Trying To Sue 3 Perpetrators Who Committed Investment Fraud Against Elderly Investors In Ny. One Filed For Bankruptcy, One Is Mia, And One Put His Assets In A Trust. Did They Hide Their Assets In Case Of A Lawsuit/settlement?

Location: New York (and to some extent New Jersey)

TLDR: Need to prove fraud/scam perpetrators have sufficient assets for lawsuit. What’s the best way to find assets and get a lawyer that will take a contingency case?

Some background: grandparents, 84 and 86, are not financially experienced. They were conned into investing their retirement and savings into a real estate equity fund run by “CompanyREI”, which promised guaranteed 12% monthly interest payments and a completion bonus of 4% with repayment of their initial investment after 3 years. They were brought in by their friend from church who knew the CFO and invested with CompanyREI several months earlier. About a year and half in, they stop receiving their monthly interest payments and the investment company they gave their money to basically closed. CompanyREI shut down its website, email, and offices.

The CEO removed all references to CompanyREI on social media and filed for bankruptcy. He was/is being sued for alleged breach of contract by the businesses he “invested in”.

The COO is MIA and is difficult to find given he has a very common name and no known address linked to him besides the closed office.

The CFO also doesn’t have his title on social media, but not sure though if he ever had it originally because he is also the owner of a foreign business and a real estate agent. I ran an Intelius report on the CFO and was not able to find him (think he scrubbed all information on himself and his family members) but I did a location report on his address and found out he moved the house into a trust right after the interest payments stopped coming. Intelius also shows he registered a business in his name, so if someone were to write a check to “John Dolan” it would be to his LLC and not to him as an individual.

This is so tragic and my heart is breaking for my grandparents and others in their circle who were scammed. I’ve helped them file an IC3 report. We have not yet reported to FTC or APS. My parents are trying help my grandparents recover their losses (approx $800k), as they need it for medical care (caregivers), property taxes, insurance, groceries, etc. They have nothing left except for maybe 2 months living expenses but not if something major were to happen. My parents and aunt are helping them month to month (I’m in college so can’t). They can’t afford a lawyer that charges hourly and the few lawyers they contacted were like a) case isn’t winnable, b) get DA or feds to help, c) would consider taking case if sufficient collectibility (likely hourly and not on contingency).

Also found on Intelius but not confirmed: - The CEO has filed for at least a dozen businesses that he operates in the US, but a few them were filed as foreign corporations. He has a DUNS number for a business in his exact name (same as scammy CFO). - He bought property in NY with his wife. His wife sold the property to his name but the address is of his business, it was a an all cash transaction. -In addition to recently filing bankruptcy, the CEO also filed bankruptcy about 20 years ago.

I know these guys are HIDING their money so that the “little guys” (like my grandparents) can’t sue them.

Please help! Is there anyone that has experience dealing with something like this? I know elder scams are so common, but my grandparents lost all their savings and are at risk of losing their house and affording their caregivers.