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Forensic accounting & litigation support

We assist companies, professional specialists and the judicial authorities with the identification, procurement and processing of information, to enable them to draw up opinions, and provide consultancy services for use in civil disputes, criminal proceedings and arbitration.

The professional specialists at Sofiæ offer their experience to those wishing to carry out specific analyses, by means of investigations into accounting records and examinations of company and contractual documentation, aimed at assessing conduct or facts that might render companies and/or their administrative, control and auditing bodies subject to liability in civil or criminal law.

The professional skills built up by the Sofiæ teams enable us to establish contacts and conduct discussions with the investigating bodies and courts in an authoritative manner and on the basis of mutual respect.

Technical consultancy

The professional specialists at Sofiæ have been engaged in more than a hundred consultancy procedures in civil and criminal proceedings as court-appointed expert witnesses (CTU) and technical experts acting on behalf of the parties (CTP).

In this latter case, the Sofiae specialists are appointed as expert witnesses by individuals acting as the legal representatives, members of the board of auditors or statutory auditors in enterprises, or by the enterprises themselves.

The main areas of specialisation of the Sofiæ professionals within this context are:
in civil disputes

• liability actions against directors, auditors and statutory auditors;
• banking: rescinding actions, assessment and checks on the application of compound interest and usury interest rates, and on the nature and economic effects of specific financial products;
• agency reports for the quantification of severance fund payments due;
• stock exchange and financial markets, for the reconstruction of damage and the consequent liability for the stock exchange quotations of companies diverging from the terms set out in the prospectus, or the reconstruction of the correct management of mutual investment funds and the related reporting requirements;
• compensation for damage and prejudice, whether due to consequential damage or loss of profits.

in criminal proceedings

• Offences of reckless, fraudulent and criminal bankruptcy, under articles 322 and 323 of the bankruptcy law.
• Offences of money laundering under article 648 bis of the criminal code.
• Offences of usury under article 644 of the criminal code.
• Offences of embezzlement under article 646 of the criminal code.
• Offences of bribery under article 319 of the criminal code.
• Tax offences under legislative decree 74/2000.
• Offences of fraud under article 640 of the criminal code.

The professional specialists at Sofiæ have also built up in-depth experience in the following judicial areas:

• As administrator and company- and court-appointed liquidator for companies controlled by enterprises subject to insolvency procedures.
• As administrator and liquidator appointed by the official custodian in sequestration orders under articles 2471 and 2471 bis of the civil code and articles 321 and 316 of the code of civil procedure (cpc).
• As official custodian for companies subject to precautionary seizure orders under article 321 of the code of criminal procedure (cpp) and sequestration orders under article 316 of the cpp.
• As officially appointed custodian of companies subject to sequestration orders under articles 671 and following of the cpc.
• As authorised sales supervisor for company shares in the course of enforced disposals of assets under article 532 of the cpc.
• As authorised real estate sales supervisor in the course of enforced disposals of real estate under article 591 bis of the cpc.