Francois Trichardt

Francois Trichardt is a Partner in the firm's Corporate Investigations practice and leads the Cape Town team, practicing in the field of Compliance Law. He is an admitted attorney with more than 15 years' experience in complex investigations and litigation involving unlawful deposit-taking, exchange control contraventions, large-scale fraud, asset misappropriation, and regulatory compliance. He regularly acts for and against organs of state and advises on investigations, recovery litigation, search and seizure processes, and administrative and constitutional reviews.

Mr. Trichardt manages some of the firm's largest multi-disciplinary mandates, including the Prudential Authority's Ithala repayment administration (addressing an estimated R2.5 billion in unlawful deposits), exchange control investigations linked to the Steinhoff/Ibex matters (resulting in forfeitures exceeding R6 billion), and the TVI Express pyramid scheme recovery, involving 140+ search warrants, 80+ asset seizure orders, 80+ repayment administrator appointments, and cross-border recovery in Switzerland. He has litigated in the Supreme Court of Appeal and most divisions of the High Court, and has brought and defended urgent interdicts, attachment and forfeiture proceedings, search warrants, and multiple administrative-law reviews.

Francois holds an LLB from the University of Johannesburg and an MPhil in Fraud Risk Management from the University of Pretoria, with certificates in Economic Crime Schemes, Money Laundering Investigation, Financial Crime Investigation, Cyber and Electronic Crime, and Fraud Risk Management. He is a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, the Institute of Commercial Forensic Practitioners, and the International Association of Financial Crime Investigators.