James Crane spent a decade at the U.S. Department of Justice’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section before co-founding Whitfield & Crane. He has personally coordinated the freeze and return of funds across more than 40 countries — through shell companies, nominee accounts, luxury real estate and, increasingly, digital wallets.

James built the firm’s tracing playbook: a 48-hour response protocol that maps the money, secures preservation orders and starts the negotiation from strength. He trains every new associate in the art of following assets that do not want to be found.

He is the author of the widely cited handbook Following the Money: Asset Recovery in the Digital Age and a frequent instructor at the National Center for State Courts.

• Asset Tracing & Recovery
• Digital Asset & Cyber Fraud

• Traced $47 million in crypto across six jurisdictions to a cold wallet held by an offshore nominee
• Returned $22 million to victims of a cross-border investment-platform collapse within nine months
• Coordinated the freeze of a fraudster’s $14 million London property portfolio within five weeks

J.D., Columbia Law School, James Kent Scholar
B.A., Georgetown University

New York
District of Columbia
U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit

English
Spanish

Chambers Global: Band 1, Asset Tracing & Recovery (2023–2026)
Who’s Who Legal: Asset Recovery Lawyer of the Year (2025)