Deakin senior lecturer Ian Warren, a widely published expert on transnational legal geography, told Lawyers Weekly that more than ever internet entrepreneurs should seek legal advice relating to their activities in foreign countries to prevent the risk of being sought for extradition.    

Dr Warren says Australian lawyers should start being extra careful for their clients if criminal charges are instigated by foreign justice agencies which can operate under different rules and uphold different values.   

Dr Warren said lawyers with clients in the tech industry will need to be wary of the speed and immediacy of online communications and the resultant magnified rate and volume of transactions, which may catch clients off guard depending on how clear the laws are in the specific country.

Entrepreneurs should consider obtaining legal advice in each nation or ensure that their Australian lawyers are equipped to provide advice on a wider range of comparative business and criminal laws.

Knowledge of US laws relating to crime, business activity and intellectual property is a good benchmark to follow in preventing the risk of extradition.

Dr Warren said at surface value one may argue that if someone is not breaking any laws they have nothing to fear. 

“However, what people aren’t seeing is that any person can leave a digital trail that raises questions in relation to possible illegal online activities,” he said.

VIEW ALL

“The more magnified the trail, the greater likelihood of attracting surveillance from country to country in this current day.”

Dr Warren added lawyers need to be wary of these “digital breadcrumbs”, which can create many inferences about a person’s motives that can be used or interpreted in a variety of ways.

“These can be used to infer criminal activity where it has not been intended or has not taken place,” he said.

Due to these complex international activities, tech clients could find themselves stuck in jail for an indefinite amount of time waiting for extradition which will vary in terms of the country.

“Engaging in activity that complies with Australian law does not guarantee compliance with the laws of any other nation,” Dr Warren said.

“This problem is not new, but creates new burdens on legal professionals when advising clients given the ease of global digital communications.

“At the bare minimum legal advisers should be aware that a person’s activity might have criminal consequences elsewhere.”

In Australia, tech entrepreneur Zhenya Tsvetnenko has been held for almost 18 months in a maximum security prison in Western Australia waiting for extradition indefinitely, whilst he has not been charged with any offence in Australia.

Geoffrey Robertson AO QC, who has taken Mr Tsvetnenko’s case to the United Nations, said Australia’s general rule of refusing bail for extradition ­offences, even if there was no danger the defendant would flee the country, was ‘‘entirely unnecessary’’. 

Meanwhile in the UK this year, tech entrepreneur Dr Mike Lynch fought a very lengthy extradition battle to the US on fraud charges.

Dr Warren says Australian lawyers should start being extra careful of their clients if criminal charges are instigated by foreign justice agencies which can operate under different rules and uphold different values.

“We have to ask ‘who’s laws’ and what values are being upheld when cases are detected by overseas enforcement agencies?” he said.