any of the three, which matters where a client's own account of events is in their first language and precision is required.
Where I stop: Privacy protocols, including Monero. Identification of individuals, which requires an order. Legal advice of any kind. Custody or transmission of assets.

Reference

Once you have acted on instructions from a firm, ask one instructing solicitor whether they would be willing to act as a reference on request, and say so here — “A reference from an instructing solicitor is available on request.” One named professional willing to take a call is worth more than any testimonial, and unlike a testimonial it is verifiable. Do not publish quotes.

Discussing a matter

There is no charge for an initial discussion and no obligation. If I do not think the on-chain position supports what you need, I will say so at that stage rather than after you have instructed me.

info@leonard-peterson.com · telephone number

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