Tom Portsmouth leads Enyo Law’s business intelligence unit, delivering actionable intelligence that shapes legal strategies.
Background
A qualified solicitor of England & Wales with a proven track record in high-value, high-risk cases, Tom has extensive experience in conducting complex cross-border investigations for corporations, government entities, financial institutions, and high-net-worth individuals. His areas of expertise include asset tracing, litigation support, fraud investigations, and investigative due diligence.
As a native French speaker with working knowledge of Spanish, Portuguese, and Arabic, Tom has led investigations across over 40 countries spanning Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Before joining Enyo Law, he spent seven years at a leading global investigations firm, where he supported clients on matters ranging from ESG risk in global supply chains to uncovering fraud in multi-jurisdictional disputes. Examples of his recent work includes coordinating a global asset tracing investigation to identify and freeze the assets of the suspected perpetrators of a c. US$500 million fraud; uncovering evidence of corruption in Chinese litigation records; and analysing import-export and shipping records to expose fraudulent invoicing practices.
Tom graduated with distinction from McGill University, where he studied History, Economics, and Arabic, and later completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Law at BPP University, also with distinction.
Representative cases
- Global: coordinating a global investigation to identify and freeze the assets of the suspected perpetrators of a c. US$500 million stock-lending fraud.
- Latin America: Advising a major Brazilian bank on their options for the recovery of assets belonging to a portfolio of debtors in jurisdictions worldwide including the British Virgin Islands, USA, Panama, and Switzerland.
- United Kingdom: Assisting a major London law firm in identifying unencumbered assets belonging to a UK-based property developer and its shareholders that may be recovered by their client, a China-based construction firm
- Europe: Leading a complex multi-jurisdictional asset trace on a steel industrialist and his privately-owned conglomerate on behalf of his creditor, a global investment bank and financial services firm.
- Middle East: Identifying and assessing the recoverability of sovereign assets belonging to an East African state pursuant to an arbitration award in favour of a listed Middle Eastern bank
- China: Obtaining and analysing Chinese litigation records which uncovered the extent of the Claimant’s involvement in corruption and litigation issues that were material to the case brought against our client.
- Global: Analysing international shipping and import/export records to evidence the fraudulent nature of an insurance claim brought against our client
- United Kingdom: directing human source enquiries to probe the track record, business practices and integrity of the Claimant in a multi-million contractual dispute brought against our client.
- East Africa: Providing a client’s external legal counsel with actionable intelligence in relation to a business and human rights claim, including forensic analysis of social media records to evidence undisclosed connections amongst the group of claimants and associated civil society bodies
- Nigeria and Ghana: Conducting a market entry risk assessment focusing on business communities in Nigeria and Ghana on behalf of a global private bank and asset management group.
- South Africa: Helping a South African bank to assess the veracity and risk surrounding their client’s alleged involvement in tender irregularities which led to an anti-corruption prosecution.
- Germany/China: Assisting a major private equity fund in ascertaining the ESG risks in a German distributor of solar power equipment, focusing on its supply chain in China
- USA: Assessing the reputational risks of acquiring groundwater licences for a European infrastructure investment fund
- South Africa: Investigating procurement fraud perpetrated by senior executives of a South African subsidiary of a European medical equipment firm, culminating in a two-week site visit for on-the-ground document retrieval and adversarial interviews with the perpetrators.
- Global: Part of a team of investigators, accounts and lawyers which undertook the monitoring programme of a global bank as part of a deferred prosecution agreement, including weeks of on-site interviews and document review in South Korea, Malta, and India.
