Gray is a senior manager in Grant Thornton’s Specialist Services (‘GTSS’) practice in the Cayman Islands, having re-located from Brisbane, Australia. Prior to joining Grant Thornton, Gray worked with a specialist asset recovery firm. Gray is an Australian qualified Chartered Accountant, has over 9 years of complex restructuring experience and joined GTSS’s Large and Complex insolvency team in June 2019.
Gray excels on engagements where a forensic analysis of documents is required to identify and recover assets. His work is often used as the foundation for bringing legal action and he has significant experience working closely with senior legal counsel to manage litigation and draft technically complicated legal filings.
In addition to the above, Gray has experience across a range of insolvency and asset recovery assignments, including unpicking entities’ history to identify opportunities for asset recovery, overseeing the day-to-day operations of trading entities, winding down and/or selling distressed assets, and overseeing litigation.
Gray is diligent, precise and commercially minded. He regularly works on matters where the asset recovery team is spread across different firms and different jurisdictions; his experience, along with his collaboration and communication skills ensure that he is a key member of any team.
Gray has a transparent and consultative management style wand the ability to motivate, encourage and engage teams, as well as regularly managing conflicting stakeholder priorities to deliver optimum outcomes for all involved.
His experience spans multiple jurisdictions including Australia, Singapore, Switzerland, Canada, USA and the UK as well as Trinidad and other Caribbean nations.
Professional qualifications and memberships
- Bachelor of Business (Accounting, Finance) (Queensland University of Technology)
- Graduate Diploma of Chartered Accounting (Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand)
- Professional Member of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand
- Recovery and Insolvency Specialists Association (Cayman)
Experience
- Assisting in a novel personal bankruptcy assignment in the Cayman Islands. Instruction from NYSE listed entity to pursue contractual misrepresentation of CAD$35m+. Multiple international jurisdictions including the aforementioned. Sophisticated forensic interrogation has uncovered asset sheltering trusts in the Cayman Islands, Canada, Nevis and Cook Islands. Antecedent transaction proceedings are on foot, NPOs obtained and worldwide freezing orders effectuated.
- Assisting in the liquidation of one of the Caribbean’s largest conglomerate entities, including the divestment of operating entities in sectors such as retail, hospitality, insurance, shipping and property development, with assets of the group totaling over half a billion USD$ in value. As part of the liquidation managed the investigation and brought forward litigation in respect of alleged trust claims worth over USD$100m.
- Acting on behalf of a UAE bank to recover secured assets related to the “Abraaj” collapse. The secured assets had been limited partner stakes in a private equity fund, of which the new external fund manager had deemed the stakes as non-funded and attempted to reject the stake. Based on forensic accounting works performed on the private equity fund, proceedings are currently on foot to seek for the stakes to be admitted.
- Assisted in a 'mini bankruptcy' in Switzerland in order to reclaim Swiss domiciled assets of an insolvent estate and remit assets to the main proceedings in the Cayman Islands worth US$300m.
- Managed the liquidation of an Australian Campervan manufacturer, the investigation and reporting assisted the QLD Office of Fair Trading in obtaining seven counts of breaches of the Australian Consumer Law against the director which eventually resulted in the personal bankruptcy of the director.
- Managed the liquidation of the Australian branch of “We buy any Car” resulting in the sale of thousands of motor vehicles and large unsophisticated creditor management. Through investigation and litigation obtained a settlement for breaches of insolvent trading claims against the directors.
- Brought, managed and successfully recovered for the Australian Taxation Office monies paid (over AUD$1m) into exempt and protected superannuation plans via litigation in respect of a joint married bankrupt estate who had failed to lodge tax returns for over 25 years.
- Managed the recognition of insolvent estates in Canada, Switzerland and the US.
- Liquidated hedge funds with traditional feeder/master structures.