Stephen Cartwright

I am widely recognised as an expert in the field of crypto assets and ranked by Chambers & Partners FinTech Crypto-Asset Disputes and Legal 500 Civil Fraud.

My clients involve crypto mining companies, exchanges and tokens, high net worth individuals, major corporate entities as well as a range of victims of fraud. 

I have a reputation for being commercially pragmatic, responsive and solution-minded. 

I specialise in claims arising from fraud and financial crime, including asset tracing, investigations, corruption, money laundering and the interplay between civil and criminal proceedings. This frequently involves injunctions against 'persons unknown' to recover stolen funds from fraudsters and through alternative means.

Recent work highlights include:

• supporting thousands of investors to recover their investments into a fraudulent scheme in China, part of the largest ever freeze of cryptocurrency (61,000 Bitcoin – worth £5 billion+) frozen in High Court Civil proceedings.
• conducting an investigation on behalf of a major retailer, including tracing funds, identifying bad actors and pursuing criminal claims following a sophisticated fraud using AI technology.
• acting for an F1 team to identify the author of harmful communications to rival teams and the press.
• the case of AA v The Family Officer Limited in which I acted for a high-net worth individual to recover monies following a €15 million push payment fraud. The case spanned multiple jurisdictions and utilised 'Persons Unknown' freezing injunctions in the English High Court as well as evidence of mobile phone triangulation and spoofed emails. This case was a rare example of a fraud claim succeeding at the summary judgment stage.