The legal basis with which you can recover your damages in case of investment fraud — explained in plain language.
Definition
An unlawful act (Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code) is, in short: someone does something wrong causing another to suffer damages. In more specific legal terms, it concerns an act that infringes on a right of another, violates a statutory duty, or goes against unwritten law pertaining to proper social conduct.
The five elements
For a successful claim, five conditions must be met: (1) an unlawful act has been committed, (2) this act is attributable to the perpetrator, (3) damages have been suffered, (4) there is a causal link between the act and the damages, and (5) there is relativity — the violated standard serves to protect the injured party.
In investment fraud
In the case of investment fraud, the application is clear: the unlawful act is deceiving investors (false promises, withholding information, siphoning off funds). The damage is the lost investment amount. The causal link: without the deception, the investor would not have invested.
Directors’ and Officers’ Liability
Directors to whom serious personal blame can be attributed can also be held personally liable on the basis of an unlawful act. This is the route that BFRG takes: holding the individuals behind the fraud accountable, not just the (empty) company.
